Mark Vender
It’s not often that HVAC&R makes the front page, but James Harrison, the founding father of refrigeration, was recently mentioned at ABC online news for his role in helping Geelong earn the status of UNESCO City of Design.
Harrison is credited as the inventor of the mechanical refrigeration process for creating ice – he patented his ether vapour-compression system in 1855.
But he is not the only historic designer who called Geelong home – it was also the birthplace of the Ford ute (designed by Lew Bandt and built in Geelong in 1934), the Hills Hoist (patented by Geelong blacksmith Gilbert Toyne in 1911), and most of Australia’s decimal currency coins (designed by Geelong goldsmith and jeweller Stuart Devlin).
In the modern era, Geelong can also boast the Carbon Nexus Centre at Waurn Ponds, the Centre for Advanced Engineering Training and the Australian Future Fibres Research Innovation Centre.
Geelong slots into the UNESCO list between Dundee in Scotland and Graz in Austria, and takes its place alongside global design hubs such as Shanghai, Montreal and Berlin.
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