Alfred Nicholas

Alfred Nicholas
Businessman

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Aspro was invented by Alfred's brother George Nicholas and developed in Melbourne  between 1915 and 1917. Alfred Nicholas and Henry Woolf Shmith were key to its successful manufacturing and marketing. By 1940 it had become the world's most widely used headache treatment.

He is buried at Brighton Cemetery.

Alfred Nicholas Gardens Click here to buy this print

Burnham Beeches Estate This lavish estate was built for Alfred Nicholas (developer of Aspro) and his family. It exudes 1920s chic and you would not be surprised to see a Hispano Suza glide up the driveway with young men in boaters and young ladies with parasols. The Alfred Nicholas Gardens (see left) with their extensive water features are open to the public. Sherbrook Road, Sherbrook 10am - 5pm daily (See also the Nicholas Building - the city 'skyscraper' built for Nicholas)

Some useful resources on inventions and inventors:

Aboriginal Inventions
Alfred Nicholas
Australian Inventions
Australian Inventors
Developing Inventions
Henry Sutton
James Harrison
John Furphy
Lord Howard Florey
Pro Hart
Who is the Inventor?
William Ramsay

• You will find numbers of useful resources in our free newsletter - Inventions & Innovations - the White Hat guide
• The White Hat listing of forthcoming events related to inventions and innovation
• The Australian Institute for Commercialisation (AIC) is a leading service organisation helping innovators achieve commercial success. Around Australia they help business, research organisations and governments to convert their ideas into successful outcomes.
• Scienceworks in Melbourne, the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney and the CSIRO Discovery Centre in Canberra provide excellent resources in understanding Australian inventions and innovation.
• The ABC television series Landline regularly features Australian innovation and inventions. Unlike many gee-whiz pop science programs, Landline usually provides thorough and unhysterical coverage of Australian breakthroughs relating to country Australia together with their commercial ramifications. (You do need to watch the Sunday broadcast however, rather than the shortened Friday version.) Unfortunately, the same is not true of the current series on the ABC called The New Inventors. Made in infotainment style it chooses to present only a cursory investigation of the invention and skates over the top of the issues involved in successfully bringing an invention to market.
• You will also find useful information at Intellectual Property (IP) Australia, The Inventors' Association of Australia and The Triton Foundation (founded by George Lewin, inventor of the Triton Work Bench) and Innovic (A Victorian organisation who provide advice on the bringing to market of innovations)..