The White Hat Guide to James Harrison

James Harrison
Inventor, businessman
April 1816 (?) - 2 September 1893

Teachers lead dozens of school groups a day past the plaque on the right and hardly ever draw their students' attention to one of Victoria's important inventors and businessmen. (Ask a White Hat Accredited guide to point out its location).

We are currently preparing a short profile. Please return again soon, or email us if you would like to be notified when this entry is complete.

James Harrison was the inventor of the refrigeration process and set up the Victorian Ice Works in Franklin Street Melbourne in 1859.

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. Many of the products presented are not really inventions but design improvements, but any exposure in the media for creativity in such areas is to be welcomed and applauded.
• 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 which provides advice on the bringing to market of innovations..