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The White Family

Ray White in the 1940s. Ray would go on to lead White Engineering in the 1970s.

For three generations, the White Family made significant contributions to the Australian refrigeration and air conditioning industry. To this day, it is a legacy carried on by a multitude of Australian HVAC&R industry practitioners.
 
WJ White came to Australia in the early 1900s as a carpenter, tasked with building a house for his uncle, RJ White – a wealthy businessman and part-owner of Harris Scarfe, merchants of windmills, farm machinery, and general goods.
 
WJ completed the house on King Williams Road at Wayville, South Australia in about 1920. He then worked at Harris Scarfe and studied engineering at Adelaide University.
 
Taking an interest in refrigeration from the beginning, by 1928 he had completed his 332-page book, Refrigeration – An Essential to National Health, Security and Progress (pictured below). In it, he detailed cool room construction (in timber), including photos and descriptions of the refrigeration process.
 
Four years later, he formed the South Australia-based White Engineering. WJ was followed in the business by his five children – Ray, Keith, John, Joy, and Ruth.
 
By the early 1970s, Ray was running the company who would later hand over the reins to his son, Ray White Jr.
 
In the 1980s, White Engineering was taken over by APV and, later, Gordon Brothers.

After some time with APV White, Ray White Jr created White Refrigeration which he ran from 1985 until his retirement in 2010.
 
Leaders in their field, White Engineering was the go-to for industrial refrigeration and air conditioning needs in South Australia and, later, Australia.
 
Their manufacturing services included CP reciprocating compressors; evaporative condensers; fan coil units; meat process facilities; refrigeration for the wine industry, including ultra chillers; all food processing, including cheese and butter manufacturing plus chocolate pumping, storage, and pasteurisation equipment; and mining projects. One mining project included a 3,500kW chilled water plant at the 36th level of the Broken Hill Mine, NSW – 1.6km underground.
 
White Engineering also made pressure vessels; shell and tube chillers and condensers; plate heat exchangers; ice storage systems; air conditioning units and ductwork; stainless steel fabrication; bottle and can fillers for wineries and Coca Cola, plus associated conveyors; brewery refrigeration and equipment; and more.
 
Many of the staff under the White family umbrella have gone on to play significant roles in the Australian HVAC&R industry. The family, its business, and its experience served as the foundation for many including Grant Spence, M.AIRAH; Ben Adamson, F.AIRAH; Lidia Rozman; Greg Atkinson, M.AIRAH; and Bob Ellis, F.AIRAH.
 
“The above comments are a small window into the White family,” says Ellis, the general manager of Meinhardt. “I would need to write a big book to cover all their achievements.” 

A copy of WJ White's 1928 book, Refrigeration – An Essential to National Health, Security and Progress​, on loan to AIRAH by Bob Ellis, F.AIRAH.

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