About James Harrison

The following is adapted from James Harrison – Pioneering Genius by W.R. Lang (1982) and the cover story from AIRAH’s Journal, August 1993: "James Harrison – a great pioneer of refrigeration”.

​A Scotsman, James Harrison lived for much of his life in Geelong where he is remembered not only for his contribution to refrigeration but for many other achievements. Not the least of these other achievements was the founding of The Geelong Advertiser.

However, it was his work on refrigeration for which Harrison achieved world recognition. Although a printer by trade, a journalist by profession – and an engineer by inclination and disposition but certainly not by training – he worked for four decades on various refrigeration devices and systems.

There are claims and counter claims in different countries by different people about who first achieved what in the pioneering days of refrigeration, just as there are for automotive engineering and other applied scientific fields of the second half of the 19th century.

But Harrison’s “first” cannot be denied. The Geelong newspaper editor was responsible for developing the first successful large-scale ice making machinery sold to industry and the first attempt to ship frozen meat from Australia to Britain.
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He developed an ice making machine in the early ‘50s and took out a Victorian patent in 1855.

At the time, Harrison declare the purpose of this invention was not only to manufacture ice from salt or fresh water but to preserve provisions by congelation, to cool buildings and to distill oils, spirits, perfumes, etc. at a low temperature.
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This was his third machine with which he froze fish in blocks of ice at Rocky Point, near Geelong.

At this time, Geelong was still a pioneering “frontier” town where expertise in engineering precision had yet to be achieved. For this reason Harrison took his ideas to Britain where he applied for and obtained a British patent in 1856 and in cooperation with Siebe & Co of Loudon, experience builders of steam engines, developed a reliable machine which was the first ever to be sold to industry. It was put on public display at No. 4 Red Lion Square, London in 1858.

Harrison returned to Australia and set up a commercial ice making plant which opened in Geelong in February 1859, the same year the Victoria Ice Works were founded in Franklin Street, Melbourne. In 1861 a Harrison-Siebe machine went into operation at the Sydney Ice Company of which Harrison was a partner.

The Harrison-Siebe machine was much admired at the International Exhibition in London in 1862. Harrison and Siebe were awarded a special medal. The machines were produced in numbers and were used in many parts of the world. The basic design of the machine did not change for more than a quarter of a century.

Over the years, Harrison took out a number of patents on different refrigeration techniques, the last one being a British patent in 1878.

It would seem that Harrison, whose inventive genius took him into many other technical fields, was first attracted to the possibility of refrigeration to preserve the catch from a fishing boat, in which he had an interest, soon after he arrived in Geelong in 1840. This initial interest then spread to using refrigeration as a way to getting beef and sheep meat products produced in Victoria to markets in Britain.

Unfortunately, his one personal involvement in taking a shipment of frozen meat from Australia to Britain was a failure.
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He had experimented in the early 1870s with pre-freezing meat and with various techniques to keep it frozen over long periods.

In July 1873, the sailing ship Norfolk set sail from Melbourne for London via Cape Horn. On board were James Harrison and in the hold “two tanks of frozen meat” – the first frozen meat shipment to leave Australia for Britain.

Unhappily, while Harrison’s design of the system to keep the ice from melting appeared impeccable, poor workmanship in its construction led to disaster. It was found that leakage of cold brine on which the maintenance and circulation of the process depended, caused the ice to melt. Between Melbourne and Cape Horn most of the meat had to be thrown overboard.

However while not a success itself, the venture demonstrated that such shipments were practical and feasible. For this, Harrison must rank with Mort as responsible for opening up the trade in frozen agricultural produce from Australia to Europe, which was an important part of the Australian economy for so many years.

That unsuccessful venture was a turning point in Harrison’s life because he decided to remain in Britain where he wrote on scientific matters as correspondent for The Age and other publications.

He remained there until 1892 when he returned to the Geelong district where he took up residence in a small house at Point Henry, then a marshy area on the shores of Corio Bay.

Still active in mind and body, he became involved in a project to harvest salt – an operation that continues to this day.
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While Harrison was a brilliant inventor and a prolific journalist, he was not always up with the pace on the business side of his ventures – and this led him to an insolvency hearing in 1861. One result was that he lost control of The Geelong Advertiser which was sold in 1871. The paper was making money but profits were dissipated on Harrison’s business excursions into refrigeration and other enterprises.

Harrison somehow managed to combine his inventive career with that of a journalist and politician. He edited The Advertiser from 1840 to 1865 – despite his loss of ownership in 1861 – and was a member for the Town of Geelong in the Victorian Legislative Council for several years.

After his association with The Advertiser ended, he was involved for a number of years with The Age – at the time under the leadership of the remarkable David Syme – and other papers.

He worked as The Age’s correspondent in Britain in the alter years of his life and also became possibly Australia’s first popular science writer.

His personal life was also active, marrying three times and fathering 12 children.

When he returned to Australia he was 76 years of age – but the sunnier climate did not have the desired effect of restoring his failing health. He died apparently from pleurisy at the Port Henry cottage.

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AIRAH's James Harrison Medal

​The James Harrison Medal is the highest honour AIRAH can bestow upon an individual. The award recognises the highest levels of individual achievement in the Australian refrigeration and air conditioning industry. The winner is announced at the AIRAH Awards gala dinner.

WINNERS

1972
1973
1975
1978
1980
1982
1984
1985
1986
1987
​1988
1990
1991
1992

Dr James R. Vickery
W.R. Ahern
Sir Walter Eric Bassett
Harry Goldstein
Donald Pescod
Bob McKenzie
Alan Brown
Bill Dobney Jr
Dr Tony Johnston
Denis Joseph
Dr John Kowalczeski
Geoff Luscombe
Stan Wesley
Clive Broadbent

1993
​1994
1996
1997
1998
1999
2002
2005
2009
2011
2017
2018
2019

J.J.W. (Bill) Siganto
Michael Brown
John Smead
Klaas Visser
Doug Elms
Murray Mason
Dr Ernest Donnelly
Joe Archibald
Ron Conry
Simon Hill
John Bosci
Alan Obrart
Paul Cooper

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