Donald George Fry is an Australian

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

company director A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulations ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

NQEA

Fry is the owner and chairman of

NQEA NQEA Pty Ltd is an engineering and shipbuilding company based in Cairns, Australia. The company was founded in 1948 as an engineering supply company named North Queensland Engineers & Agents, then expanded in 1966 into shipbuilding and was rena ...

, founded by his father in 1948 in

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

as a general engineering company contracting to the mining industry, then diversified. Fry started his apprenticeship as a Fitter and Turner with NQEA. Under Fry's direction, NQEA later entered the

boat building Boat building is the design and construction of boats (instead of the larger ships) — and their on-board systems. This includes at minimum the construction of a hull, with any necessary propulsion, mechanical, navigation, safety and other ser ...

and maintenance industry, and won the contract to build the 14 Australian follow-on Fremantle class patrol boats for the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...

that entered service in the 1980s, then provided maintenance for the ships. NQEA later built and maintained luxury pleasure boats.

Hypersonics

The

Australian Defence Force Academy The Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) is a tri-service military academy that provides military and Tertiary education in Australia, academic education for junior officers of the Australian Defence Force in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) ...

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

contracted NQEA to build a complete ground testing hypersonics test chamber to a design developed by him. In 2004 NQEA built a nozzle for a

scramjet A scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) is a variant of a ramjet airbreathing jet engine in which combustion takes place in supersonic airflow. As in ramjets, a scramjet relies on high vehicle speed to compress the incoming air forcefully b ...

(supersonic combustion ramjet engine) to be tested by the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

ground test facility, the T4 tunnel. Fry has been designated as an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

of the University's School of Engineering.

Community involvement

Besides his business and scientific interests, Don Fry chairs Australia’s national committee advising the

Government of Australia The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national Executive (government), executive government of Australia, a federalism, federal Parliamentary system, parliamentary con ...

homeless Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...

ness. He is chair of the

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cair ...

Engineering Advisory Board. Fry is a recipient of

Engineers Australia Engineers Australia (EA), known formally as the Institution of Engineers, Australia, is an Australian professional body and Non-profit organization, not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to advance the science and practice of engineerin ...

highest National award. He was the inaugural recipient of the Queensland Division Hall of Fame. Fry has also been inducted into the

Queensland University of Technology The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It has two major campuses, a modern city campus in Gardens Point, Brisbane, Gardens Point ...

Hall of Fame for Outstanding Constructors. He is Patron of the FNQ Independent Living Support Association, a longtime board member of Lifeline Cairns, and has been for 30 years member of the Cairns

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

Advisory Board. In 2006, he was appointed a special trustee for ensuring the allocation of funds under the federal government's

Cyclone Larry Severe Tropical Cyclone Larry was a tropical cyclone that made landfall in Australia during the 2005–06 Southern Hemisphere tropical cyclone season. Larry originated as a low pressure system over the eastern Coral Sea on 16 March 2006, and ...

assistance package.

Awards and recognition

* 1998 – appointed

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AO) in the

1998 Australia Day Honours The 1998 Australia Day Honours are appointments to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 1998 by the Governor General of Australia, Sir William Deane. The Austr ...

for "service to engineering, in particular, marine engineering in the areas of design and construction, and to the community". * 2006 – named among the Top 100 Australia's Most Influential EngineersDon Fry
''

EHA Magazine Engineers Australia (EA), known formally as the Institution of Engineers, Australia, is an Australian professional body and not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to advance the science and practice of engineering for the benefit of the ...

'' June 2006

External links

profile

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fry, Don Australian engineers Australian philanthropists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Officers of the Order of Australia