Sir Ernest Thomas Fisk (8 August 18868 July 1965) was an
English Australian businessman and entrepreneur, TV and radio engineer, he was the founder (1913) and later managing director (1916) and chairman (1932) of
AWA. In 1944 was appointed managing director of the
EMI music empire.
Biography
Early life and training
Born the second child of Thomas Harvey Fisk and Charlotte Harritte Holland, he was educated at local Australian schools, although also enrolled at the United Kingdom College, a private
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
coaching college, he subsequently attended the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
in 1917, to do a diploma course in the Department of Economics and Commerce.
In June 1906, Fisk joined the Marconi Training School, and at
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
and
Chelmsford
Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...
, learnt
morse code
Morse code is a telecommunications method which Character encoding, encodes Written language, text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code i ...
and wireless technology, qualifying as a radio operator and engineer.
Career
Fisk from selling newspapers, graduated in engineering in the works of
Frederick Walton, before becoming one of the first telegraphists at the
British Post Office.
from 1909 he worked at American Marconi, demonstrating wireless technology
When first visiting Australia in mid-1910 he demonstrated the Marconi Apparatus for the
Orient Steam Navigation Company.
22 September 1918 he proved the possibility of direct radio communication from the UK to Australia by
Billy Hughes and Sir
Joseph Cook, receiving the first such message at his
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
home, "Lucania". A memorial was erected on 14 December 1935 to celebrate the achievement.
In August 1919, Sydney received its first demonstration of radio telephony.
Throughout his career he held many key positions in the electronics industry. In the 1950s he predicted that color televisions would be in world-wide use within 30 years, and solar power would be used to cool and heat houses.
Fiskville,
Victoria, about 10 kilometres south of
Ballan, is named after him. From 1927 to 1969 it was the location of the
shortwave wireless transmitting complex operated by AWA as part of the
Imperial Wireless Chain.
Honours
source: Australian Dictionary of Biography
In 1933, he was invested to the
Order of the Crown of Italy
Fisk received the
King George V Silver Jubilee Medal in 1935
Fisk was
knighted on 11 May 1937.
It's an Honour
Retrieved 15 July 2013
Gallery
File:Ernest Fisk house 01.jpg, Ernest Fisk's house "Lucania", Wahroonga, Sydney, Australia. Site of the first wireless message from Wales to Australia, 22 September 1918.
File:Monument celebrating first wireless broadcast between Wales and Australia 1918.jpg, The monument erected 14 December 1935.
File:Monument celebrating first wireless broadcast between Wales and Australia 1918 2.jpg, The monument.
File:Monument celebrating first wireless broadcast between Wales and Australia 1918 3.jpg, The monument with "Lucania" behind.
File:Monument celebrating first wireless broadcast between Wales and Australia 1918 4.jpg, Detail of inscription on the monument Part I.
File:Monument celebrating first wireless broadcast between Wales and Australia 1918 5.jpg, Detail of inscription on the monument Part II.
File:Monument celebrating first wireless broadcast between Wales and Australia 1918 6.jpg, Detail of inscription on the monument Part III.
File:Monument celebrating first wireless broadcast between Wales and Australia 1918 7.jpg, Bicentennial plaque celebrating the achievement 70 years later in 1988.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisk, Ernest Thomas
1886 births
1965 deaths
Australian Knights Bachelor
Radio pioneers
20th-century Australian businesspeople
British emigrants to Australia