George Waldemar Skellerup (14 February 1881 – 5 June 1955) was a New Zealand businessman, company director and industrialist.

Early life

Skjellerup was born in 1881 in Cobden, a small town in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, Australia, south-west of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. He was the 13th and final child of Margaret Williamson and Peder Jensen Skjellerup, one of his siblings being the astronomer Frank Skjellerup. His father worked as a farmer before dying in an accident when Skjellerup was two years old.

Professional life

He moved to

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

in 1897 after leaving school aged 12 to be apprenticed to a surveyor. In Fremantle he worked under a Perth businessman before returning to Cobden in 1899. He soon left to make bicycle tyres for

Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company Dunlop Ltd. (formerly Dunlop Rubber) was a British multinational company involved in the manufacture of various natural rubber goods. Its business was founded in 1889 by Harvey du Cros and he involved John Boyd Dunlop who had re-invented and ...

. In 1902 Skjellerup sailed to New Zealand with little money, in Dunedin claiming to make the first New Zealand-made pneumatic bicycle tyres. Later he moved to

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

, eventually getting a job in Christchurch for the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company, who he previously worked for in Melbourne. Skellerup became self employed in 1910 with the manufacture of rubber products; his company was called the Para Rubber Company. By 1918, he had four retail outlets. After floating his company on the

stock exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for ...

in 1919, he had the capital to open further shops in both the North and South Island. Being hard hit by the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, he set up further companies in the late 1930s: the Latex Rubber Company (waterproof coats), the Empire Rubber Mills (milking machine components), and the Marathon Rubber Footwear (gumboots). He was denied a licence by the government for manufacturing car tyres. Caused by the shortages of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he was asked by the government to reclaim rubber from old car tyres. There was not enough salt in the country for this venture and in 1942, he started the project to obtain salt from

Lake Grassmere Lake Grassmere / Kapara Te Hau is a New Zealand waituna-type lagoon in the northeastern South Island, close to Cook Strait. The lake is used for the production of salt. Geography Lake Grassmere, south of Blenheim and south of the mouth of ...

. He set up Skellerup Solar Salt Ltd, which later became

Dominion Salt A dominion was any of several largely self-governance, self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of self-governing colony, colon ...

when the government took over the company. At his death in 1955, he was succeeded by his eldest son Sir Valdemar Skellerup (1907–1982) who was chairman and joint managing director of Skellerup Industries for 26 years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skellerup, George 1881 births 1955 deaths Australian emigrants to New Zealand 20th-century New Zealand businesspeople Businesspeople from Victoria (state)