Sir George Fisher Lecture 2023

SAVE THE DATE - Friday 25 August 2023, Rydges, South Townsville

About this event

Join the North Queensland Branch for the 43rd Sir George Fisher Lecture and Dinner 

The Sir George Fisher Lecture series was initiated by the AusIMM North Queensland Branch in 1977 and endowed with a grant by MIM Holdings Limited. The Lecture, held annually, is in recognition of the contribution made by Sir George Fisher to the development of North Queensland in general and Townsville in particular.

Sir George Fisher spent 50 years in the Australian mining industry and was Chairman of Mount Isa Mines (MIM) Limited during the company’s major expansion of copper and silver-lead-zinc production in the 1950s and 1960s. He is also closely identified with the development of Mount Isa from a small town to a major inland city.

Sir George was born in South Australia and received his formal education there. In 1925, he graduated from Adelaide University with a Bachelor of Engineering (Mining). From 1925 to 1951, he worked at Broken Hill and when he left there for Mount Isa, he was the President of the Mining Managers Association and GM and Director of Zinc Corporation Ltd.

In 1952, he was appointed Deputy Chairman of MIM Limited and became Chairman the following year. In 1970, he retired from that position and was appointed President and a Director of MIM Holdings Limited, the new company formed to co-ordinate the activities of the Mount Isa group.

Sir George was created a Knight Bachelor in 1967. He was President of AusIMM on three separate occasions and was awarded the AusIMM Institute Medal in 1958 and the Gold Medal of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, London in 1964.

When the James Cook University became autonomous in 1971, Sir George was appointed the first Chancellor, a position he held until his retirement in 1974. Sir George was also the inaugural President of the Australian Mining Industry Council in 1967.

Among other significant awards was the Kernot Memorial Medal in 1969, awarded by the University of Melbourne for distinguished engineering achievement in Australia, and the John Storey Medal in 1972, awarded by the Australian Institute of Management for his distinguished contribution to the development of management in Australia. In 1965, he had conferred on him an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering by the James Cook University of North Queensland.

In 1998, MIM Ltd announced the new George Fisher mine – a zinc, silver and lead prospect next to the Hilton mine about 20 kilometres north of Mount Isa. This gave Fisher the keenest pleasure, especially as he had put in the first teams to drill and explore the Hilton area. He was 97 when he travelled to Mount Isa in 2000 for the formal opening of the mine. His interest in the progress of those workings continued for the rest of his life.

Fisher set very high ethical standards for himself from his earliest years, and he lived by those standards all his life. He was always thoughtful and charitable towards others. Sir George Fisher passed away in 2007, aged 104.