A Master of Invention

Peter Bloomfield’s (1983) Archibald Prize (2011) entry

Not Waving Drowning, of Olympic swimmer Daniel Kowalski, earned him a spot in the final cut, securing him a place in history as an artist. But it wasn’t enough for this self described inventor and innovator, whose greatest achievement, it turns out, is reinventing himself, from artist to entrepreneur, from farmer, to scientist, and most recently as an innovator, leading a team at the CSIRO to design a new generation of electric vehicle technologies.

As a student, Bloomfield was encouraged to pursue Maths and Science subjects and went on to study engineering. He was discouraged from studying art, but the passion lay dormant and in his final year at university, he discovered the contemporary art scene and enrolled in the Melbourne School of Art.

“I guess a final turning point was being thrown out of engineering drawing classes for doing freelance cartoons for The Herald newspaper.”

Since then, it has been a journey fueled by following his passion. “For me it has always been a journey of discovery and I have been fortunate enough to always end up doing what I am passionate about with the simple mantra ‘do what you love and love what you do, and everything else will take care of itself.’”

“This journey has led me through a world of art, design, business, farming, science, and as an entrepreneur now working on global solutions for sustainability in packaging, electric vehicles and green energy power innovations through my companies, the Rebus Corporation Pty Ltd, which conducts research and Mypangu Pty Ltd, which handles the licencing of new technologies.”

“My latest venture could potentially have an enormous impact on the lives of people around the world.”

By repurposing and expanding Newton’s Laws of Conservation of Energy, Bloomfield has invented an energy transfer system, which can theoretically power an electric vehicle beyond 2000 km on a single charge, whilst significantly minimising the number of batteries and hence reducing the world’s reliance on rare earth materials and in particular the limited resource of lithium.

“It’s quite possibly the single most exciting time to be a creative innovator as never before in the history of the world has the need for sustainable innovation been more urgently required and it is very exciting to be working with my team at the cutting edge of this transition.”

Bloomfield’s project, the Lemma Energy Transfer (LETS), is currently being developed under the umbrella of the CSIRO to commercialise the innovation and bring it to market.

Bloomfield’s current work is the culmination of well-honed skills which have evolved throughout his many reincarnations.

“In the world of commercial art, I founded an advertising agency into a national company with international clients. As a farmer, I developed one of the first carbon capture and credit farming systems in Western Victoria and together with Landcare, planted over 60,000 trees and developed nontraditional farming techniques to minimise salt degradation and environmental impacts from European farming techniques.”

“Nature has always provided me with direct scientific inspiration for my innovation work in sustainability. The answer to most of our green energy solutions can be found directly by dissecting the wonders of nature.”

For Bloomfield work is his hobby. “It’s the stuff I would be doing in my spare time anyway and I guess I have always been fortunate in that regard where I can combine all my interests into some form of ‘employment.’”

Whilst painting was his first passion, he admits it wasn’t enough to sustain him. “Painting wasn’t always fulfilling in every aspect of my creative journey and often felt I had more to achieve,” Bloomfield said.

His work is held in many private collections and his Archibald entry is part of the Australian Museum of Sport’s collection.

“As an artist I was always influenced by the unique Australian obsession with sport and sporting heroes and painted many sporting hero’s including Dennis Lillee, Greg Chappell and the late Rod Marsh. Coincidentally for many years his studio was located directly opposite the MCG – “the sporting cathedral for all Australians.”

When he is not working, Bloomfield says his family is his priority and he is fortunate to combine his love of raising his boys with his love of sport. “Naturally watching my kids play every kind of sport in existence on the weekends occupies a fair chunk of any spare time.”

“Mateship is the number one legacy from being a De La Salle College student. I always seem to bump into old school mates wherever I travel around the world, and even though you may not have seen them for years you are instantly drawn back into the friendship and association of being a De La mate. It’s a very unique quality for a school environment and one which hopefully will continue as my own boys now graduate as third family generation of De La Salle students.”

Bloomfield’s son Kobi is in Year 12 this year and his older son Kai graduated in 2019. His father Fred (dec.) graduated in 1953 and his two brothers; Matthew (1990) and Robert (1982) are also Old Collegians.

Editor’s note: Peter’s father, Fred Bloomfield (1953) can be seen in a photograph included in this issues’ From The Archives on page 27.

By Kerry Martin