Foreword

Charles Goode AC

George Alexander’s usual response to people who asked him about this life was, ‘Oh, I’ve done nothing special. I’m just a pommy migrant who got lucky.’

The story in this booklet shows how modest was this statement and the man himself. George Alexander’s life story is an extraordinary tale of achievement in the face of great odds and it exemplifies the ethos that has helped build Australia.

After a childhood of great hardship in England, he came to Australia in 1926 to make a better life for himself. Sent to work on soldier settlement farms in western Victoria, he faced the adversity of the depression years with resilience and resourcefulness. His skill with his hands and his interest in machinery led him to train himself as a mechanic and during the Second World War he worked as a production engineer in munitions factories in Geelong and Melbourne, as well as teaching engineering subjects at the Gordon Institute and RMIT. He worked hard and after the war he used his natural ingenuity to create a successful manufacturing business based on several of his own inventions.

Following the sale of the business in the early 1970s he spent the last third of his long and active life in ‘giving back’ to the community. He always had the attitude to money and possessions that you do not really own them, ‘you’re just minding them’. Consequently, his decision to set up a philanthropic foundation was an easy one. The George Alexander Foundation now has a substantial corpus and the income is devoted to enabling talented young people, who may be restricted by financial circumstances to obtain a good education and be in a better position to make the most of their abilities. By 2008 George Alexander Scholarships were given annually at 12 tertiary institutions with plans for further expansion. The George Alexander Foundation also makes grants to assist in sustaining the environment for the enjoyment of our and future generations.

George Alexander was a private man who lived modestly and never sought public recognition for his acts of generosity. He always resisted having his life story recorded and only agreed in the hope that it might help prompt others to become involved in active philanthropy.