George Anderson Richard, probably born George Anderson Richards (20 November 1861 – 12 October 1943) was a mine engineer with Mount Morgan Mine, Queensland and general manager 1903–1912. He was almost invariably referred to as G. A. Richard, and from 1908 to his death customarily prefixed by "Captain".[1]
Richard was born in Tasmania, a son of mine manager[2] Moses John Richards (died at George Town, Tasmania on 3 June 1910) and his wife Eliza Richards, née Sullivan (died at Beaconsfield on 20 August 1904).
Richard was resident at Lefroy in 1882 when he owned a small parcel of shares in the Wanderer Gold Mining Company.[7]
He studied at the Ballarat School of Mines, and worked for a time in an assay office at Charters Towers, where he made some improvements to the systems employed there.[8]
He is said to have become an employee of the Mount Morgan Mine in 1884[9] in some minor capacity, and having gained the confidence of J. Wesley Hall (managing director and brother of Walter Russell Hall), was soon working in the assay office, and when Henry Trenear left, served in his place as head of that section.[1] Wesley Hall retired in 1891, ushering in a new power elite, who attempted to interfere in technical matters, which Richard resisted strenuously.[1] By 1894 he was making major changes in the ore treatment sheds, having greatly modified and simplified the gold extraction process, with demonstrable improvements in gold recovery and reduced costs.[10]
In 1901 he was left £2,000 in Wesley Hall's will.[11] Later that year he and G. P. Seale were sent by the company on a nine-month round-the-world tour of major gold producers.[12]
Richard was appointed mine manager in 1903.[13] after the death of Roger Lisle, and general manager a few months later.[14] By this time the Mine had collected a technical staff of expertise rivalled by no other company in Australia, with the possible exception of BHP, with salaries to match. At a rumoured £3000 or more, Richard was reckoned to be the highest paid employee of any industrial company in Queensland.[1]
The news of his resignation was released on 1 July 1912.[15] One historian asserts that it was made under pressure from managing director R. S. Archer, under instructions from directors R. G. Casey and (Sir) Kelso King, who believed he could not resist workers' demands in the event of a strike.[16] There had been reports of stormy meetings, and in truth he may not have been sorry to go. There had been two recent mine disasters,[17][18] and major problems with the new copper extraction process.[1]
In retirement he spent much time with his sons who were sheep-farming in the north-west of the State, did some munitions work during The Great War and campaigned for an improved railway system to alleviate the effects of drought on farmers. For much of his later life he lived at Norman Crescent, East Brisbane.[8]
He died in Brisbane General Hospital and was cremated.[16]
Richard married Ada Ellen Frances Neill (1870 – 20 September 1959), daughter of Mount Morgan's chief engineer, Hugh Green Neill, on 20 May 1891. His brother Frank married her sister, a noted beauty.[1] Their children include:
"... his sons are sheep farming in the north-west ..."[27]
Other children of Moses Richards include: