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Collection of 210 documents relating to Denis George

Maker Denis George (Australian, 1917 - 2001)

Date1965- 1981

Object numberANMS1263

NameArchive series

ClassificationsEphemera

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from the George Family and Adrian Jackson

Terms

proposals

DescriptionThis series of 210 documents relate to the Australian pearl maker Denis George and his Milne Bay Province pearl farms in Papua New Guinea. This collection consists of 12 PNG boat licence's; 5 sets of newspaper clippings and articles; 2 telex's; 1 chart; 1 set of diary notes; 1 divers logbook; 3 sets of meeting Minutes; 1 pearling price list; 1 journal article and 2 sets of magazine articles and clippings; 1 sale agreement between Denis George and Milne Bay Pearls Pty Ltd; 22 telegrams; 3 pearling harvest reports; 1 wages book; 2 itineraries for travel to New Zealand; 1 set of postal receipts; 1 PNG Customs export permit; 5 proposals relating to the PNG pearling project; 1 list; 1 paper; 3 business cards and attachments; 1 set of Terms of Agreement; 1 pearling project document; 1 set of letters and notes relating to Japanese pearling; 116 letters relating to the proposal, establishment and employees of George's PNG pearling farm; 1 public statement paper; 1 booklet of proceedings of the South Coast Provincial Fisheries Council in Samarai, PNG; and 28 notes and related correspondence regarding the PNG pearling project and Japanese pearling.HistoryDenis George (1917-2001), a post-World War II Greek Migrant, was a self-taught pearl maker who found his own way to culture pearls and spent decades from the 1950s to the 1980s experimenting and trying to improve his products. His ambition was to culture a unique Australian pearl. He produced pearls mainly from 'Pinctada maxima' (gold lip pearl) and 'P. Margaritifera' (black lip pearl). He was a maverick in the Australian and Papua New Guinean pearl industry because he refused to collaborate with Japanese pearling companies who dominated pearl culture by keeping their technique secret and forming joint ventures with nationals. Denis George was never commercially successful but his achievements were remarkable. Not only did he develop his own way to seed pearl oysters, but he also pioneered the culture of pearls from 'Pteria penguin', a bivalve known as Butterfly Shell which was not then a recognised pearl shell. He was recognised in Japan for his pearling achievements, but was not well known in Australia. His efforts extended beyond his own individual interests, in lifelong attempts to establish locally owned and run pearl culture industries in Australia and Indo-Pacific countries. He also strove for recognition of the naturalist William Saville-Kent as the true originator, around 1890, of the cultured pearl technique which the Japanese later claimed as their own and developed as an industry.