Person

Knibbs, George Handley (1858 - 1929)

Kt

Born
13 June 1858
Redfern, New South Wales, Australia
Died
30 March 1929
Camberwell, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Statistician

Summary

Sir George Knibbs was the first Commonwealth Statistician (1906-1921) and a Director of the Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry (1921-1926). He was responsible for the production of the Commonwealth Year Book, first published in 1908, and had an international reputation for his work in vital statistics. With J. W. Turner, he was appointed Commissioner for a 1902 Royal Commission into New South Wales Education.

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Details

He is memorialised by the naming of Knibbs Street, Turner, Australian Capital Territory.

Chronology

1879 - 1889
Career position - Licensed Surveyor within the Trigonometrical and General Survey Department of New South Wales
1881
Career position - President, Royal Society of New South Wales
1889 - 1905
Career position - Lecturer in Geodesy, Astronomy and Hydraulics, University of Sydney
1892
Career position - President, Institution of Surveyors
1893
Career position - President, Institution of Surveyors
1900
Career position - President, Institution of Surveyors
1902
Career position - Co-Commissioner of the Royal Commission into New South Wales Education
1903 - 1905
Career position - President, Society of Child Study in New South Wales
1905 - 1906
Career position - Director of Technical Education in New South Wales
1906 - 1921
Career position - Commonwealth Statistician
1909
Career position - President, Section G1 (Social and Statistical Science), Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science
1911
Award - Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG)
1921 -
Career position - Foundation Councillor (Economics and Statistics), Australian National Research Council
1921 - 1923
Career position - President, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science
1921 - 1926
Career position - Director, Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry
1922 -
Career position - Chairman, Commonwealth Engineering Standards Association
1923
Award - Knight Bachelor (Kt)

Related Corporate Bodies

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

  • Collins, David, Chemistry in 19th Australia - Select Bibliography, An exhibition of the Encyclopedia circa 2005 with assistance from Ailie Smith and Gavan McCarthy., eScholarship Research Centre (original publisher), Melbourne, 2009, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/ciab/ciab_ALL.html. Details

Book Sections

  • Bambrick, Susan, 'Knibbs, Sir George Handley (1858-1929)' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds, vol. 9 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1983), pp. 620-621. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090623b.htm. Details
  • Knibbs, G. H., 'The history and development of the statistical system of Australia' in The history of statistics, their development and progress in many countries, Koren, J., ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1918), pp. 55-81. Details

Journal Articles

  • Anon, 'Obituary: Sir George Knibbs', Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 90 (372-3) (1930). Details
  • Ashton, R. L., 'George Handley Knibbs, 1858-1929', Australian Journal of Science, 21 (1959), 170-173. Details
  • Bambrick, Susan, 'First Commonwealth Statistician: Sir George Knibbs', Journal and Proceedings of The Royal Society of New South Wales, 102 (2) (1969), 127-135. Details
  • Heyde, C. C., 'Official statistics in the late colonial period leading on to the work of the first Commonwealth Statistician, G. H. Knibbs', Australian Journal of Statistics, 30 (B) (1988), 23-43. Details
  • Knibbs, G.H., 'Note on Recent Determinations of the Viscosity of Water by the Efflux Method', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 30 (1896), 186-193. Details
  • Speed, T. P., 'The role of statisticians in CSIRO: past, present and future', Australian Journal of Statistics, 30 (B) (1988), 15-34. Details
  • Wickens, C. H., 'Sir George Knibbs', Economic Record, 5 (1929), 334-5. Details

Resources

Resource Sections

See also

McCarthy, G.J.

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 23 February 2023

EOAS ID: biogs/P001075b.htm

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