Poul Fraenkel
FRAENKEL, Poul Hermann, Dip Elec Eng BEE (Melb) BE (UWA) MIEAust MIEE (1880-1948)
Poul was born at Valby, Copenhagen, Denmark, on June 28, 1880. He was the son of Professor Arnold Siegfried Thorvald Julian Fraenkel and his wife Ida Hansine Fraenkel (nee Gloerfelt).
His secondary education was in Copenhagen before commencing a two year practical placement in a Danish dockyard. He then studied electrical engineering at the Polytechnical University of Copenhagen for three years and at the Technical High School in Mittweida in Saxony for two further years. He successfully completed a Diploma in Electrical Engineering in 1905 and decided to come to Australia.
He arrived in Melbourne on October 5, 1905 on the “RMS Ortona” and commenced work as an electrical designer at George Weymouth Proprietary Limited in Richmond.
On May 18, 1907, he married fellow Dane Johanne Marie Henning in Victoria. She had only arrived in Melbourne two weeks before. They had one daughter, Anna Laura Hennings Fraenkel (Tossi), born in November 1916.
In 1910, Poul commenced work as an engineering consultant as well as lecturing in electrical engineering at what became the Melbourne Technical College. He also completed a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at Melbourne University (graduation 1915). As a Dane, he was regarded as an alien, and he applied for and was granted a Certificate of Naturalisation in 1911.
The University of Western Australia (UWA) recruited Poul to lecture in electrical engineering at what was then the isolated Engineering Faculty based in Shenton House, Nedlands in 1914. He was crucial in establishing the electrical engineering course and was described by Professor Walter Murdoch as “the father of the Electrical Engineering Department”.
Emma Hawkes in her Brief History of the School of Engineering states “Mining and Engineering was one of the foundation chairs of the University of Western Australia, along with Agriculture, Maths and Physics, Biology, History and Economics, English, Chemistry, Geology and Philosophy. In 1913 the university began teaching, with 184 students enrolled across the three faculties. Twenty seven of these were Engineering students, instructed by Professor Whitfeld, the inaugural chair of Mining and Engineering, and A. Tomlinson who lectured in Structural Engineering. In 1915 they were joined by P.H. Fraenkel who taught Electrical Engineering. These three men developed a five year degree in Engineering which was suitable for both students fresh from school and for men who had previously been studying Engineering at the existing technical schools."
In April 1916, he was admitted “ad eundum gradum” to the degree Bachelor of Engineering at UWA.
In 1925 he was promoted to Associate Professor and the Head of the Electrical Engineering Department at UWA.
In December 1929, he undertook a tour of the Engineering Schools at Milan, Zurich, Paris, Berlin, Copenhagen and London as well as attending the World Power Conference in Berlin as the UWA representative.
In 1931, following the death of Dr W J Hancock, Poul organised a fund for a memorial window to be installed in Winthrop Hall. He coordinated funding from members of the Engineers' Club at the University of Western Australia, the West Australian branch of the British Medical Association, the Institution of Engineers of Australia, the Royal Society of Western Australia and the Faculty of Engineering at UWA. The window was unveiled in February 1934.
He held the position of Head of the Electrical Engineering Department until 1946 when he retired from full time work. He was still lecturing part time at UWA and he was at UWA when he suffered a heart attack and died on May 17, 1948, aged 67.
Poul was survived by his wife and daughter.
Poul was well connected with industry and undertook consulting work in addition to his academic role. He established the registered company P H Fraenkel Limited to facilitate undertaking consulting work. In 1920, in his role as Consultant to the Australian Electric Company Limited, he designed the first alternating current electric motor to be built in Western Australia. The 150 horsepower motor was complex, involving 280,000 individually stamped holes in the rotor and stator.
Poul was a Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (London) and was appointed as Honorary Secretary for that organisation in WA. He was very active in the Institution of Engineers Australia joining as a founding Associate Member in 1919 and becoming a full Member in 1926. He was Chairman of the WA Division in 1935. His Retiring Chairman’s was Shenton’s Villa : reminiscences from the School of Mining and Engineering of the University of Western Australia. He played a key role in the National Engineering Conference held in Perth and Kalgoorlie between March 29 to April 7, 1936.
From 1917 to 1920 he was the Acting Danish Consul in WA. From 1920 to his death in 1948 he held the position of Consul. In 1933 he was awarded the Chevalier of the Order of Dannebrog for his services to Denmark. In May 1935 he was awarded the Jubilee Medal on the WA List.
References:M
West Australian, 20.5.1915, p6
West Australian, 28.4.1916, p3
West Australian, 6.11.1916, p1
West Australian, 24.5.1919, p3
Westralian Worker, 30.7.1920, p3
Western Mail, 30.6.1921, p2
Daily News, 24.12.1925, p10
Western Mail, 26.12.1929, p4
West Australian, 4.7.1932, p12
Sunday Times, 5.11.1933, p4
West Australian, 5.2.1934, p16
West Australian, 7.5.1935, p23
West Australian, 30.3.1935, p32
West Australian, 18.5.1948, p2
Dr Emma Hawkes, History of the School of Engineering, Centre for Western Australian History, October 1998.
Fraenkel, Poul H., Shenton’s Villa : reminiscences from the School of Mining and Engineering of the University of Western Australia, Institution of Engineers, Australia. Western Australia.
Compiled by Chris Fitzhardinge, January 14, 2025
