George Hondros
HONDROS, Gergious (George) BE PHD MIEAust FASCE MACI (1920-1966)
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George Hondros was born on the island of Kastellorizo on December 25, 1920. He was the son of Kyriakos Emanuele Hondros Yiannacos and his wife Assimina Yiannacos nee Hatzistavrianou. George was the youngest of six children and was only four years old when the family migrated to Australia. With his mother and his siblings, he travelled on the Ville de Verdun arriving at Fremantle on October 10, 1925 but disembarking at Adelaide a week later. The island of Kastellorizo was under Italian control from March 1921 and the family were regarded as Italian nationals when they migrated to Australia.
His father died from cancer in December 1925 and the family remained in Adelaide until 1932 when they moved to Perth.
George sat his Junior Certificate (1935) and his Leaving Certificate (1937) at Perth Modern School. He commenced a five year Bachelor of Engineering at the University of Western Australia in 1938, graduating in April 1942.
In 1942, George applied to be naturalised and his Australian citizenship was granted on November 29, 1942.
Following graduation George worked as the Assistant Building Surveyor at the City of Perth for 14 months. In 1943 he commenced work at a munitions factory in Welshpool as a plant engineer. In February 1946 he was appointed as a Lecturer in Civil Engineering at the University of Western Australia. He was later promoted to Senior Lecturer.
He completed a PHD at the University of Western Australia in 1962 undertaking research in concrete. He also worked as consultant structural engineer for the City of Perth, Main Roads WA and Wesfarmers. His academic expertise was in structural analysis, concrete and soil mechanics.
George married Tanya Elizabeth Tilbury around 1956. They had two children, Jack George Hondros and Assimina Elizabeth Hondros.
George was active in the Association of Professional Engineers Australia (APEA) being elected as the Hon Secretary for WA in 1950 and being a Federal Councillor for APEA from 1950 to 1958.
In 1957, the world famous Luigi Nervi was approached to design a cathedral to be built at New Norcia. George became involved as the local engineer to identify the capability of industry to construct the design and to ensure that it would comply with local building codes. In 1962, George travelled to Rome to meet Nervi to discuss the project. The cathedral was to be funded by land sales of church property in Perth but was never built.
George died on October 15, 1966, aged 45, being survived by his wife and their two children.
In 1942, George had become a Student Member of the Institution of Engineers, Australia and in 1962 was elevated to full Member. He was also a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and a Member of the American Concrete Institute.
George and his two brothers were elite wrestlers. George was also selected to represent Western Australia in rugby union. A high point in club rugby was him kicking the winning field goal in the dying minutes from an unexpected position to win the 1947 rugby grand final for University against Palmyra. He was awarded a Half Blue for rugby in 1941. He also played rugby union for Associates and rugby league with the Hellenic Association.
On May 7 1968, the Dr George Hondros Memorial Lecture was first held at the University of Western Australia as a mark of respect for the popular and capable academic. The series continued for 29 lectures involving prominent presenters such as Tristram Carfrae, the designer of the Beijing Water Cube and Dr Cao Gaungjing the engineer in charge of the Three Gorges Dam in China.
References:
Sunday Times, 27.10.1946, p9.
Non Loqui, University Engineers Club, 1966 and 1967.
Annette Condello, Nervi and New Norcia – Italian Modernity in the Australian Outback, ARC, July 2012.
The ambition of Pier Luigi Nervi’s unbuilt country cathedral, ArchitectureAU, accessed June 7, 2021.
