Julius Kruttschnitt

Julius Kruttschnitt II (7 May 1885 – 23 September 1974) was an American-born Australian mining manager, who helped to establish the mining industry in Queensland, Australia.

Early life and career Kruttschnitt was born 7 May 1885 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the son of Julius Kruttschnitt and his wife Wilhelmina. He was the great nephew of US Sen Judah P Benjamin (La)and CSA Secretary of War and Treasury. Grandmother of Sephardic Jewish ancestry and managed Belle Chasse, Sen Benjamin's cotton plantation. His grandfather was a Prussian consul in New Orleans, Louisiana. The elder Kruttschnitt was a railway engineer who would go on to become the Chairman of the Southern Pacific railroad company, which also laid tracks for their line in Mexico. After an early education in Belmont, California, Julius Kruttschnitt II went to Yale University, graduating with a B.Phil. in 1906. After a year of postgraduate work, he took a position as a mine surveyor with the Arizona Copper Company. Kruttschnitt married Marie Rose Pickering in San Francisco, California in 1907. He then moved to Asientos, Mexico to oversee their silver mine. to oversee the company's mining department and remained there until 1930.

Management of Mount Isa Mines

In July 1930, Kruttschnitt took a position for ASARCO in Australia as general manager of Mount Isa Mines Ltd, Queensland. It is probable that it was described as a short term position. In March 1941, a women's club which she had a major role in establishing was named the Marie Kruttschnitt Club in her memory. In 1944, he married his secretary Mrs Edna May Roger (née Maxted) in a private ceremony with Presbyterian rites at his home in Mount Isa. They moved to Twigg St, Indooroopilly in Brisbane after his retirement in 1953. This home was inundated by floodwater during the Brisbane floods of 1974. and 1952. He was awarded a gold medal from the English Institute of Mining and Metallurgy in 1962. He was also awarded the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy's medal in recognition of his outstanding services to the mining industry of Australia in 1946. He was a member of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers. Kruttschnitt was a member of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission's advisory committee on uranium mining from 1953 to 1960. He sat on the board of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Queensland from 1954 to 1962. He was granted an honorary Doctorate of Engineering in 1971 from the University of Queensland. Kruttschnitt was survived by two sons-Julius III and Ernest and two daughters Marie and Barbara from his first marriage and his step-son, Bruce from his second marriage. Kruttschnitt and wife Edna were both cremated and their ashes are interred at the Albany Creek Crematorium.

Legacy The University of Queensland Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre at Finney's Hill, Indooroopilly was named for him in 1971.

His home, Casa Grande, in Mount Isa is listed on the Queensland Heritage Register.