Sir Victor Burley
BURLEY, Victor George, CBE BE (1914-2002)
Sir Victor Burley, the ‘Chocolate Soldier’, was one of Tasmania’s most celebrated engineers who made very significant contributions to his chosen industry and to the promotion and development of science, engineering and education at national and international levels.
Burley studied engineering at the University of Tasmania where he found time for student politics serving as Students’ Union President in 1937 and as the first student to be invited to attend University Council meetings as an observer. It was at the University that he met Loyal Lord, a rare female science student, who he later married and who provided lifelong encouragement and support for all his endeavours. Burley was to maintain a close and broad connection with the University for the rest of his life.
After graduation in 1938 Sir Victor joined Cadbury Fry Pascall Pty Ltd, whose headquarters and production operations were based at the iconic “Factory by Mountain and Sea” at Claremont, just north of Hobart, as their only qualified engineer. This was the start of a 40-year career in which his engineering and technical contributions to the then fledgling Australian enterprise and to the global development of Cadbury cannot be overestimated.
The Tasmanian factory had been established by the U.K. parent company, Cadbury Bros. Ltd. of Bourneville, in 1921 to serve a growing Australian confectionery market previously supplied by imports. Burley was mentored by the parent company’s Chief Engineer, Kenneth Andrews, and spent much of his first few years in the U.K. where he was involved in the Company’s development work.
He became a friend of the then Cadbury Bros. Chairman, Lawrence Cadbury, and to successive family generations and enjoyed such confidence that the Claremont Factory, isolated from competitors’ scrutiny, became a centre for international technical development. Burley was a technical adviser and inspiration for the many Cadbury operations built or acquired steadily around the world. He was appointed Engineering Director of the Australian Company in 1948, a role he filled, among others, until retirement.
Burley was deeply interested in the manufacture of the Company’s flagship product, Cadbury Dairy Milk, which was made by evaporating milk with cocoa and sugar ingredients to produce a uniquely distinctive and popular flavour. From its first production in the early 1920s it was made in a slow and tedious batch fashion. One of Burley’s great achievements, based on his deep knowledge of chocolate and the engineering principles of milk processing, was to develop, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, a continuous process and plant for making Dairy Milk at Claremont which became the model for similar and some much larger developments across the Cadbury world. Today all Cadbury milk chocolates can trace their manufacturing processes back to Burley’s pioneering work.
However, his technical work with Cadbury was much broader than this. He was considered an expert on all aspects of milk processing, chocolate products (such as moulded blocks, bars and assortments) manufacture and wrapping, and sugar confectionery and was consulted not only by his international colleagues but by machinery manufacturers as well.
Claremont was always at the leading edge of confectionery manufacturing technology. Sir Victor’s interest in engineering was a consuming passion and he developed a deep understanding of steam generation, industrial refrigeration, electricity and hydraulics which he applied to factory services. He pioneered work on centrifugal refrigeration compressors and electrode boilers. He became a fellow of many engineering institutions, served as Chairman of the Institution of Engineers Tasmanian Division and was a member of the Australian Academy of Science
In later years, as the Australian business grew and the MacRobertson business was acquired, Burley took on responsibility for all aspects of manufacturing, served as a consulting director to the New Zealand company and was the Cadbury Australia Vice Chairman. He became a director of Cadbury Schweppes Pty Ltd after the Australian merger of these two companies.
Burley was awarded a CBE in 1969 for services to industry and retired from Cadbury in 1978. He became the foundation chairman of the Tasmanian Council for Advanced Education and, in that capacity, was instrumental in the establishment of the Tasmanian College of Advanced Education which later became part of the University.
His University of Tasmania activities were many and varied. He was a long-time consultant to the Engineering Faculty, a founding Governor of the University Foundation and an inaugural director of the University research company. He held the elected alumni leadership position of Warden of Convocation for many years and, in that capacity, provided support to the students’ Union Building Management Committee. He established a scholarship program at Cadbury for engineering and chemistry students which saw many through their university courses and on to employment with the company, mentored by him along the way.
He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Engineering and is celebrated by the Sir Victor Burley Scholarship awarded each year to an engineering student completing first year. His wide-ranging musical interests are recognised by the annual Sir Victor Burley Postgraduate Scholarship in Music.
Sir Victor had a long and important association with the CSIRO, first as chairman of the Tasmanian State Committee from 1964 -1978, and then as Chairman of the reconstituted National Council of the CSIRO from 1978 until 1981 which saw a critical transformation of the CSIRO structure and agenda.
In 1980 he was knighted for his contributions to industry and science.
He was survived by Lady Loyal Burley, his wife of more than 60 years, and by his children Victoria, Virginia, Victor (Gowan) and Imogen.
References:
Cadbury company archives, Claremont Tasmania.
The Mercury newspaper May 6 2002, page 36.
Who’s Who in Australia 1994.
Students First, Tasmanian University Union 1899-1999 – Alison Alexander (1999).
CSIRO Annual Report 1981.
Cadbury’s Claremont Factory. 16th Engineers Australia Heritage Conference. Wells and Best 2012.
Sweet Success – E. E. Barringer (2000), p99.
Companion to Tasmanian History, 2006.
