Biography

George Henry Frederick Ulrich F.G.S. was born on 7 July 1830 at Zellerfeld, Upper Harz in the State of Hanover and named Georg Heinrich Friedrich. He was the son of Friedrich Engelhard Ulrich and Catherine Elizabeth Ulrich nee Herstell (Herstall)

George was educated at the Royal Gymnasium, Clausthal. In 1851 he graduated with distinction from the Royal Scool of Mines, also in Clausthal, and served some years in the Mining Department of the Prussian Government. In 1853 he emigrated to Australia on the ship ‘Wilhelmsburg’ landing in Melbourne. George experienced life as a ‘digger’ moving from one goldfield to another for some years. On returning to Melbourne in 1857 he was appointed assistant secretary and draughtsman for the Victoria Mining Commission.

On 9th July 1858 George became a British subject and his Christian names were anglicised to George Henry Frederick. Also in 1858 he was appointed the Field Geologist for the Victorian Geological Survey and held this position through till its abolition in 1869. George next became the curator of the newly founded Industrial and Technological Museum in Melbourne, he also lectured in mining at the Melbourne University and consulted throughout much of Australia and Tasmania,

George’s work as a consultant bought him to New Zealand in 1875 to report on the Otago gold-fields for the Otago Provincial Government. He was offered the position of first director of the School of Mines and Professor of Mining and Mineralogy at Otago University, which he accepted. He bought his family to New Zealand and they settled in Dunedin in early 1878.

At the time he left Melbourne he was acknowledged to be the leading authority on Australian minerals and a relatively recent discovered new mineral was named after him in honour of his work in Victoria. He was an ardent petrologist, mineralogist and crystallographer, his personal collection of minerals is held in the Otago Museum of which he was the director for a short period and did much to build up its exhibits. Music also held a big place in his lfe and for many years he was the president of the Dunedin Liedertafel the forerunner of the present Royal Dunedin Male Choir

An unfortunate accidental fall on Flagstaff Hill near Port Chalmers while out collecting geological specimens caused his death in 1900. The library at the school of mines was named the Ulrich Memorial Library and an award, the Ulrich Medal, was established for students in Mineralogy at the Otago University.

On June 31st 1871 he married Catherine Sarah Spence in Melbourne. The daughter of Thomas and Eliza Spence from Belfast in Northern Ireland. Catherine came to melbourne aged 10 years on the ship ‘ Lord Hungerford’, February 10 1849. The couple had seven children, Rose Caroline Spence, Ellen (Ellie) Annie Rusack, Frederick Daintree Herstall, Frank Ferdinand Aplin, Gerard Adolphus Chapman, George Henry Roemer, Kathleen May Ahrendt. Rose, Frederick and Kathleen are also interred in the Northern Cemetery.