Chum Ferris was a pioneer of the car radio in Australia, although he never claimed to have invented the idea. From a tiny number of car radios manufactured in the
United States at the turn of the 1930s, by 1934
well over a million were sold, and in 1938 Chum Ferris released the Ferris Fultone 56, the first car radio designed and built in Australia.
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William
Malcolm Ferris, who died aged 93, was the son of Henry Ferris, a railway worker. The origin of the nickname Chum is lost in the mists of time. Ferris attended
Sydney High School and made pocket money by repairing neighbours' electrical appliances.
He started his business in 1932, building
home radio receivers one at a time in a rented flat above a Mosman butcher's
shop. His elder brother George joined him in 1934, and they established Ferris Bros Pty Ltd - what would now be called a high-risk, high-tech start-up. Despite the initial success of the Fultone 56, war intervened, bringing with it petrol rationing and shortages. Ferris Bros diversified into manufacturing gas-producing units to provide alternative fuel for cars, and at one point was part-owner of a stud piggery in Blacktown.
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The old Australian made Ferris valve radio above was designed for both car and
home, running off 240 or 12 volt. The radio bolted into metal hook brackets under the dashboard of a car and with some effort, could be removed temporarily for picnics or used in the
home permanently. Heavier than a sackful of bricks, this radio is 'portable' only in that that it can, if needed be moved around - it's certainly not portable in any sort of lightweight, convenience sense.
After the war private car ownership took off, and in 1947 the brothers brought out the Model 74, which operated from either six-volt or 12-volt car batteries or 240-volt mains power. It was a great success and the Ferris name soon became a synonym for car wireless. In those days radio was king, and transmission quality and music recording technology had improved dramatically, but good sets were not cheap.
By being able to run on different power sources, the 74 allowed consumers to purchase a single radio for
home and car, and print advertising of the day shows families with their Ferris wireless - "You can play it everywhere!".
The firm diversified into television and antennae production, and even released a line of model trains - "A joy for every boy!" - which are now collectors' items. The introduction of transistors, and a tariff-protected electrical industry, saw the company grow in the '50s and early '60s into a business employing more than 700 workers, putting together Australian-designed receivers. The transistor made an enormous difference - car radios shrank into the dashboard rather than being slung underneath, and started working as soon as you hit the "on" switch. Generations of Australians have never had to wait for a radio to warm up, let alone had to change a valve.
While best known for radios, Ferris Bros was a truly diverse operation, manufacturing TV receivers, laboratory equipment, even boat trailers and golf buggies. A keen sailor as
well as a serial tinkerer, Ferris became so frustrated at the bad TV reception he had when his boat swung backward and forward at anchor that he designed a fully rotating antenna system which could receive signals from any position. This became yet another Ferris product.
Ferris sold his business to the
Hawker Siddeley group in 1970, and changes in tariff law soon meant that it was uneconomical to produce consumer electronics in Australia. By the mid-1970s it was possible to land a Japanese radio here for less than the unassembled parts would cost locally.
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Ferris was made a fellow in the Institute of Radio and Electrical Engineers in 1981 in recognition of his many inventions and pioneering work in Australian electronics. In 1998 he donated a vast amount of advertising material, journals and a large collection of radios, spanning more than 30 years of production, to the Powerhouse Museum in
Sydney.
I had a Ferris Radio in my EK Holden, it was a press button model, and had a cradle that it slid into and locked in when the handle was folded down, I bought it at Jones' Music
shop in Waikerie, SA around around 1966. It was all metal and very strong construction.
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