George Thomas
sociology, philosophy
George Thomas was born in 1922, in the former Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia.
Called into the armed services when Japan started the war in the East, he was caught in the mountains of the island of Java and consequently interned in Japanese concentration camps for four years. He ended up working on the railway the Japanese were building through the island of Sumatra from Pakanbaru. This until the end of the war.
After the war he went back to Holland and received an interest free loan from the Government, enrolled in the Academy of Arts and started studies in Interior Architecture and Design, a five year full time course.
The fourth year, being a practical year, was completed in Sweden.
Whilst in Sweden he was offered a scholarship to finish his studies in the final year of the Swedish Design Institution in Gothenburg, which led to his first job at the age of 26.
He then married, started a family with the birth of a son and migrated to Australia in 1964 where 2 more sons were born into the family.
He soon had a job designing school furniture for the New South Wales Department of Education, which he held until he retired.
After retirement, he settled in Dunbogan New South Wales until moving into a retirement village at Avalon Beach at the age of 89, where he completed his book.
