ABSTRACT
George Elton Mayo was born on December 26, 1880, in Adelaide, the capital city of the colony of South Australia. Mayo was reared in Adelaide, attended St. Peter’s College and the University of Adelaide, and at thirty-eight became the first professor of philosophy at the University of Queensland. In 1851 Dr. Mayo visited American relatives and went to the Great Exhibition in London. Doctor Mayo was primarily a surgeon but maintained the warmth, sympathy, and conscientiousness of the family doctor. He was keen on exercise, enjoyed walking and bicycling, and was one of the last doctors in Adelaide to ride on horseback to see his patients. Mayo lived with his family until 1900. During his youth the colony of South Australia underwent economic, political, and social changes that affected him and from which he drew many illustrations for use in his later work.
