There he first worked in the Department of Zoology at the University of Western Australia for 3 years, before pursuing a career with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

[1] He began collecting and studying beetles in the forests around his hometown during his mid-teens and also volunteered in museums and scientific institutions in Budapest.

[2] After receiving his doctorate from the University of Innsbrück in Austria, Bornemissza fled central Europe to escape the post-World War II Soviet regimes and traveled to Western Australia, where he arrived on 31 December 1950.

[1] Six months after arriving on Australian shores, while working with the Department of Zoology at the University of Western Australia,[3] he remarked upon a large number of old, dry cow dung pads that covered cattle grazing fields near Wooroloo, Western Australia[4] and compared this to the relatively dung-free cattle fields of his native Hungary.

[1] Bornemissza joined CSIRO in 1955[3] and continued to advocate for the introduction of bovine dung beetles to Australia whilst working on several other projects and studies.

Samples of the species Onthophagus gazella were transported to Australia where they were bred in sterile conditions before being released in Queensland in 1968.

To this end, Bornemissza traveled to Pretoria in 1970 where he helped establish a South African branch of the Australian Dung Beetle Research Unit.

[3][9][10] The Australian Dung Beetle Project is also said to have affected soil, water, and pasture health that is "undoubtedly worth many millions of dollars a year".

[11] Bornemissza moved to Tasmania in 1979 and formally retired in 1983 but continued to work privately to foster awareness of beetles and conservation issues.

Entitled George Bornemissza's Forest Beauties of the Beetle World: A Tribute to Biodiversity and an Appeal for its Preservation, the collection is structured into five sections focussed on size range, allometry, color, secondary sexual dimorphism and zoogeography.

[2][13] The Bornemissza Collection of beetles was the subject of an episode of the TV show "Collectors" shown on the Australian television channel ABC in 2005.

These beetles feed on and reproduce in decaying wood and it was found that forest-clearing practices have led to a significant decrease in the distribution and abundance of several species.

[citation needed] Some, including Bornemissza's Stag Beetle (Hoplogonus bornemisszai), are now considered endangered species, and improved forest management strategies in Tasmania are recommended.