George Skellerup

George Waldemar Skellerup (14 February 1881 – 5 June 1955) was a New Zealand businessman, company director and industrialist.

Skjellerup was born in 1881 in Cobden, a small town in Victoria, Australia, 200 kilometres (120 mi) south-west of Melbourne.

In 1902 Skjellerup sailed to New Zealand with little money, in Dunedin claiming to make the first New Zealand-made pneumatic bicycle tyres.

Later he moved to Canterbury, eventually getting a job in Christchurch for the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company, who he previously worked for in Melbourne.

Caused by the shortages of World War II, he was asked by the government to reclaim rubber from old car tyres.