James William Foots was born in Jamieson, Victoria on 12 July 1916, the son of William Foots, who worked as an explosives expert in the Jamieson gold mines and his wife Ethel Allen.
Foots took up work at the Zinc Corporation mine in Broken Hill, and married Thora Thomas in 1939.
[3] During World War II, he and colleague, George Fisher worked on the creation of underground fuel storage tanks in Darwin during persistent bombing raids, before returning to work in Captain's Flat and Broken Hill in 1946.
[1] He rose to the position of general manager of Mount Isa Mines Limited in 1955, succeeding George Fisher.
[5] A building was also named in his honour at the St Lucia campus of The University of Queensland.