The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Lavater, George Theodore Adams
Lavater, George Theodore Adams, was born at Lausanne, Canton Vaud, Switzerland, on May 4th, 1831, and is a grandson of the younger brother of the celebrated divine and physiognomist, Johann Caspar Lavater. He took to the sea, and having come to Victoria as second officer of the Hoogly, left his vessel in 1852 to go to the goldfields. In July 1861 he entered the railway department of the Victorian Government service, and was appointed chief accountant in 1873. In Jan. 1887 he was temporarily relieved of his duties at the request of the Government, to act as secretary to the Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition of 1888.