About Us

Star Delta was formed in the post second world war era where service people returned from war with technical skills learned from being in the defence force. It was the electrical skills that Charlie Dorn had learnt enabled him and John Innes to start making Power Transformers to satisfy the need for infrastructure of a growing economy.

By early 1960’s Charlie Dorn and John Innes (Innes Corp. Pty Ltd) were partners in Power Transformers making a range of transformers for industry needs.

As an interesting side story, the Department of Fair Trading had an issue with the name “Power Transformers” being used by Charlie and John for the transformer business they were operating. This is because it was a generic name to describe all transformers.

In the early 1970’s the Department of Fair trading insisted that Power Transformers change its name and asked John and Charlie to provide three alternative names. Fair Trading would then decide the name of the company. One of the three names provided was “Star Delta” which Charlie and John believed was the least likely (since it is a generic electrical term) however this was the name chosen by the Department of Fair Trading.

Throughout the 70’s, , 80’s and 90’s the company continued steady growth also selling computers, generator sets and air-conditioning equipment.

By the 1990’s Star Delta was doing more special custom work for customers however not all was well with the administration of the company’s tax liabilities. This was not a one off situation and in this instance the Tax Department doubled the amount of Tax payable and forced the company into Administration.

Interestingly the company had enough money in their account to pay more than the full amount of tax due but certainly not double. Charlie had left this important part of the business in the hands of a clerk who had not remembered to make regular tax payments.

The company operated successfully under administration and was eventually sold to Neville McElroy in 1995. Neville continued to run the business successfully until selling it to Rohan Borrell in 2002.

Rohan was new to the transformer industry but was quick to learn about manufacturing transformers and making contact with other transformer manufacturers.

Over the years there were several transformer company owners (who were wanting to retire) approached Rohan to see if there was interest in taking over their business. Over the years this lead to Star Delta acquiring; Special Transformers, Sydney Transformers, Hunter Transformers, Grant Transformers, ABW Transformers and Transtronics.

While these were small businesses each business had special technical strengths that assisted Star Delta build a portfolio of transformer products to cater for a wide range of customers.