in 1967, whitmore was appointed to the chair of mining and metallurgical engineering at the university of queensland. his chief programs were to appoint new staff to the department as the mining boom was increasing demand for graduate engineers and to push forward with the move of the department to the st lucia campus of the university. he developed links with industry which led to the establishment of a number of scholarships and support from mim holdings ltd for the creation of a mineral research centre. the julius kruttschnitt mineral research centre was opened in 1970 to recognise the work of kruttschnitt who had been a former chairman of mim holdings. it was located at the university’s experimental mine site at indooroopilly.