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Recognition Biographies 1950 - 2006 Neil Wilfred Archbold, born 14 August 1950 in Ringwood, victoria, his family closely associated with the gold minig town of Chewton in central Victoria where Archbold's Gold Treatment Works had been operated by the Archbold family for over 100 years. Neil had an early passion for all aspects of natural history, with a special love of Lepidoptera and arachnids, which he maintained throughout his life. Neil's secondary school education at Camberwell Grammar in Canterbury, Melbourne and went on to Melbourne University, where he undertook degrees if BA, funded by a Commonwealth University Scholarship, MSc and then a PhD, completed in 1983. In 1973 he was awarded the C.M. Tattam Scholarship in Geology and was awarded a University of Melbourne Postgraduate Scholarship (1976-1979) enabling him to undertake a PhD on Permian brachiopods. Neil's research focussed on the spectacular Permian faunas of Western Australia, especially the brachiopods, the dominant element in most of those faunas. While doing his postgraduate degrees, Neil was employed as a part-time tutor (1973-1980) and then full-time tutor (1980-1982) in the Geology Department of the University of Melbourne, during which time he also tutored for the Council of Adulat Education in Melbourne. This he continued for 17 years (1973-1989) until full-time employment as Lecturer in Earth Sciences at the Rusden Campus of Victoria College (incorporated into Deakin University, 1992). For many years (1983-1988) he continued his association with Melbourne University as a Research Associate in its School of Earth Sciences but his new roles at Deakin made continued association with and frequent travel to his alma mater increasingly difficult. He had taught Higher School Certificate evening classes at University High School for three years (1977-1980), had temporary employment as a Scientific Services Officer in the Division of Geomechanics with the Commonwealth Scientific annd Induatrial Research Organisation in Melbourne (1983-1986), and had stints as a contract lecturer in the Department of Earth Sciences at Monash University (1984-1988), in the Department of Geology at Melbourne University (1986) and with the Separtment of Geography and Earth Sciences at the Melbourne College of Advanced Education (1988-1989). The patchwork of short-term teaching commitments came to an end when he was appointed Senior Tutor in Earth Sciences at Victoria College (1989). When Neil joined Deakin University, its Earth Science discipline was a minor entitly focused on undergraduate teaching. He soon developed it into a nationally and internationally recognised teaching and research group with a wide range of linkages to overseas institutions. Neil served as a member of verious advisory committees concerned with the School of Mining, Geology and Metallurgy of the Ballarat Univerity/University of Ballarat (1989-1998) and of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (1991-1998). Among numerous honours was his appointment (1994 until his death) as Guest Professor at the China University of Mining & Technology. Neil was prominent in activities of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), having been a titular member of its Subcommissions on Gondwana Stratigraphy (1986-2005) and History of Geology (1992-2005), as well as corresponding member of the Permian and Carboniferous subcomissions (1986 until his death, and 1992-2005 respectively). He was co-convenor of the Australian Working Group on 'Using Permian mixed biotas as gateways for Permian global correlations', had been a member of the International Geological Correlation Program project 203 on 'Permo-Triassic events if the eastern Tethys region and their intercontinental correlation' (1985-1988), and had been a member of the Working Group on the 'Carboniferous-Permian Boundary' (1987-1993). Neil was a member of the Royal Society of Victoria (from 1973), the Geological Society of AUstralia (from 1973), the Coal Geology Group of the GSA, the Association of Australiasian Palaeontologists, the Palaeontological Society (U.S.A.) and the Palaeontological Associations of Argentina and Spain. He had been a committee member (1982) and, subsequently treasurer (1983-1985) of the Victorian Division of the Geological Society of Australia (GSA), chairman of the DE Thomas Memorial Medal Committee (1985-2005), a comittee member of the Association of Australiasian Palaeontologists (AAP, 1982-83), and secretary of AAP (1994-1996). From his initial core area of research on the taxonomy of Permian brachiopods from Western Australia, he spread into considerations of other taxonomic groups (especially bivalves and trilobites), palaeogeography and palaeobiology, palaeoclimatology and palaeoecology, oceanic circulation patterns, and global stratigraphic alignments for the Permian and, later, Carboniferous systems. His taxonomic output included more than 150 new subfamilies and one new family of brachiopods as well as a new species. One of his major achievements was a pivotal role in publication (1995) of a comprehensive volume in Serbian and English on the Carboniferous of northwest Sebia by six authors, with himself and Smiljana Stojanovi-Kuzenko contributing the large and copiously illustrated chapter on brachiopods. Neil was also knowledgeable on the Cainzoic stratigraphy of southeastern Australia, publishing a modicum of work on Cainzoic brachiopods, echinoids and marsupials. JOHN A. TALENT, Macquarie University Fellow of the Geological Society of Australia Born in Hobart in 1949, my lifelong interest in geology and the natural world really commenced in 1966 during my final year of secondary school at Hobart Martriculation College where I had a great teacher of geology (Roy Pallett, with some assistance from Jim Jago). Subsequent undergraduate and post-gradute studies in geology were undertaken at the University of Tasmania (1967-69) and Macquarie University (1983-88) where I was fortunate enough to learn from the likes of Professor Sam Carey and Drs Max Banks, Pat Conaghan and Chris Powell. I was employed at the Tasmanian Department of Mines from 1970 until 1993 and held various positions in regional geological mapping and petroleum exploration administration. In 1993 I moved to the Department of Minerals and Energy in Western Australia as Manager of the Exploration and Production Branch in the Petroleum Division, responsible for all geotechnical matters relating to petroleum exploration and production in Australia’s premier hydrocarbon province. I joined TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company in 1997 and am currently Chief Geologist Asia Pacific, involved in the development and marketing of non-exclusive seismic surveys throughout the Asia Pacific region. I was Convenor of the 10th Australian Geological Convention held in Hobart in February 1990 -- although I had a great committee to do the real work, our planning efforts were somewhat hindered by the 1989 national pilot's strike, which threatened not only this event, but had major economic and social ramications throught the country. Following the convention I became national Secretary (Prof. David Green, President) and had a further stint on the Executive as Proxy for the Past-President following my move to Perth in 1993. I have been a member of the AJES Editorial Board since 2003. A fervent advocate of the value of professional and learned societies, I am also a member of the geological societies of America, London and Malaysia, together with the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), the Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia (PESA) and the royal societies of Tasmania and New Zealand. Foundation Member of the Geological Society of Australia I graduated from the University of Western Australia in 1951 and went on to do my B.Sc. Hons and M.Sc. there, during the time when Professor Rex Prider was Head of Department. After finishing at UWA, over the next 13 years I worked as an engineering geologist, first with the Main Roads Department of Western Australia and engaged in location of road construction materials, materials quality control and drill logging for bridge foundations. Following this, was my secondment to the Australian Road Research Board for a research project investigating the effects of seal design on the life of sealed roads in W.A. After a change of direction, for a few years I worked with Halpern, Glick and Lewis, Perth consulting engineers, doing subsurface foundation investigations for city building sites, small building projects, industrial sites and projected offshore sites for jack-up oil drilling rigs. At this time, a new Western Australian mining boom was underway following the 1967 Kambalda nickel discovery, and the proving of economic ore reserves by Western Mining Corporation. This fired my interest and I obtained work in 1970 with WMC. Initially I was seconded to assist in the Darling Range bauxite exploration programme for Alcoa Australia (in which WMC had an interest). Then afterwards I worked on exploration for iron ore (Tallering Peak), talc (Three Springs) and gold (Kalgoorlie region). Ultimately in late 1975, I changed direction again and began working as a mining geologist with Alcoa Australia. This turned into a long-term commitment and I stayed with Alcoa until my retirement in 2001. This period in the production environment was a very satisfying time and covered a number of work areas including operational grade control, ore reconciliation, bauxite ore development, mineable ore definition, project work and ore quality control. My association with GSA began in my graduate days in 1952, the inaugural year of the Society. As I recall, the staff of the WA Geology Department took an active part in moves towards the formation of the Society, and this had a strong positive influence on the student body. Since those days, I have never regretted being a GSA member and value this association increasingly as the years go by. Membership is of great assistance in retaining my interest in the wider geological world and I value the opportunity to attend local society meetings and conventions and being able to make or renew contacts with other geologists. Return to the Foundation Members page Foundation Member of the Geological Society of Australia I was born in Perth in 1923 and educated in Distance Education Classes, various State Schools and as a scholarship pupil at Scotch College, Claremont. In 1941 I completed the first year of a Science degree at the University of Western Australia and in 1942 enlisted in the RAN, in which I subsequently served as a corvette Petty Officer (Radar) in the southern and western Pacific. Following demobilisation early in 1946 I returned to the University of Western Australia and completed a B.Sc. under the post-war reconstruction scheme majoring in Geology. My palynological career began in my final honours year when, at the suggestion of Joe Lord, I followed John Dulhunty’s pioneering work in NSW and studied the spores and pollen of the Permian Collie Coal Measures. I continued palynological research after graduation initially confining it to coal measure sequences in Great Britain from 1949 to1952 and New South Wales between 1952 and 1955. With the expansion of Australian oil exploration activity following WAPET’s strike at Rough Range the emphasis of my studies changed. Since 1955 my principal research aims have been the application of fossil dispersed spores and pollen to the elucidation of stratigraphic problems, especially those relating to hydrocarbon exploration and to the study of plant evolution and palaeogeography. A more specialised interest has been the documentation and interpretation of palynological modifications manifesting the Permian-Triassic mass extinctions. Important sequences I have studied include the Late Palaeozoic of Libya, as consultant to Amoseas Petroleum, the Permian-Triassic of the Salt Range Pakistan in collaboration with Curt Teichert and Bernhard Kummel, the Permian-Triassic of Greenland, again with Teichert and Kummel, and the Permian-Triassic of the North Slope-Alaska as consultant to Standard Oil of California. I have also published a range of papers treating the palynostratigraphy of Western Australian sedimentary basins with emphasis on the Palaeozoic and early Mesozoic. I spent 1962 and early 1963 as Professor of Geology at New York University while in receipt of a Senior Fulbright Award and 1978-79 as Visiting Fellow at Aarhus University, Denmark. In 1968 I became an Associate Professor and since my retirement in 1988 have served as an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Western Australia. In 1988 I was awarded the W.R.Browne Medal by the Society. The results of my researches and those with my collaborators formed the basis of 81 publications and in addition over 400 indexed unpublished reports are held on file and may be accessed in the E. de C. Clarke Museum, University of Western Australia. Return to the Foundation Members page AM, DSc, D.(HC) Foundation Member of the Geological Society of Australia Born in Puchbowl, NSW, 1925, I attended local primary and high schools where an interest in working as an industrial chemist was triggered; during schooldays comments on gold prospecting by an uncle and bushwalking with a neighbour fostered interest in searching for things in the bush. On leaving school, I took a position as a cadet chemist but won a Public Exhibition which enabled me to study in the Faculty of Science at the University of Sydney. Advice from the chemist at my (temporary) workplace, A. James Lambeth (graduate in geology from the University of Sydney), was that geology was an interesting subject. I enrolled in the Faculty of Science in 1943 including geology, without any previous knowledge of it. After a field excursion or two I hd become enraptured to find out what could be deduced by observation and deduction from an outcrop of rock. I won the Slade Prize for Palaeontology in Second Year, was elected President of the Students’ Geological Society in that year, and worked as a geological assistant on the Warragamba Dam site over the 1944-45 long vacation. In Third Year a friend, Neville Stevens, and I had a short paper “Continents on the Move”, published in the Science Yearbook (Sydney University Science Association) and I read a book on experimental geophysical prospecting by Edge and Laby which I found very interesting. In 1946, I enjoyed field work at Stroud and Raymond Terrace as part of the Petrology Honours course for which I was awarded First Class Honours and a University Medal. Early in 1947 I came to Tasmania to work as a Demonstrator in the newly-established Department of Geology under Professor S.W. Carey. It was decided that I was to teach “soft-rock” geography – stratigraphy, palaeontology, sedimentology and the geology of fuels and, to first years, geomorphology; which I did until I retired in 1990. I was promoted through the academic ranks until I became Reader in 1966. I enjoyed teaching because it made me keep up with developments in the science and allowed interaction between my mind and that of others and occasionally produced a new thought. I was particularly interested in the supervision of research students – I saw students suddenly “catch fire” and watch new ideas born and the develop. I supervised honours, masters and PhD students, including some from Lille, France. I was a member of the Faculty of Science and, for a time(1973-75) Dean of Science. Another form of contact with students was through Fellowships at Colleges – I was Fellow and then Senior Fellow at two Colleges. As part of my duties in the Department of Geology I was a member of the Schools Board Science Committee and the higher School Geology Syllabus Committee and a judge in the Science Talent Quest for some years. These activities involved working with teachers, visiting schools and colleges and preparing teaching aids to be used in geology courses. I ran courses for the Workers Education Association and the Adult Education Board, gave talks to and ran excursions for bodies such as the Hobart Walking Club and the Tasmanian Field Naturalists Club. Part of my work in the extension field was the broadcast of a series of talks on Applied Geology and some TV appearances. A particularly enjoyable part of my duties was doing research - almost exclusively on Tasmanian topics; the thrill of discovery was intense, the need to prove the new observations and deductions a challenge and the results were rewarding. I worked on rocks and fossils ranging in age from Precambrian to Quaternary in many parts of the main island and on a number of offshore islands – the physical challenge was at times considerable but the wok very useful. The main thrust of my work was on Ordovician and Permo-Triassic rocks and fossils. I became interested in the history of geology in Tasmania and have had about a dozen papers dealing with historical aspects published, including two on Charles Darwin’s visit to Hobart in 1836. Since retirement in 1990 I have been an Honorary Associate of the University of Tasmania and have continued my previous interests in fossils and the history of geology. My teaching and research activities have resulted in publication of more than 130 papers, some designed for information for the Tasmanian public, most for use by geologists in Tasmania, interstate and overseas – almost halp were published outside Tasmania. My first solo publication, on Permian, Triassic and Jurassic rocks was published in 1952 – a paper for the 19th International Geological Congress at the Gondwana Symposium in Algiers. I was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science by the University of Tasmania in 1978 for my contributions to the geology of Tasmania. Since coming to Tasmania, I have been associated with many societies, some professional, some scientific or technical and some serving the wider community. Of the professional bodies three have been palaeontological; the forth has wider interests, the Geological Society of Australia. I was a Foundation Member of that Society, held office in the Tasmania Division (including Divisional Chairman in 1957-59 and 1964-65) and Federal President (1965-67). I held office in the Tasmania Division of ANZAAS in connection with meetings of that body in Tasmania. I joined the Royal Society of Tasmania in 1947 and have held office as Councillor, Honorary Secretary (1995-96), Honorary Editor (1974-2000) and Vice-President (1971-73, 1993-94). I was elected by the Royal Society as a Trustee of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery annually from 1974 to 1984 and was Chairman of Trustees from 1979 to 1984. Among other groups on which I served are the Tasmanian Caverneering Club (President 1953-55) and the Australian Institute of Cartographers (Federal President, 1960). My activities as an academic, a geologist and as a member of community bodies has been rewarded with "public recognition" - a Doctorate (Honoris Causa) from the University of Lille (1977), the Royal Society of Tasmania Medal (1978), Honorary Life Membership of the Royal Society of Tasmania (1986) and Honorary Life Membership of the Geological Society of Australia (1992), and the University of Sydney Alumni Award for Achievement in Community Service (1998). In 1990 the Banks Prize for Geology II Palaeontology was established at the University of Tasmania, and the Royal Society of Tasmania instituted in 1997 the Banks Medal for outstanding achievement by a scholar in mid-career. I married Doris Ingram, an honours graduate in Zoology, in 1955 and we have five children. I have enjoyed life as an "academic" geologist. Return to the Foundation Members page Günther Christian Oskar BISCHOFF 1928 - 1999 Günther Bischoff passed away in Sydney on Nov. 23, 1999, after a short illness, aged almost 71 years. He is greatly missed by family, university colleagues and ex-students, and by professional/industry associates and friends within Australia and overseas. Günther is survived by his wife, Rosemarie, and his married sons Dirk and Lars. He is remembered by many with affection for his warmth, generosity, and his professionalism. In this brief account of his life, and about some of his contributions to science and to his collegiate community, I write about the personal qualities of the man that I came to know as a valued colleague. Having grown into adolescence in Germany during WWII, and having been caught up in the tumult and chaos of the war and the social and economic impacts of its immediate aftermath, there are many facets of Günther's life that few are familiar with. Günther was born and spent his early years in what was then East Prussia. He belonged to a large family and had fond memories of growing up in a beautiful countryside. This was shattered by the outbreak of WWII which was to cause much hardship to him and to his family. At 16 years of age he was inducted into the German army and served on the Eastern Front. He was subsequently captured and held POW by the Russians for several months in the former USSR. Around 1946 he and his surviving family relocated to West Germany. During these difficult times Günther worked as a coal-miner and supported his mother. In the period 1953-1955 he worked for 6 months each year as a geological assistant in an oil-exploration company. At the same time he undertook study to become a geologist and then to complete a Doc. rer. nat. degree at Philipps-Universitaet, Marburg/Lahn. His doctoral thesis, "Conodonten un die Wende Mitteldevon/Oberdevon und Oberdevon/Untercarbon", awarded in 1956, attracted the Philipps-Universitaet Science Prize for that year. He met his future wife, Rosemarie, while undertaking his doctorate. They maried in that same year, 1956; their honeymoon was spent with Günther still writing his thesis and Rosemarie typing it. This period was the beginning of Günther's love for palaeontology, and especially micropalaeontology, a field that led him to study numerous taxonomic groups, and which eventually led him in the the last decade of his career to research the relatively new field of the role of microbes in the bioaccumulation and biodegradation of minerals and metals (including gold) in natural systems - subjects that he was still pursuing at the time of his death. The focus of Günther's early publications (1950s) was the pioneering taxonomy of Middle and Upper Devonian and Lower Carboniferous conodonts and their use in biostratigraphy, embodied in his 1957 monograph with Willi Ziegler. After completing his doctorate in 1956 Günther returned to full-time work as a Mining and Exploration Geologist with Harz-Lahn-Erzbergbau AG, the same company for whom he had worked as a coal-miner immediately after the war. His major responsibility was exploring for Palaeozoic and Mesozoic iron-ores within Germany; but on the side he brought to publication his doctoral conodont research and related results. In the period 1958 to early 1969 Günther worked as an Oilfield and Petroleum-Exploration Geologist and micropalaeontologist for the German oil-production and exploration company: Gewerkschaft Elwerath. Initially the Company deployed him as an Oilfield Geologist in the Westemsland Oil Province , NW Germany (1958-1959; when his first son, Dirk, was born); then had him undertake micropalaeontological research in Lebanon, probably including work on North African materials (1959-1960); then returned him to Germany where he again worked as an Oilfield Geologist and Micropalaeontologist (1960-1961); followed by more micropalaeontological research in Lebanon concurrently with geological investigations in South Africa (1961-1962); and finally (after a stint back in Germany in 1963 during which his second son, Lars, was born) moved him to Australia (1964-1965), based initially in Canberra, to investigate petroleum-exploration prospects in this country. In Canberra Günther quickly established contact with palaeontologists at the BMR (now ASGO), including Peter Jones (now at ANU). At that time Peter had just begun using condononts as biostratigraphic indices to underpin ongoing BMR mapping programmes in various Australian sedimentary basins, including the Bonaparte Gulf Basin (e.g., Veevers' and Roberts' work therein), and he recalls that at that time "virtually nothing was known of conodont biostratigraphy in Australia." Günther was of immediate help to Peter in his taxonomic and biostratigraphic work, not only with regard to conodonts , but also with ostrocods; and he and Günther soon became great friends, as Günther did also with other palaeontologists in the BMR. Günther's and Peter's professional association was to last intermittently for neraly three decades and included (in 1990) Günther guiding Peter to fossil localities in the Orange area (NSW) in connection with a forthcoming geological field-excursion that Peter had the responsibility of organising. In 1966 Gewerkschaft Elwerath made Günther its Exploration Manager in Australia and he moved to Perth from where he planned and oversaw the drilling of his Company's first exploration well in this country. This well (Yulleroo No. 1; TD = 15,010 feet; drilled May-November 1967; abandoned December 1967) is located about 72 km ENE of Broome in the west-central part of the Fitzroy Trough (north Canning Basin) between the Jurgurra Terrace and the Lennard Shelf. It was drilled on a seismically-defined NW-SE-tending anticlinal closure to test the hydrocarbon-producing potential of the Lower Palaeozoic section in this part of the basin and to explore its sub-Upper Carboniferous straitigraphy. This latter objective was particularly important given that, as Günther argued in his " Application for Drilling Subsidy": "There has been no well drilled in the central Fitzroy Basin between the Lennard Shelf and the Jurgurra Terrace which has penetrated through the Upper Carboniferous let alone that entire Carboniferous sequence." This exploration-well fulfilled Günther's stated stratigraphic-test objectives by penetrating an unexpectedly thick Carboniferous succession (10,594 ft in all) before terminating (at the planned TD) in Upper Devonian marine sediemnts. Günther was to make a major contribution to understanding the stratigraphy of the latest Devonian to Early Carboniferous succession of the basin by finding late Famennian (Stufen V and VI) and Early Carboniferous (both Tournasian and Viséan) conodonts in drillcore and cuttings of these rocks within a succession of fine to medium grained intercalated marine and continental clastics and carbonates (Fairfield Group and overlying Anderson Formation), as documented by him in the well-completion report (Gewerkschaft Elwerath Inc., 1976). This new evidence pointed to the existence of a latest Famennian through early Carboniferous major marine transgerssion on the basin (previously known only in outcrop of much thinner development to the north on the Lennard Shelf: cf. "Fairfield Formation" of Playford, 1967, fig. 5, and p.363), and whose deposits were subsequently shown by more drill-holes to be largely confined to the then-rapidly-subsiding Fitzroy Graben/Trough within which Yulleroo No. 1 had been spudded (see also Yeates et al., 1984, p. 33, and figs. 2,7). Günther's applied micropalaeontological work for petroleum exploration activities in (especially) Mesozoic and Tertiary successions in Germany, Lebanon and North Africa, including intercalated strata of marine and brackish-marine affinities, led him to use charophytes, ostracods and foraminifera as palaeoenvironmental and biostratigraphic indices. Consequently, in 1963 and 1964, he published several papers on ostracod taxonomy and biostratigraphy, including a monograph (19630 entitled "ostracoden-Studien inm Libanon, 1: Die Gattung Cythereis in der UnterKreide" (Senck. Ieth., 44: 1-77). This was to be the first in a series of five papers in the ostracod faunas of Lebanon, the last two both appearing in print in 1990. Moreover, his 1963 paper with J. Wolburg ("Zur Entwicklung des Ober-Malm im Emsland"; Erdoel-Zeitschrift, 10: 445-472) is an excellent example of the integration of (in particular, ostracod-)biostratigraphy and geophysical well-log correlation to solve a long-standing problem of stratigraphic alignment between strata of marine and brackish-marine affinities in the Jurassic of northern Europe, and hence to reconstruct the multi-stage Upper Malm (latest Jurassic) transgression and the associated palaeogeographies in the Netherlands-German border region. Günther's work in Australia took him to many parts of the continent; but in late 1968 or early 1969 Gewerkschaft was taken over by Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum, and Günther had to move back to Germany. But at that time (coincident with the ongoing, unprecedented, and then-still-burgeoning Australian "mineral boom") that late Professor Alan Voisey was recruiting teaching staff for the School of Earth Sciences at the then-fledgling Macquarie University in North Ryde, Sydney. Günther saw this as an opportunity for a new life for himself and his family back in Australia; thus, he applied for and and was offered a teaching position as a Senior Lecturer in Earth Sciences at the new university. Günther and I were among Voisey's earliest soft-rock recruits, both of us commencing teaching duties in early 1969, and soon to occupy adjacent offices. Those early years at Macquarie were hectic and left little time for research. Teaching was ongoing on all fronts (day, evening and external), with large numbers of students in every course in offer. And so it was not until 1971 that Günther was able to initiate new research that involved fieldwork; and not until 1973 that he managed to get back in print with his controversial paper: "On the nature of the conodont animal" (Geologica et Palaeontologica, 7: 147-174); in which he speculated on the possible biological affinity of simple cone-type conodonts and conulariids. Over the next 20 year Günther's palaeontological output ranged widely taxonomically, with the erection of numerous new taxa; some (it is claimed by some, e.g.: Conti S. & Serpagli E. [1984], Bollettino Societa Palaeontologica Italiana 23: 3-20) in error, evidently because he did not routinely invite informal expert peer-review of his manuscripts, and because of his predilection to publish almost exculsively in German serials which practised (until very recently in the case of some) limited or no independent outside review as opposed to in-house editorial review. Günther probably preferred to publish in German journals because of the quality of their photographhic plates, which has always been infinitely superior to that of plates in Australian journals. His preference to publish his ideas "uncensored" and to await the outcome regardless of what may is not withour precedent, and presumably reflected his European background. In addition to publiscstions on conodonts and ostracods and their biostratigraphy, the fossil groups represented in his publications include: tommotiids (Cambrian); byroniids (thecate scyphopolyps, early Palaeozoic); trepostome bryozoans (but regared by Günther as a new class of cnidarians; Silurian); carareous algae (Silurian and Devonian); inarticulate brachiopods (late Cambrian and Ordovician); conulariids (Silurian); molluscs (Pelagiellidae, Cambrian); polyplacophorans (Silurian); and echinoderms (Silurian). In addition to minor silicified faunal remains, much of the palaeontological material that Günther worked on in these papers constituted phosphatic biological remains: either primary, or of early replacement origin, in some cases preserving soft parts/tissues of the animals (as in his 1980 paper [with S. Jane Hall] on the growth history of post-larval echinoderm endoskeletons [Senckenbergiana lethaea 61: 145-171]). Most of this phosphatic/phosphatized and silicified material constituted incidental discoveries in acid-residues from carbonate samples that he had collected in the search for conodonts, especially from Silurian successions of central-west NSW. He corked too on microborings/biodegradation (two papers), on micro-coprolites (two papers); and on microproblematica (Cambrian-Devonian; one posthumous publication - Conaghan and Bischoff 2000). In his capacity as an Applied Micropalaeontologist, both in Industry and Academia, Günther was also knowledgeable about other biostratigraphically-important groups of microfossils that he did not publish on (such as foraminifera, chitinozoans, and acritarchs). He supervised Honours and Masters students on projects on such groups (in addition to many projects on conodonts and ostrocods) and at the time of his death he still had one Masters students working on early Palaeozoic chitinozoans from Libya. His largest publication in his time as an academic in Australia, and the largest since his 1957 work with Willi Ziegler, is his 1986 monograph: "Early and Middle Silurian conodonts from mid-western New South Wales (Cour. Forsch. - Inst. Senckenberg 89: 1-337), a work that stemmed ultimately from fieldwork that he began in the early 1970s. This work, based on 14 stratigraphic sections near Orange, NSW, constitutes a major contribution to the non-coniform conodont biostratigraphy of the Silurian in Australia, and in which Günther's major objective was to correlate his conodont assemblages with the standard graptolite zones (previously discriminated by Jenkins, 1978) and with the previously established conodont zones from overseas. Günther's contribution to Silurian conodont biostratigraphy in eastern Australia has been reviewed in a wider context by Simpson (1995). In the last two conodont papers published before he died (1997 and 1998) he erected new species of biostratigraphically important coniform conodonts from these same Silurian rocks. In the last decade of his life Günther's research concentrated mainly on the topics of bioaccumulation and biodegradation of various minerals and metals in natural systems, in particular supergene environments; and he co-supervised (with Blair Hosteler) a PhD student in such topics. The first three publications and the sixth in this field (1992, 1994, 1994, 1997; the first two coauthored variously with Robert Coenraads and John Lusk) dealt with the microbial accumulation and microbial dissolution of alluvial gold, controversial topics that Günther and his coworkers were among the first to explore. Interspersed with and following these papers in gold were seven other articles (spanning the years 1994 to 2000) that explored : (1) Fossil and Recent traces of biodegradation of heavy minerals (1994; with Robert Coenraads); (2) adsorption of aluminosilicates by living microbes in acidic metal-conaminated water (1997); (3) [ad]sorption of various associations of metals (Pb-Cu-Mn; Pb-Cu-Fe; and Bi)by aluminosilicified microorganisms in various gossan environments (1995, 1997, 2000); and (4) microbial biodegradation in lateritic bauxite biodegradation (1997). At the time of his death Günther had almost completed a sequel to the last-named paper in this list, namely a paper about microbial bioaccumulation in lateritic bauxite. Throughout his career Günther was meticulous in the preparation of his scientific illustrations, especially the photomicrographs of the materials that he studied. He was an excellent incident-light and electron microscopist; was always quick to utilise the best and most up-to-date technology in this regard, and began using SEM (and later, as the need arose, EDS) technology right from the start of his academic career in Australia (initially at the University of NSW in the days before Macquarie Univerity acquired its own SEM). But he never got around to putting his hands on a computer keyboard and continued to use (for small jobs) a standard mechanical typewriter and depended on School/Departmental secretarial/"typing-pool" staff for word-processing the bulk of his manuscript work. Right to the end he hand-wrote (in large clear script) the initial draft of his manuscripts. Likewise, in his semi-retirement years, he was ever the practical man in his own family scene: not only did he work tirelessly in his own garden (even to the extent of carrying out major new landscaping himself), but he also actively participated over a protracted period in the restoration of the houses of his two sons. Since his retirement from teaching in 1997 Günther continued his research as an Honorary Associate on a part-time basis, firstly in the School of Earth Sciences, and subsequent to the vertical restructuring of Macquarie University (effective 1.1.1999), in the newly-formed Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. In this period he collaborated uwth Malcolm Walters Neoproterozoic Research Group at Macquarie, and in particularly with: Khaled Al-Aroui on the extraction and isolation of biomarker analysis of palynomorphs on Neoproterozoic sediments of the Centralian Superbasin; with myself on SEM and EDS analyses of microbial mats and associated microbially-mediated carbonates in Neoproterozoic sediments of the Officer Basin of South Australia; and with Malcolm Walter in miscellaneous microbial problematica in stratiform sulfides and associated sediments of the McArthur River BAsin of the Northern Territory. A paper that Günther coauthored with Al-Aroui, myself, Walter, and Kath Grey (Geol. Surv. WA; formerly of Macquarie Univ.) on the Officer Basin of South Australia was published in March 2000 (Precambrian Research 100: 235-280) and is chronologically the last paper to have been published bearing Günther's name in a refereed journal, though others (not yet completed) may yet appear. Günther was unpretentious and liked social informality. But when formality was called for he invariably presented himself impeccably. He was rarely absent at student social functions, especially MUGS (Macquarie University Geosciences Society) BBQs, where he liked to drink beer and engage in conversation with students and staff. Günther's second-year Palaeontology course was popular, as much with biology students as with Earth Science students, as was his more advanced course in Micropalaeontology. Testimony to his popularity as a teach is the fact that MUGS voted him "Teacher of the Year" in 1991 and runner-up to this category in 1992, and also organised a special farewell dinner for him to commemorate his retirement, a unique honour if my memory serves me right. He got on well with most people and was well liked. Importantly, he was very generous with his time, and was always willing to help colleagues and students. On several occasions he went in to bat for students who had had misadventures. In his own special ways Günther was an innovator. He always took it upon himself to promote the School and the University by preparing palaeontological displays, and exhibiting them in person: both on campus (Open Days etc.); and off campus (at Science Fairs etc.; e.g. at the Macquarie Shoping Complex). In his time at Macquarie he encouraged and supervised many Honours, Masters, and Masters-Honours students on projectsin micropalaeontoogy, co-supervised others in field-mapping-based projects that contained, inter alia, biostratigraphicc objectives based on microfossils; and supervised a few projects in petroleum geology. But, strangely, the only two PhD students he ever got to supervise were (effectively) in economic geology (and these were on a co-supervised basis with other colleagues). In the course of his career, both in Industry and Academia, Günther amassed a huge collection of reference micofossils representing many many taxonomic groups. After he retired from teaching he prepared a very large portion of these materials (but restricted to material that he collected/acquired prior to his time at Macquarie University) for donation to the ANU in Canberra (this was at the suggestion of his former Macquarie University research-student, and now ANU staff-member, Patrick De Deckker). The materials in this donation (which are available to any researchers wanting to study them) come variously from surface outcrop and cores and cuttings; they represent Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and Tertiary sections variously in Lebanon, Israel, North AFrica (Algeria, Libya, Ethiopia), Europe (France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland), USA, Brazil, and Western Australia (including microfossils from Yulleroo No. 1). During his career as a academic in Australia, all of the figured material that he published in Geologica et Palaeontologica in 1973 (i.e., the "conodont animal" paper), and all that figured in the five papers he published in Senckenbergiana Iethaea in the period from 1976 to 1981, is archived respectively in the collectionsof the Phillips-University (Marburg) and the Senckenberg-Museum (Frankfurt am Main), at the request of those institutions. In archiving his type-materials in the country of publication Günther was following former tradition. But, in the 1980s the wider Australian palaeontological community decided that this traditional practice of archiving overseas the type-specimens of Australian fossils must cease, and they lobbied for and obtained from the Australian Federal Government special legislation to prevent/control the permanent export of such scientific/heritage/cultural materials. Subsequent to 1981/1982 (when presumebly the new legislation came into effect) Günther archived all his type-material (as far as I am aware) in the Macquarie University School of Earth Sciences colections (regardless of where he published), but also archived representative similar specimens at the Senckenberg Museum whenever he again published in Senckenbergiana Iethaea (this was presumebly at the request of the latter institution). Against the backdrop of the aforesaid Australian scientific political machinations precipitated in a large part by Günther, how ironic it now is that the parlous state to which Australian universities (and AGSO itself) have been reduced under the present Federal Government threatens the continued maintenace, and even the very existence, of the scientific archives and reference collections of those institutions. As I recently quipped (apropos of the content of the last few sentences) to a colleague and former student of Günther's, Andrew Simpson, the current (part-time) "Museums Educator" at Macquarie University (and Silurian conodont worker): "Providing the Germans don't ever start WW3, Günther's type-materials of Australian fossils that are archived in Germany are probably much safer there than the ones archived back here in Australia are now, and presently look like ever being!" Andrew responded: "I agree." Günther was always a friend and colleague to me, as he was also to many others. He frequently sought my knowledge and advice in research matters where he needed technical or general help resolving problems that lay outside his own areas of expertise but potentially in mine (not that I was his only source of advice in such matters: John Lusk especially was another). Perhaps my most endearing consultation initiated by Günther was as follows: he was investigating (characteristically, to help an Honours student in Physical Geography or Environmental Studies who was working on acid-sulfate soils) some aspects of a foul-looking Quaternary-aged black organic/peaty mud that contained (as he incidentally mentioned to me at the time) spectacular pyrite framboids; and in the context of needing to know what appropriate name he should use for this sediment in writing up his report for the student or the student's supervisor, he asked me, "Pat, what name should I call this by?" I said: "Günther, the correct technical term for this stuff is muck"; whereupon I opened up my copy of the 1972 edition of the AGI Glossary of Geology (to p.467) and showed him the definition of "muck". I recall that he went away looking quite contented if not a little amused with the technical outcome of his query, manifested by a smile on his face! I collaborated with Günther on various research projects over the years, and on occasions discovered that he could be extremely stubborn and impossible to shift in his scientific opinions, or even on matters of style in reporting factual (including non-palaeontological) details. Nevertheless, despite the fact that we occasionally agreed to disagree, Günther and I always remained good working mates. He and I still have quite a deal of unfinished research business to be attended to, God willing. When Günther's wife, Rosemarie, looked through Günther's papers the day after he died she found his Certificate of Confirmation in the Lutheran Church. On it was a proverb, which she thought expressed his ideals: "Sei getreu bis inden Tod In English, PATRICK J. CONAGHAN, Macquarie University Addendum: This obituary incorporates beneficial suggestions and feedback on factual matters from Günther's family and, variously, from Macquarie University former-/colleagues of both Günther and myself, from several former undergraduate and postgraduate students of Günther's, and from outside Macquarie University. I thank all these persons for their contributions. This brief summary of Günther's life and geological career does not pretend nor should it be construed to be a critical professional (specialist's ) assessment of Günther's contributions to science, and especially to palaeontology. Not being primarily a palaeontologist myself, I leave that to be written by others. References Cited: PATRICK J. CONAGHAN, Macquarie University 1947 - 2005 David Frank Blight died suddenly of a coronary occlusion at his home in Nedlands, Perth on the morning of 3 October 2005. David was a member of the Geological Society of Australia, the Australian Institute of Geoscientists, The Society of Economic Geologists and a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. David's distinguished geoscientific career spanned a broad range of fields in government and industry, where he has left numerous enduring monuments to his work and initiatives, and a very large number of bereft friends, colleagues and acquaintances across the minerals industry of Australia. Born in Melbourne, 17 June 1947, David served his undergraduate years at the University of Adelaide where he graduated with a BSc (Hons) in geology and chemistry. He then continued with the University to complete his PhD in 1975 in metamorphic petrology, which included a season's fieldwork around the Australian Antarctic base at Casey. He was an outstanding student, but it was probably the Casey experience where he often worked alone, and occasionally in life-threatening circumstances, that cemented his strong and independent character for life. One particularly graphic story involved his return alone on his snowmobile after field observation and rock collecting, even to within sight of the base, before being suddenly overtaken by a snowstorm and that most-feared of Antarctic phenomena, complete white-out. He followed survival protocol and dug himself a cave in the snow, but the many hours of solitary contemplation waiting for the storm to abate was a challenging exercise in the knowledge that there could be no external rescue. In an environment of extreme competition for geological postings, he was appointed to the Geological Survey of Western Australia in 1976, where over the ensuing 6 years he worked as a petrologist, in regional mapping (Barlee, Bencubbin, 1:250 000 sheets) and as a mineral resource geologist. At the Survey he quickly developed a reputation for being a fun person, usually to be found in the middle of 'High Noon' shoot-outs in the corridors, or strongly suspected of a role in a series of garden gnome sightings around the Perth suburbs. Following separation from his first wife, Judy, David eventually came to know Margaret, a colleague at the Survey, who became his wife and, ultimately, mother to their children Luke and Claire. In 1982, his interest in mineral resources and an improved
mining environment led him into thirteen years of aggressive
mineral exploration, initially with Union Oil searching
Australia for carbonatite intrusions associated with rare earth
and specialty metal deposits. It was during this time that
David's interest in enhancement of the professional environment
for geologists led him to become the inaugural It was also during this period that his natural spirit of enquiry, and possibly a streak of devilment at upsetting conventional theory, led him to write what he considered to be his most satisfying technical paper, which after several rejections was eventually published in, of all places considering his line of work, a major palaeontological journal (Palaeo cubed)! David's father, an aeronautical engineer, had noticed the beautiful aerofoil shape of a certain family of sea-floordwelling fossil shells. So they set about attaching a model of one of these beasts to the bottom of the family swimming pool in front of the water inlet, thus imitating submarine tidal water flows, and for Mr Blight senior, the next best thing to a wind tunnel. As anticipated, the fossil flew, but it took a lot of experimental refinement with electric drills winding the model the length of the pool before the paper was completed. From this piece of aquatic frolicking by two rather large scientists, came the seminal paper: 'Flying spiriferids: some thoughts on the life style of a Devonian Brachiopod' by F G and D F Blight. By 1985, gold was becoming a focus for explorers in WA and David joined Hampton Australia as Exploration Manager, but the flurry of gold industry corporate mergers and takeovers that characterised the mid-80s included folding Hampton into the Dallhold Resources stable. David was uncomfortable with the ensuing corporate environment, and under encouragement from his long-time mentor at the Geological Survey, the late Joe Lord, became an Executive Director for Mt Martin Gold Mines, and Noble Resources. This resulted in David and his family moving to Kalgoorlie,
where he was proud to have Luke and Claire attend North
Kalgoorlie Primary School, a symbol of the mining industry
he loved, and the egalitarianism he espoused. David entered
enthusiastically into the life of Kalgoorlie, becoming a member
of Hannans Club, a Board Member of the WA
Kalgoorlie-Boulder Museum that established the Hannan St As his children reached high school age, David and the family returned to Perth in 1994. It was at this time that Margaret died suddenly of leukaemia. He threw himself into single parenting with energy and
almost military discipline, making a week's worth of lunch
sandwiches on Sunday night, and as Claire later ruefully
remarked, hardly something to look forward to each day at
school as they were all invariably the same. David realised his
Mrs Doubtfire role was incompatible with corporate travel
and fieldwork, and with characteristic pragmatism, took the It was not long before he met, and soon married, Paula, who took on with enthusiasm and passion, the role of wife and surrogate Mum to the children. In 1998 he was promoted to Director of the Geological Survey, and in 2000 moved back to South Australia to become Executive Director of the Minerals and Energy Division of the South Australian Government. In this position he oversaw significant expansion of exploration and mining development activity in South Australia and commitment by the Government of a $15 million industry incentive package. This incentive in the form of an exploration drilling subsidy has already borne fruit with the discovery of completely new mineralization. In April 2004 he resigned from the South Australian Government to take on the role of Chief Executive Officer and driver for the genesis and listing on the Australian Stock Exchange of Abra Mining Limited. With a major drilling program currently underway on a potentially very large ore body, there is every chance that David's dream of proving up a world-class polymetallic mine will be eventually realised, a fitting tribute to his career in economic geology. The geological community within Australia has lost, far too early, a fine geologist and man of many parts. We, and our colleagues, deeply mourn David's passing and extend our sympathy to Paula, Luke and Claire, and all members of his family. ROB DUNCAN, IAN NOWAK 1920 - 2002 Hugh Blissett died on 13 June 2002 aged 81 years. Hugh was born on 20 September 1920 and raised in Lincolnshire, England. Following war service with the RAF in North Africa and Italy, where he lost the sight of one eye and suffered a severely injured right arm, he acquired a Master of Science degree in Geology from the Imperial College, London and later emigrated to Australia, joining the Geological Survey of TAsmania from 1957 to 1962. In 1963, Hugh joined the Geological Survey of South Australia and commenced duties in the Mineral Resources Division, working in both the Non-Metallics (to 1971) and Metallics Sections. Among his achievements during this period was his contribution on Economic Geology to Buletin 43 on the Mount Painter Province. In 1972, at the age of 52, Hugh transferred to the Regional Mapping Section (headed by Bren Thomson and Bryan Forbes). Here, he commenced detailed geological mapping of the Gawler Range Volcanics, assisted by Frank Radke (Amdel) and Alistair Crooks. This resulted in publication of the CHILDARA, GAIRDNER and YARDEA 1: 250 000 geological maps, and Explanatory Notes for CHILDARA and GAIRDNER. Hugh's expertise on this important province of Mesoproterozoic acid volcanics culminated in his compilation of the Special map (1: 500 000 scale) "Geological setting of the Gawler Range Volcanics" (1987), and his contribution to Chapter 5 of The Geology of South Australia (Vol. 1) (1993) published after his retirement at the age of 65 in 1985. In many ways Hugh was ahead of his time. Between 1975 and 1979 he was instrumental in setting up the Rock Sample database, which was one of the first computerised databases created by the Geological Survey. The Rock Sample database now contains more than 600 000 entries and is a key component of the Geoscientific GIS data packages compiled by the Geological Survey Branch of Primary Industries and Resources SA, and by similar organisations throughout Australia and overseas. Hugh was a kindly, patient and polite gentleman who was always willing to assist with any geological problem. He was never critical of others and was a very private and independent person with a wide interest in other areas of science such as astronomy, as well as current affairs. Hugh always set his own pace and had his own way of doing things. He will be sadly missed. PAUL A. ROGERS, Geological Survey Branch SA Foundation Member of the Geological Society of Australia David Branagan is an Honorary Research Associate, School of Geosciences, Sydney University, where he taught for thirty years. Born at Broken Hill, NSW, he had an undistinguished undergraduate few years at Sydney University, enjoying athletics, music, bushwalking , caving and table tennis, and benefiting from some great teachers of geology, notably W.R. Browne, Germaine Joplin, George Osborne, John Dulhunty, Florrie Quodling, Ida Brown and Frank Rickwood. He joined the Geological Survey of New South Wales in December 1950 and, over the next three years or so, gained wonderful experience in many parts of the State with Len Hall, Jim Lloyd, Col Adamson, Jack Harrison, Fred Booker, and most particularly with his mentor E.O. (Ted) Rayner in the Western Coalfield. Having missed out on an Antarctic job in 1953 he joined National Lead of New York, under John Ivanac in exploration for copper, lead and uranium in Central Australia and NW Queensland, and a brief contact with sand-mining on the east coast. From mid 1954 to early 1957 was spent in Europe, studying music with a stint of high school teaching, followed by work on African photogeology for Hunting Technical Services, and getting married. Return to Sydney via the USA saw brief stints as a builders' labourer (a great job!) and in medical equipment sales (not my cup of tea). Serendipity (someone leaving at short notice and a chance lunchtime phone call to Prof Charles Marshall) took me back to the Department of Geology & Geophysics at Sydney Uni into coal research, and the chance to do a Ph.D. The pay was even higher than in the private sector –imagine that! Serendipity struck again in 1960 when an eminent and better-qualified person declined the offer to lecture to hordes of Geology 1 students. I took the job and, in the days of tenure, they were more or less stuck with me. The next thirty years or so were great fun with lots happening in the geological world and at the University, which in those days was well-funded. Field trips were particularly memorable, and helped inspire the production, in association with Gordon Packham (a true genius in the field), of Field Geology of New South Wales. Combined field trips with the University of New South Wales and support from the Geological Survey of New South Wales, begun by Cliff McElroy and Ken Glasson at Joadja moved north, settling for a few years at Glenbawn Dam, where well over a hundred aspiring geos perspired in February warmth to solve the stratigraphic and structural puzzles. They were good days indeed. Later excursions in New Zealand and Western Victoria were similarly memorable, at least to me. I migrated a little to Engineering and Mining Geology (when the latter course still existed at SU) and particularly enjoyed the practical aspects of applying geology to ‘real’ problems (landslides, dams, tunnels etc.). There was always a lot to learn. Since retirement in 1989 I have spent more time on the history of Australian geology, but the Sydney Basin has not been forgotten and odd bits of its geology are still being pursued. I have enjoyed the friendship of many fine colleagues, some sadly already passed on, and got to know uncountable students and to respect their abilities. I cannot imagine a better career than that of a geologist. Return to the Foundation Members page Fellow of the Geological Society of Australia Colin David BRANCH, B.Sc.(Hons), Ph.D. (Syd), FGSA CAREER On return to BMR in Canberra I was the Petrologist-in-charge of the X-ray diffraction and spectrography laboratory (1965-68). I became increasingly concerned that newly graduating geologists generally did not value field work but thought all problems could be solved by analytical means, so in 1969 I was appointed the Senior Lecturer in Applied Geology at what is now the University of Southern Queensland and planned a three-year degree course. But I became frustrated at how slowly the bureaucracy moved, so in late 1970 I accepted the position of Foundation Head of the Department of Applied Geology at what is now the University of South Australia. Degree and Post-Graduate courses were quickly accredited and our graduates were readily accepted by industry. ARGC awards over three years also allowed me to map a volcanic complex in the Gawler Range Volcanic Province. While establishing the new Department I recognised my responsibility to become involved in Academic Boards and Committees in order to apply my four dimensional geological style of reasoning to influence major decision making, as opposed to the generally linear methods used by engineers, economists and administrators. This led me in 1976 to become the Director (Resources) and Government Geologist in the South Australian Department of Mines and Energy, where a highlight was my role as negotiator for Aboriginal Land Rights legislation. I also was an assessor of World Bank and United Nations funded projects in Irian Jaya, Kalimantan and Myanmar. In 1987 I joined the Department of Minerals and Energy in Western Australia as Deputy Director General and amongst many activities I chaired Ministerial inquiries into conservation and rehabilitation in relation to quarrying, onshore seismic lines, gold mining, mineral sands mining, and uranium. I retired in 1999. While with the department, in 1990 I was appointed Chairman of the Minerals and Energy Research Institute of Western Australia from which I retired in 2006. GSA INVOLVEMENT RELATED INVOLVEMENTS The death of Kirsty Brown was a tragedy. Kirsty was fulfilling the role of an eager, curiosity-driven geobioscientist with all the attributes of a young woman with much to offer the world. And then the world lost her - and her friends and family are distraught and bewildered. Australians were "exposed" to Kirsty from the late 1990s. She turned up at the Geology Dept at Adelaide University, and asked the Manager who she should see to study Marine Geology. He directed her to me, as the 1st year Co-ordinator. This 5ft "youngster" looked at him with her twinkling eyes and a big smile, and said, "Well, actually, I've already got an MSc in Marine Geology - I was thinking more of a PhD..." Her research on the volume and biotic source of calcareous material hosted on sea-grasses took her into the Australian coastal and shallow-shelf waters. It also took her onto these seas, aboard cruises to the GAB on RV Franklin (CSIRO), the SA gulfs on RV Nigerin and on customs vessels to the Ashmore Reef area. She completed her field and laboratory work, presenting it at a number of Conferences, including two AGCs, where it was well acclaimed. She was busy writing her thesis, along with activity in a myriad of other interests, e.g. Sec., SA Branch, GSA, driving her beloved 4WD vehicle, out-drinking all male companions, helping all and sundry - often against the admonitions of her friends, financially supporting children overseas, tutoring undergraduate classes, etc. Then along came an enticing opportunity to apply for a position with the British Antactic Survey to study the affect on sea-floor biota of the grounding and movement of glaciers. We all encouraged her to apply, as going to the Antarctic was a longstanding goal, especially after her widely-acclaimed underwater photographic successes in the Arctic, under the auspices of Doug Shearman and Dan Bosence. She was offered the job from a selection of over 100 applicants. She loved the job - and spent some of her spare time continuing to write her thesis. Leopard seals are poorly understood, but not usually seen as a human threat. Kirsty and her dive buddy wee snorkelling and routinely, i.e. strict safety procedures in place, scanning the sea-floor with powerful strobes as additional back-up work to their daily underwater diving. A leopard seal suddenyl appeared, grabbed Kirsty and dove with her to the sea-floor some 70 metres below. It then released her. The coroner stated that she was probably dead by the time she was at -2m. Kirsty's memory will never fade as it is too strongly held by the incredible range of people who knew her. Her work will be completed, with her PhD submitted posthumously and her work published with her as first author. An Australian blue gum has been planted in the woods on her parent's property, where she grew up - and it bears a plaque from her Australian friends - that it is in memory of our Friend, Student and Colleague. YVONNE BONE, Geology Dept. University of Adelaide (Kirsty's supervisor) Samuel Warren CAREY AO Foundation Member of the Geological Society of Australia 1911- 2002 Professor S. Warren Carey died peacefully on 20 March 2002 at Hobart Private Hospital. He will be missed by a large community of Australian geologists who were either his students, those who worked for or with him, or who were influenced by his many ideas on the way the earth works. Samuel Warren Carey was born near Campbelltown, New South Wales on 1 November 1911. His schooling was at Campbelltown and later at Canterbury High School where he was a high achiever. From here, he entered the University of Sydney in 1929, during the depression years, enrolling in chemistry, physics and mathematics, taking geology as a fourth, fill-in subject on the advice of his high school teacher James ('Jerry') Jervis. Here he came under the influence of the retired Sir T.W. Edgeworth David, a leading participant in Ernest Shackleton's 1907-1909 Antarctic expedition. A picture of David always hung over Carey's desk. Carey graduated with First Class Honours in Geology in 1932 and received the Science Research Scholarship which allowed him to go to a Master of Science degree. This was conferred in 1934 for work in the Werrie Basin of northern New South Wales. In addition to his studies, he was a member of the University regiment and active in rowing. He founded the Students' Geological Society and was its first president. From academia, he joined Oil Search in Papua New Guinea and explored many areas where white men had not been seen. He was an outstanding field geologist, very concerned for the welfare of his field staff, the local people and his equipment. He showed in this period the dedication to the small details that made the exploration effort successful. This was a lifetime attitude. His activities in New Guinea convinced him of the dynamic nature of the earth and stirred the lifelong interest in tectonics (science of large-scale movements of the earth - continental drift and the like). He moved from Oil Search to the Australasian Petroleum Company and wrote a thesis entitled Tectonic Evolution of New Guinea and Melanesia which earned him a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Sydney. The drama of the transport of this thesis overseas for examination is a story in itself and reflects the transport and communications problems of a world at war. During this time, in June 1940, he married Austral. He remained in industry until 1942 when events in New Guinea led to evacuation of the Careys to Melbourne. He joined a special unit - Z-Force - and returned to port Moresby to recruit and train personnel for work behind enemy lines and in preparation for a raid on Rabaul. He also became a paratrooper. Here again, his attention to detail in design of boats and field equipment came to the fore. He was involved in the famous dummy limpet mining of ships in Townsville Harbour, written up in R. McKie's The Heroes and dramatised some years ago by ABC radio. With the winding down of the war effort, Carey returned to Melbourne and moved to Tasmania to take up the position of Chief Government Geologist for Tasmania. He retained this position until 1946 when he was appointed the Foundation Professor of Geology at the University of Tasmania. It was from this position that he made his name, building on all the earlier experiences. While the University of Tasmania was a small university in an isolated state of small population, it developed an outstanding reputation and large geology student body, due almost entirely on the drive of Carey and a very few well-chosen initial staff. Carey insisted on giving the first year lectures and in consequence he had a very high recruitment to second year because of the quality of his teaching. Many distinguished geologists were atttracted to the discipline through Carey's approach to teaching. He was the God-Professor and drove his department rather than simply managing it. He was a real leader in the academic environment and a respected thorn in the side of many a vice-chancellor. He ensured that there were good working relationships between University, Geological Survey, the geological branch of the Hydro-Electric Commission and industry. This led to co-operative development of research projects for the many students who went on the higher degrees. But his interest in Papua New Guinea remained and in the 1960s he had a group of PhD and Honours students who conducted a series of complementary research projects cobvering a large area of that part of the world. At about the same time, Australia recognised the need to find its own hydrocarbon resources. Lewis Weeks, based on his knowledge of the Lakes Entrance Oil Shaft and Carey's sketch map of anticlines extending into the offshore Gippsland Basin, led BHP to take up exploration acreage. At a meeting in Launceston in 1984, Geoffrey Blainey pointed out that the Weeks/Carey association was of historical significance. He retired as Professor of Geology in 1976 and was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1977. He was not a narrow scientist but one who saw geology as the great integrating science and used this philosophy to pull together a vast amount of knowledge into his tectonic theories. These theories commonly were controversial and not fully accepted internationally but they have stimulated a large professional interest and study. Many of his ideas are now mainstream and are used by scientists who may not even realise the source of a concept they employ on a daily basis. He was an extrovert and enjoyed the controversial limelight. He convened a series of international symposia at the University of Tasmania. The driving force behind each one was the existence of a geological debate that was best addressed by calling the various schools of thought together. Perhaps the most influential of these was the Continental Drift Symposium of 1956 (results published in 1958) which influenced many of the workers in the field, and helped cement his international reputation. While concerned mainly with large scale geological features, Carey never lost sight of the human dimension and was an active particpant in Legacy, and ready to speak to any small group of people who wanted a talk on geology, or weather, or any area of science in which he felt qualified to speak. He was a great publicist for science in communities beyond the normal scientific arena. He is renowned as a provocative generator of new major integrative hypotheses that are revolutionary but highly credible and concern the dynamics of our earth. In addition he made major contributions to our understanding of the deposition of sediments in a glacial marine environment. Many of his ideas were well ahead of their time and influenced the direction of tectonic studies globally. Idea generation was supported by a very strong personality dedicated to the promotion of thise ideas. He will be remembered as one who initiated ideas, stimulated students at all levels, and produced an impressive community of leading scientists in geology and geophysics. Many came from leading overseas universities. All speak glowingly of the influence of Carey in their scientific development. He "retired" in 1976 but retained a very active scientific lifestyle. He is recognised by many awards nationally and internationally. He pursued enthusiastically the promotion of science to the public through personal involvement with organisations such as the Geological Society of Australia, Royal Society of Tasmania, and the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science, to which he dedicated very significant energy over many years. The scientific world was very much the better for his presence. He is survived by wife Austral, their four children Tegwen, Harley, Robin and David, grandchildren Krista, Sam, Warren, Sarah, Eleanor, Sean and Geoffrey. And great grandchildren Caitlin and Phoebe. He would have enjoyed recent correspondence in TAG, on the subject of tectonics. This obituary was assembled by a group of his friends. Return to the Foundation Members page Fellow of the Geological Society of Australia Tony Cockbain was born in the Old Warps Home, Warrington, England in 1934 and educated at the local grammar school and University of Nottingham. He has enjoyed working in universities [Institute of Oceanography (IOUBC), University of British Columbia, Vancouver; Department of Geology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch], geological surveys [Cyprus; Western Australia (GSWA)] and (briefly) in industry (William Johnson & Associates), and meeting a host of colleagues who became friends. Return to the Fellows page 1949 - 2001 Charles Coin, geologist, coal and coke scientist, cyclist, sceptic and inventor, died on the 16th January after a two month battle with melanoma. According to his family he was comfortable and peaceful at home until the end. His funeral on the 19th January was packed, with mourners spilling out of the chapel and dozens of people congregated at the doors and windows to hear the many tributes to his life. The diverse range of people present reflected the divergent nature of Charles' many interests and contributions. Charles was born on 31st of March 1949 in Adelaide. A passionate cyclist, he represented South Australia as a junior. In 1967, Charles was part of the biggest first year Geology class in the history of the Department of Geology and Mineralogy at the University of Adelaide. The class was too big for the Mawson Lecture Theatre, with many forced to sit on the steps in the aisles. Geology was to become on of Charles' lifelong passions. He and his long-time friend Rod Hill made names for themselves by attending the 3rd year undergraduate field trip to the Flinders Ranges with caravan in tow, becoming immensely popular with the class when the weather turned sour. Charles loved to pass on his geological knowledge to other people, as one friend, Michael Doube, describes, "a man of huge enthusiasm and knowledge who loved to share his knowledge and who generated an infectious enthusisasm for his subject." After completing an Honours project mapping in isolation on an Aboriginal reserve in the Musgrave Ranges (the remote NW of SA), Charles went on to complete a PhD under the supervision of Robin Oliver, on the petrology of the rocks around Tumby Bay on Eyre Peninsula. Typical of Charles, his thesis challenged the thinking of the time but his theories were later verified. As there were few opportunities for employment in metemorphic petrology when he graduated Charles was glad to accept a position as a Research Scientist with BHP Central Laboratories (CRL) in Newcastle in 1977. His work involved a dramatic shift away from metamorphic petrology to investigating coal combustion. Rather than being a hindrance to his work, Charles quickly discovered the positive benefits of changing fields as was soon able to apply his considerable mental resources to make a significant contribution in coal coking technology. While in Newcastle, Charles became a founding member and driving force behind the Newcastle Cycleways movement (NCM) which blossomed into a leading social and political lobby group for cyclists. Charles was passionate about bicycle safety and pushed for compulsory use of bike helmets. Consistent with Charles' rational mind, and a passion for encouraging people to think rationally for themselves, he was a founding member of the Australian Skeptics in Newcastle. In 1990 Charles was recruited to run the Australian Coal Industry Research Laboratory's new Coking Research Centre in Brisbane. Charles was a prolific scientist - generating more than 80 published papers in the field of coal science and the utilisation of coal, with the last one completed the day he was admitted to hospital. He was an expert on coal coking technology and was called upon to troubleshoot in countries such as Germany, Romania, India and China. According to his son Lachlan, Charles was, "A strong believer in mentoring, and transferring his knowledge and skills to his colleagues, he inspired respect and friendship amongst his "crew". In his way, Charles had a legacy of not just innovative research, but also a group of people who will continue his passion for critical thinking in the coal industry." Charles was a long-time member of the Geological Society. Charles is survived by his wife Sue and two sons Lachlan and Adam. To understand why Charles made an impact on the lives of so many around him is to understand his philosophy on life. According to his family, "Charles would tell us not to repay the many kindnesses, but to pass them on to others, and in this way leave an excess of kindness in the world... We know that generosity, in spreading an excess of favours in the world, was one of Dad's most prominent messages." TAG #118, March 2001 Fellow of the Geological Society of Australia Barry became enthusiastic about geology as an adolescent when he joined a Junior Field Naturalists Club in Melbourne. School provided another motivation and Barry studied Year 12 Geology in Victoria attaining second place in the State examinations. This led to undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Melbourne (1967-1972) and Ohio State University, USA (1972-1974) with later management education at the Australian Graduate School of Management (1992). Barry started professional life as a geologist specialising in palaeontology and stratigraphy at the Geological Survey of South Australia in 1975 and since then has made Adelaide his base. He spent 1978-1979 as a Visiting Professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada. Since 1972, Barry has published more than 100 geological and related articles on conodont taxonomy and biostratigraphy, Cenozoic biostratigraphy, Permian spore-pollen stratigraphy, the history of geology, dimension stone industry development and professional issues. Two volumes dealing with the history of Australian geology have been co-edited with Colin Gatehouse in the journal “Earth Sciences History”. Since 1989, within the South Australian Government, Barry has focussed on administrative issues involving minerals. He has had a major role in formulating a Government Minerals policy. A Chair in Petroleum Geology at the University of Adelaide has been created with his strong input. Barry negotiated an international Bilateral Agreement between the Italian and South Australia Governments on Dimension Stone Industry development with resulting facilitation of stands at fairs in Verona and Carrara. New marble and granite mining operations were established in South Australia with his encouragement and a strategic plan for the dimension stone industry completed with his major input. Barry has had a long GSA association, joining as a Student Member of the Victorian Division. He was Secretary of the South Australian Division from 1975-1978 and was also SA correspondent for AAP (Palaeontology Specialist Group) during this period. During the 1980s, Barry was instrumental in establishing the Earth Sciences History Group within GSA and became its first Chair. He was also Chronostratigraphy Co-ordinator for the Stratigraphic Names Subcommittee. In 1994, he worked with David Branagan to prepare “Rock Me Hard, Rock Me Soft: A History of the Geological Society of Australia. Subsequently he has been Federal Treasurer (2002-2004) and Chair of the South Australian Division (2004-5). Barry gains a sense of achievement and satisfaction in geology through contributing to the science, to the profession and to the related industries, with further insight learned from studying their interrelated histories. 1931 - 2001 Stuart Derrington, a pioneer of the develoipment of the Queensland oil and gas industry, died in November 2001 after a long battle with cancer. Stuart graduated in 1953 with a BSc (Hons) in geology. He was employed in 1954 by Dick Mott, the Acting Chief Geologist for Associated Australian Oilfields N.L. and its administration arm, Mines Administration Pty Ltd (Minad). AAO had taken over the four petroleum tenements round Roma still held from the 1930s. Stuart was Minad's first employee, later joined by Doug Traves, John Glover and myself. Stuart was sent to Roma to sit on AAO4 (Hospital Hill) which produced gas; followed by AAO5 and 6, which were dry, and AAO7 (Arcadia), also a gas producer. The formation names Stuart first used in that period, Hospital Hill Sandstone, Showgrounds Sandstone, Timbury Hills Formation, are still used. In those days the wellsite geologist, besides logging the cuttings and cores, calculated the cement jobs, supervised the drilling mud program, and the formation testing. Stuart made himself thoroughly familiar with the primitive Johnson packers then used. He then was a wellsite geologist for the two Associated Freney wells, Nerrima and Myroodah. In between these Stuart worked on the Minad field parties, first John Glover's in the Theodore area, then in Minad field parties in Victoria Basin (NT) and Bonaparte Gulf (NT and WA). In 1956 he ran a large geological/gravity party in the Part Keats area (NT), and The Sisters (Canning Basin WA). In 1958 Stuart, with Kevin Morgan mapped the Blackwater/Comet area in the Bowen Basin. By that time Minad geologists had mapped the whole of the Bowen Basin before any work had been done by the Bureau of Mineral Resources field parties. Their work was included in the compilation, 'Geology of Queensland', Volume 7 of the Journal of the Geological Society of Australia edited by Dorothy Hill and Alan Denmead in 1961. Derrington and Morgan named for the first time the structural features of the Bowen Basin, the Denison Trough, the Comet Ridge, and the Dawson Tectonic Zone, also giving formal names to the rocks of the eastern flank of the Bowen Basin. In 1959 Minad returned to Roma and driled AAO Timbury Hills 2. Stuart was the wellsite geologist, and the successful production of gas from that well on a proven seismic structure changed the fortunes of the Associated Group. It was followed by other successful gas discoveries, and the construction of the gas pipeline to Brisbane. By 1964 Stuart was Operations Manager for the Associated Group, supervising and training numbers of geologists who are now senior figures in the industry. From 1972-1980 he was a Director of Richter Drilling, and from 1978-1980 Chairman Hail Creek Associates Pty Ltd. In 1962 he obtained his M.Sc. degree from the University of Queensland. In 1980 he left the Associated Group, working as a consultant mostly as a petroleum engineer. During this period he designed and supervised wells for some thirty major clients. He was also Exploration Manager for Apex Oil from 1984-1985. From 1985-1990 he was consultant petroleum inspector to Papua New Guinea government, supervising the company wells and testing. He also drafted the PNG petroleum regulations. He was a Fellow and Chartered Professional Geologist of the AusIMM, Member of the AAPG, Member of the Institute of Engineers (Australia), Member of the Geological Society of Australia, and PESA. Stuart was one of Nature's gentlemen, always quietly spoken and easy to get along with, even in the trying circumstances of the early Minad field and drilling camps. He leaves a wife Carmel and a son, daughter, daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren. I would like to thank Stuart's family, Rod Allen, and Greg Swindon for assistance in preparing this. COLIN LAING, Bellbowrie, Queensland Foundation Member of the Geological Society of Australia 1923 - 2006 Mac was born on 7 September 1923 in Geelong, Victoria, the eldest of six siblings. He received his later education at Melbourne High School (1937-1941), before he enlisted in the army, at the age of 18, during World War II. He went on to study at Melbourne University for a BSc degree (1947-1949) and completed his honours degree wilst a Cadet Geologist with the Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics (BMR). He then worked for BMR – then in Melbourne – with Curt Teichert, a senior lecturer at Melbourne University. After Mac moved to Canberra, with the relocation of the Geological Branch of BMR in 1951, his first task was to take part in a survey of the Jervis Bay Territory (ACT) and adjacent parts of the Sydney Basin. From 1952 to 1958 he participated in field mapping and palaeontological research on the Permian rocks of the Carnarvon and Canning basins. The preliminary results of this work were published (with GA Thomas) in 1954, followed by a series of detailed systematic papers on Permian bivalves and gastropods, for which Mac was awarded the MSc degree from Melbourne University in 1958. During the 1960s Mac continued publishing a prolific stream of papers on Permian molluscs from Western Australia, was awarded the PhD degree from the University of Queensland in 1962, and later turned his attention to the Permian macrofaunas of the Bowen and Sydney basins of eastern Australia. This provided a firm basis for his later research on Permian global biostratigraphy, on which he established an international reputation, receiving the Mining, Geological and Metallurgical Society of India’s Chrestian Mica Gondwanaland Medal. In the 1970s Mac administered the Palaeontology Group of BMR. He coordinated the group program and liaison and co-operation with the palaeontological groups of state geological surveys, and was curator for the Commonwealth Palaeontological Collection. During this period Mac developed his ideas on palaeoclimate and palaeogeography for the Carboniferous, Permian and Triassic periods. He continued his taxonomic work, which formed the basis of local correlation schemes, and recognised the problems involved with establishing a global time scale for the Permian. Mac formally retired from the Australian Geological Survey Organisation in 1988, but continued his research for another 16 years, publishing several taxonomic papers, such as on Lower Permian molluscs from Oman, Late Carboniferous brachiopods from Antarctica, as well as on palaeoclimate, and global tectonics. Mac has an excellentn record of service to the geological community both in Australia and internationally. He was a Founding Member of the Geological Society of Australia (GSA) in 1952, Federal Secretary (GSA) in 1959-1961, Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Commonwealth Territories Division (GSA) 1963, 1964, 1977 and 1978, Chairman of the Steering Committee for the formation of the GSA Specialist Group in Palaeontology and Biostratigraphy (the forerunner of the Australasian Association of Palaeontologists) in 1970. Internationally, Mac served as Chairman of the IUGS Subcommission on Gondwana Stratigraphy in 1970, he chaired the organising committee for the 3rd International Gondwana Symposium held in Canberra 1973, and served on the organising committees for several subsequent Gondwana symposia. He served as Vice-Chairman of the Permian Sub-commission (1984), and was a titular member for many years. Mac has served on working groups on the Carboniferous-Permain boundary, and the Permian-Triassic boundary. He was also Co-leader of the successful IGCP Project203, Permo-Triassic events of east Tethys and their international correlation. Mac wrote or co-authored over 100 scientific papers, most on aspects of Permian, or Triassic, molluscs and biostratigraphy. Many of these were fundamental ro our early understanding of the distribution and stratigraphic relationships of Permian sediments in Australia. In addition to his authorship, Mac also promoted his science by undertaking an editorial role on numberous volumes, especially those dealing with Gondwana and the Tethys regions. Mac placed great emphasis on original thought in research, and never felt constrained to accept current geological dogma, such as the plate tectonic model. In his retirement years mac became strongly involved in alternative tectonic thought. This iconoclastic approach was exemplified in his editing with Dong Choi a newsletter on New Concepts in Global Tectonics. Mac will be remembered for his scientific achievements by his colleagues both in Australia, and throughout the world. He will also be remembered for his strong social activities by his local community. Peter Jones and Robert Nicoll, Department of Earth and Marine Sciences, The Australian National University. TAG 138: March 2006. Return to the Foundation Members page Honorary Member of the Geological Society of Australia 1912 - 2000 Ben Dickinson's parents were Quakers; both were Principals of schools in Hobart. As the family moved to take up new school appointments he was educated successively at Leslie house (Hobart), Christ College (Wellington), Andrews College (Christchurch) and Haileybury College (Melbourne) the last named a proprietary school bought by his father after World War I. He began a mining course at Melbourne University before taking a job as a field assistant with the Aerial, Geological and Geophysical Survey (AGGSNA) in 1934, where he came under the influence of PB Nye and John Sullivan - also Roland Blanchard of Mt Isa Mines. Dickinson returned to the University of Melbourne to be awarded a first class BSc Honours degree and, later, MSc in Geology under Professor Skeats, where staff included Edwin Hills, Frank Stilwell and Austin Edwards. He was employed as a mine geologist by Gold Mines of Australia Ltd ("The Collins House Group") at Morning Star (gold), Costerfield (gold, antimony), Rosebery (lead, zinc), Hercules (lead, zinc) and Mt Lyell (copper), where he became associated with HJC Connolly, Don Campbell, Haddon King and Reg Hare. He was appointed to the SA Public Service as Assistant Government Geologist in 1940 (when there was only one other on field duties - Ralph Segnit); he became Deputy Director of Mines and Deputy Government Geologist in 1942. He married Jessica, the eldest daughter of Dr L Keith Ward; on retirement of his father-in-law in 1944 he was appointed Director of Mines, Government Geologist, Supervisor of Boring Operations, Warden and Secretary to the Minister of Mines. Coping with the supply of World War II strategic minerals brought him into contact with Essington Lewis, David Rivett, AJ Keast, George Fisher, Maurice Mawby and Malcolm Newman. After war-time, a number of ingredients combined to assure the place of the Department of Mines in securing the State's industrial development through its natural resources base. These included a premier (Tom Playford) with the outlook of a statesman, a supportive Minister (Lyell McEwin) as his ally, and an astute Director of Mines attuned to the requirements for assessment of mineral resources and their development to enhance SA population growth and income. The new Director was softly spoken and may have appeared quiet and withdrawn, but the new opportunities on offer showed that he had vision, boundless reserves of energy and drive. Dickinson proved by his own detailed investigations of copper fields at Moonta, Kadina, Kapunda, Burra, Kanmantoo, Mt Gunson and in the Flinders ranges; of coal at Leigh Creek, of uranium at Mt Painter; and of phosphate rock, talc and gypsum, that he was an extremely able field geologist. He also proved to be an able administrator and to possess a political flair for fostering new and expanded mineral industry development. He recognised the value of scientific research and the establishment of such facilities on a scale commensurate with the magnitude of the development problems peculiar to Australia. Dickinson's greatest achievement is seen to be the creation of the Geological Survey of SA, within and as the spearhead to a dynamic Department of Mines - it would become the blueprint for the other states to emulate. He set about the appointment of geological staff during the decade that followed; he recruited experienced geologists - Keith Miles, Ted Broadhurst, Tom Barnes, Lee Parkin, Reg Sprigg, Jack Ridgway, Alick Whittle, Eric Anderson, Colin Kerr-Grant - specialists in groundwater investigations; mineral resource assessment; coal exploration; regional geological mapping and the application of geophysical techniques. Equipped with exceptionally good exploration facilities, drilling and allied support and laboaratories for mineralogical, petrological, chemical, physical, pilot scale mining and industrial studies, they were alert to opportunities on offer. Shortage of coal supplies from New South Wales for electricity generation, industry and the SA Railways encouraged the SA Government to take over the assets of the Adelaide Electric Supply Co in 1946 and to develop the Leigh Creekcoal field, where assessment by Dickinson and his Department led to open cast mining operations. The urgent need for uranium in connection with the Manhattan Project of the US and UK Governments was a task entrusted to the Department on behalf of the Commonwealth Government, firstly at Mt Painter and then for peacetime nuclear reactor requirements at Radium Hill; this led to the recovery of uranium ore from underground mining and the production of yellow cake at Port Pirie - under Dickinson's direction. The SA government, with Dickinson's support, were successful in applying pressure for the establishment of a fully integrated steel works at Whyalla, culminating in the enactment of the BHP Company Steelworks Induenture Act in 1958. Other elements catalytic to Departmental development included a broadening of expertise to ensure in-house ability to foster the further processing of uranium and other minerals. Dickinson recruited staff and procured equipment to set up a Research and Development Branch of the Department of Mines - later to become the Australian Mineral Development Laboratories (and subsequently AMDEL). A drilling fleet was established to secure supplies of subterranean water in the Adelaide metropolitan area because of prevailing drought conditions early in this period; such expertise, enhanced by the aquisition of rotary drilling equipment, would be used to great effect in defining coal reserves at Leigh Creek, urnaium ore at Radium Hill, iron ore in the Middleback Range and other mineral deposits throughout the State, and for stratigraphic drilling. Thus the Mines Department would prosper in much of the form and broad activities that were established by Ben Dickinson for the 40 years that ensued following his departure in 1956. Dickinson resigned to become Director of Exploration for Rio Tinto Australia, based in Melbourne - taking with him Bruno Campana, Merv Wade, Frank Hughes, Don King and Ron Coats. Their efforts were directed to mineral search in northwest Tasmania, evaluation of Mary Kathleen uranium, Hammersly Range iron and New South Wales coal. Moving to Sydney in 1960, he provided services to Sir Frank Duval and Sir Arthur Fadden in the export of iron ore from the Pilbara and from Frances Creek (NT); in bauxite assessment at Gove, consulting to Daniel K Ludwig and clutha Development Co; coal on the east coast and at Blair Athol; he became a Director of North Bulli Colliery; he sought to develop gypsum at Lake MacDonnell through Peninsula Prospecting and Mining Pty Ltd. On 'retirement', Dickinson returned to Adelaide in 1975 where he served as an advisor to successive Ministers of Mines for the following 10 years, in promotion of uranium conversion and enrichment in SA. And he continued to dispense advice on a range of mineral-related matters to bureaucracies and industry chiefs; there were few doors of Commonwealth and State Minitries (on all sides of the political spectrum) who were concerned with the uranium fuel cycle through which he did not pass. For service to the mining industry he was created Knight Bachelor in the 1980 Queen's Birthday honours. He was foundation Chairman of Burmine Ltd, which he relinquished in 1989; interest in the processing of iron ore at Whyalla was rekindled and the direct reduction of iron ore (in particular) was pursued with vigour. Sir Ben Dickinson became a regular contributor to the "Letters to the Editor" column of the local daily morning newspaper, espousing a wide range if social causes, mineral development and energy policy issues - all of which exercised his mind to the last. He is survived by sons Allan and Graham (by his first marriage); his wife Dorothy, daughter Margaret, son Peter and six grandchildren. KEITH JOHNS, Glandore SA Return to the Honorary Members page 1938 - 2000 Geoff Dickson, exploration geophysicist, died on monday July 10th, 2000, after a long battle with cancer. Born and educated in Sydney, Geoff graduated from the University of Sydney in 1961 with a BSc with majors in mathematics and geology, and was awarded an MSc in geophysics in 1962. His Masters research, which resulted in the publication of three papers on thermoremanent magnetism, led him to pursue further studies at Columbia University, New York City, USA. Geoff completed his doctoral thesis, entitled "Magnetic Anomalies in the South Atlantic OCean", under the guidance of Dr Maurice Ewing and was awarded his PhD in March 1968. His research made a significant contribution to the early theories on sea-floor spreading , shared by his co-resaecrhers W.C. Pitman, X. LePichon, E.M. Herron and J.M. Heirztler. During his PhD studies Geoff was employed on a part-time basis at Lamont Doherty Geoogical Observatory, Palisades, NY, and spent several months in the North and South Atlantic on the Research Vessel Robert D. Conrad. Among his experiences, he was involved in the search for the USS Thresher, a nuclear submarine that sank off Boston in the mid 1960s. The search was undertaken using a deep towed magnet |
