Rocks to Riches: The Story of Australia's National Geological Survey
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Rocks to Riches is the story of Australia's national geological survey, which started life as the Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics, and is now known as the Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO).
Throughout the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth, the work of Australia's explorers, prospectors, geologists and mineral surveyors laid the foundations for our modern national economy. But it took a war, Prime Minister Ben Chifley and the foresight and drive of one man - H G (Harold) Raggatt - to begin the coordinated uncovering of Australia's vast mineral resources.
From its foundation in 1946, the BMR and Raggatt shared one principal objective - to systematically compile a series of geological maps of the entire continent. How this was achieved, and who was on the ground making it happen, is a fascinating and little known story.
So too is what happened next, as the BMR took on new and increasingly complex tasks in serving the national interest. Told by the people involved in the field and behind the scenes in laboratories, it is also a story of political intrigue, a struggle for survival during the recession of the 1980s and early 1990s, and the BMR's transformation into the Australian Geological Survey Organisation.
Bauxite at Gove, manganese at Groote Eylandt, uranium at Coronation Hill, iron at Mt Bundey and Francis Creek. these are just a few of the discoveries directly attributable to BMR personnel. Throughout their fifty years, the BMR and AGSO have also been instrumental in the discovery of many other deposits, large and small, by private industry.
Today the work continues, providing Australia-wide geoscience data for the exploration and assessment of the nation's mineral and petroleum resources and for the management of its environment. The technology becomes evermore sophisticated, the data gathered evermore numerous. But, just as the geologists and surveyors of old, today's geoscientists know there is no substitute for keen observation and intuitive skills in gathering the basic information in the field.
Above all, Rocks to Riches is the story of the people behind the headline-grabbing discoveries and the patient hard work which has characterised the first fifty years of this great national institution.
Author: Rick Wilkinson
Format: Hardback, 446 pages, 175mm x 225mm
Published: 1996, Allen & Unwin, Australia
Genre: Earth Sciences
Rocks to Riches is the story of Australia's national geological survey, which started life as the Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics, and is now known as the Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO).
Throughout the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth, the work of Australia's explorers, prospectors, geologists and mineral surveyors laid the foundations for our modern national economy. But it took a war, Prime Minister Ben Chifley and the foresight and drive of one man - H G (Harold) Raggatt - to begin the coordinated uncovering of Australia's vast mineral resources.
From its foundation in 1946, the BMR and Raggatt shared one principal objective - to systematically compile a series of geological maps of the entire continent. How this was achieved, and who was on the ground making it happen, is a fascinating and little known story.
So too is what happened next, as the BMR took on new and increasingly complex tasks in serving the national interest. Told by the people involved in the field and behind the scenes in laboratories, it is also a story of political intrigue, a struggle for survival during the recession of the 1980s and early 1990s, and the BMR's transformation into the Australian Geological Survey Organisation.
Bauxite at Gove, manganese at Groote Eylandt, uranium at Coronation Hill, iron at Mt Bundey and Francis Creek. these are just a few of the discoveries directly attributable to BMR personnel. Throughout their fifty years, the BMR and AGSO have also been instrumental in the discovery of many other deposits, large and small, by private industry.
Today the work continues, providing Australia-wide geoscience data for the exploration and assessment of the nation's mineral and petroleum resources and for the management of its environment. The technology becomes evermore sophisticated, the data gathered evermore numerous. But, just as the geologists and surveyors of old, today's geoscientists know there is no substitute for keen observation and intuitive skills in gathering the basic information in the field.
Above all, Rocks to Riches is the story of the people behind the headline-grabbing discoveries and the patient hard work which has characterised the first fifty years of this great national institution.