Earth Sciences History Group (ASpecialist Group of the Geological Society of AustraliaInc.)
Email Bulletin No. 60 10 May 2022
Hidden histories revealed in scientific revision of paleontological collections (INHIGEO session at IPC6
Our 2018 Tom Vallance Medal recipient, Dr Susan Turner has been co-opted along with Kathleen Histon, and Toshihiro Yamada to convene an INHIGEO-sponsored session at the International Palaeontological Congress in Thailand 7–11 November 2022. The congress website is https://ipc6.msu.ac.th
The theme of the session is given above and a description of it is as follows:
Research in palaeontology in relation to scientific revision of palaeontological collections often leads us to work on historical documents and publications in order to reconstruct their stories. Many hours can be spent in museum collections, archives, libraries and online tracing original publications, the development of theories or techniques in palaeontology, disputes and discussion of taxonomic classification, biographies and correspondence between scientists, notes on specimens within collection boxes or museum records regarding their revision, transfer or loss. This documentation forms a fundamental part of a palaeontologist’s research and is often contained within a short paragraph on Previous Studies or under remarks on systematic descriptions within monographs and scientific papers as after all the main objective is to resolve the taxonomic issues and complete the systematic studies. In this IUGS International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences (INHIGEO) sponsored session we would like to provide a space for this research to be presented and highlight the interaction between history and palaeontology. Contributions on the aspects outlined above are welcomed.
Publication of papers from this INHIGEO session is planned as a Special Issue in the peer-reviewed journal Earth Science History.
Please submit abstracts before 16 June 2022 via IPC6’s registration system or send by email to Generalchair_ipc6@msu.ac.th The IPC6 centre working along with scientific committee will collate abstracts centrally, review and provisionally accept them and then send them as batches to convenors for their final approval. IPC6 centre will issue acceptance letter to the author after the final approval.
Deadline for registration payment 15 June 2022
INHIGEO Circular
The latest INHIGEO Circular can be accessed on the INHIGEO webpage at https://inhigeo.com/circular.pdf
Of interest is a link to a paper by ESHG member Wolf Mayer in INHIGEO’s Anniversaries Series for the IUGS Website and E Bulletin on William Keene who died 150 years ago.
William Keene (1798–1872): Geologist, Engineer and Collector, in France and New South Wales Born in Bath, Somerset, in 1798, the young William Keene moved to London where he discovered an interest in geology and in engineering. A career in mining and civil engineering, led to his move to Bordeaux in 1838. However, instability brought about by the revolution in France in 1848, prompted him to return to England. He was already 54 years old when he left England with his family, in 1852, to settle in the colony of New South Wales where he made major contributions to the discovery, mapping and mining of coal deposits in the Hunter Valley region of New
South Wales and took part in scientific debates there on the age of the coal measures and the theories of Charles Lyell.
IUGS E-Bulletin 182, January 2022; https://www.inhigeo.com/anniversaries/INHIGEO_Mayer_Keene.pdf
Upcoming INHIGEO Conference
The Comité Français d’Histoire de la Géologie (COFRHIGEO) will organize the 2022 INHIGEO Congress in France, 16–26 September, 2022, in the Périgord region (southwestern France).
The main venue of the congress will be Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, a picturesque village in the Vézère Valley, otherwise known for its National Museum of Prehistory, its many prehistoric sites and decorated caves (Lascaux, CroMagnon, La Madeleine, Font de Gaume, Combarelles, etc.).
Use the following link for further details https://www.inhigeo.com/france2022/index.html
Australian Mining History Association News
The AMHA Conference, planned for November 2020, and postponed to September-October 2021 was cancelled for a second time due to the Delta COVID variant. The AMHA Conference will take place at Burra, South Australia and is now scheduled for 18-25 September 2022. There will be local visits to the town, mines and smelters, and longer day trips to Kapunda and Moonta.
If you are interested in attending, registrations are now open. See the AMHA website at You can find the registration details on the AMHA website at https://www.mininghistory.asn.au/wpcontent/uploads/Burra-2022-Registration.pdf
Papers offered for 2021 will of course now be presented at the 2022 conference but the call for papers continues to be open. The Organising Committee invites offers of presentations on any topic relevant to mining history. Individual oral presenters other than keynote speakers will be allocated 20 minutes with an additional 5 minutes for questions. Contact Ross Both at rosannb@bigpond.net.au with title and abstract.
Vale Professor Lloyd Hamilton (1940-2022)
Lloyd Hamilton, although not a member of ESHG, may be known to many of our members. He was an enthusiast, sceptic, lateral thinker and educator who had a significant impact on the careers of numerous geoscientists over many years through his teaching and mentoring roles, having been on the staff of the Queensland University of Technology from 1982 up to his official retirement in 2002 and thereafter as Adjunct Professor. He had previously worked for CSIRO, BMR and initiated the degree course in Geology at the University of Papua New Guinea. He was a stalwart of the GSA’s Queensland Division. A full obituary will appear in the next issue of TAG.
Contributions for the ESHG Newsletter
Articles for future editions are welcome and can be submitted to the Newsletter Editor, Mr John Draper at jdraper@hn.ozemail.com.au. We have one rather long article at hand but would like to include more.
Australian Geology Hall of Fame
The ESHG webpages include short biographies of influential Australian geologists (see ESHG Biographies (gsa.org.au)) and has recently been expanded, but biographies of many other influential Australian geoscientists are yet to be included here, and a list of possible candidates is given below.
Members are welcome to submit short biographies (500-600 words plus a photograph or image and links or main references to more detailed information) of these or any others to the Earth Science History Group c/eshg.gsa@gmail.com Of course, we would also welcome more detailed biographies for inclusion in forthcoming editions of the newsletter as requested above.
• Edward de Courcy Clarke
• Richard Daintree
• Samuel Benson Dickinson
• Norman Henry (Doc) Fisher
• Charles Gould
• John Walter Gregory
• Dorothy Hill
• Edwin Sherbon Hills
• Terence D Hills
ESHG Committee:
• Joseph Beete Jukes
• Clive Loftus-Hills
• Lyndon Charles Noakes
• Reginald Claude Sprigg
• William Harper Twelvetrees
• George Henry Frederick Ulrich
• Leonard Keith Ward
• Samuel Warren Carey
The current committee is listed below but has been in place now since 2014 and the committee feels it is time to hand the baton on. The committee has traditionally rotated around the State Divisions but approaches to some of the State’s that have not provided a committee in recent decades have not been successful. ACT members showed some interest but were reticent about taking on the role on their own and an email call to NSW members to form a joint committee with ACT has so far received no response. As the COVID Pandemic and the use of Zoom and Teams has shown us, living in different jurisdictions is no longer an impediment to forming a committee. Therefore, it is probably time for a committee to be spread across Australia. We will probably make a formal approach in the coming months, but in the meantime, please contact the committee if you are interested.
Chair Ian Withnall
Secretary John Jell
Treasurer Paul Blake
Newsletter Editor John Draper
Assistant Editor Cec Murray
Tasmanian representative Carol Bacon
SA representative Jim Jago
Email address eshg.gsa@gmail.com