Media: BOOK - paperback, 242 pages
Author: J. Glover & J. Bevan
Year: 2010
ISBN: 0859051781
Other: b&w photos, maps, chronology, index
Publisher: Hesperian Press

Who were the great Australian explorers? Most people immediately think of men like Burke and Wills, Giles, Sturt, Grey, Stuart, Leichhardt, Kennedy and Eyre: and it is true that, besides their achievements, all of these suffered great hardships, and some perished, making them more memorable historically.

However, in Western Australia, during the first century of settlement, there were other explorers, largely unknown, who traversed equally dangerous and desolate regions, but they were resolute and skilled bushmen who did not perish, became lost, or have to be rescued. They returned without fuss or acclaim, to write reports and get ready for their next journeys. There were, of course, a few colourful characters associated with this saga, and we look closely at them too.

Western Australians, and to a certain extent, Australian generally, owe much of their present prosperity to WA's energy and mineral resource sectors. The groundbreaking work done by these 'foreign explorers' (and the small band of outstanding laboratory scientists who supported them) laid the basis of our present knowledge.

This book is the first to give brief histories of all the main geologists who worked in this early period and mentions many others who had connections, albeit to a lesser extent, with the vital work of investigating the geology, landforms, soils and resources of Australia's largest state.

Contents:
Geological Map of Western Australia
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. What is this book about

The historical and geological background
2. The geological history of Western Australia
3. The importance of geology to Australians: a balances picture
4. Initial exploration follows early reconnaissance and European settlement
5. Some geological advances in the 19th century
6. Geological Surveys develop, and the geological population increases
7. Tapping the mineral wealth of Western Australia in the first hundred years of European settlement

The geologists
8. The early geological investigators
9. The first Government Geologist: mystery-man Ferdinand von Sommer
10. The Gregory brothers
11. Second and third Government Geologists: Brown and Hardman
12. Permanent Government Geologists: Woodward and Gibb Maitland
13. Field geologists of the Geological Survey of Western Australia
14. Research and laboratory geologists of the Geological Survey of Western Australia
15. Geologists of The University of Western Australia and the Kalgoorlie School of Mines
16. Outside the standard pattern: eight distinctive careers
17. Other geologists and associates of note

Significance of our pioneer geologists: a review
18. Pioneer geologists and their place in history

Glossary of terms
References
Indexes
 - people index
 - general index