Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) (1926 - 1949)

Summary

Established in 1926, the CSIR worked for over twenty years, undertaking scientific research in Australia's primary and secondary industries. In 1949 the Council was renamed the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation and continues to operate under this name.

Details

CSIR Chairmen:

Julius, George Alfred (part time) April 1926 to 31 December 1945
Rivett, Albert Cherbury David 8 June 1946 to 18 May 1949

Members of the CSIR Executive:

Rivett, Albert Cherbury David (part time) Apr 1926 to 31 Dec 1926 (full time) 1 Jan 1927 to 7 Jun 1946
Newbigin, William Johnstone (part time.) Apr 1926 to Apr 1927
Richardson, Arnold Edwin Victor (part time) 1 Jun 1927 to 18 Apr 1938 (full time) 19 Apr 1938 to 18 May 1949
White, Frederick William George 1 Jan 1946 to 30 Jun 1959 Clunies Ross, Ian 1 May 1946 to 18 May 1949

CSIR Ministers-in-Charge:

Pearce, George Foster Apr 1926* to 22 Oct 1929
Daly, John Joseph 23 Oct 1929 to 2 Jan 1932*
McLachlan, John Alexander 6 Jan 1932 to 29 Nov 1937
Casey, Richard Gardiner 29 Nov 1937 to Oct 1939
Holt, Harold Edward Oct 1939* to Mar 1940*
Gullett, Henry Somer 14 Mar 1940 to 13 Aug 1940
Collett, Herbert Brayley 14 Aug 1940' to 28 Oct 1940
Holt, Harold Edward 28 Oct 1940 to 29 Aug 1941
Dedman, John Johnstone 7 Oct 1941 to 19 Dec 1949

* = approximate dates

Related entries

Timeline

 1916 - 1920 Advisory Council of Science and Industry
       1920 - 1926 Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry
             1926 - 1949 Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
                   1949 - Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation - Records, 1916 - 1918, MS 038; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• Smith, Ailie, Adolph Basser Library Manuscript Collection, eScholarship Research Centre, 2012, http://www.eoas.info/basser_browse.html. Details

Books

• Bastian, J. M.; McBean, D. McG.; Smith, M. B., 50 Years of Food Research (Melbourne: CSIRO, 1979). Details
• Bear, I. Joy.; Biegler, Tom; Scott, Tom. R., Alumina to zirconia: the history of CSIRO Division of Mineral Chemistry (Clayton, Victoria: CSIRO Minerals, 2001), 426 pp, https://ebooks.publish.csiro.au/content/alumina-zirconia. Details
• Currie, George; Graham, John, The Origins of CSIRO: Science and the Commonwealth Government, 1901-1926 (Melbourne: CSIRO, 1966), 203 pp, https://ebooks.publish.csiro.au/content/origins-csiro. pages 135-156 (Chapter 7). Details
• Rivett, R., David Rivett: Fighter for Australian Science (Camberwell, Victoria: R. D. Rivett, 1972), 225 pp. Details
• Schedvin, C. C., Shaping Science and Industry: a History of Australia's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1987), 400 pp. Details
• Schedvin, C.B; Trace, K., Historical Directory of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, 1926-1976 (Canberra: CSIRO, 1978), 101 pp. https://csiropedia.csiro.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/csiro_historical_directory_1926_1976.pdf. Details

Book Sections

• Alvarez, Amaya Jane, 'Invisible Workers and Invisible Barriers: Women in the CSIR in the 1930s and the 1940s' in On the Edge of Discovery: Australian Women in Science, Farley Kelly, ed. (Melbourne: Text Publishing Company, 1993), pp. 77-103. Details

Conference Papers

• Schedvin, C. B.; and Trace, K., 'Aspects of the Pre-War History of CSIR', in Paper for the Australian Association for the History and Philosophy of Science Conference, Melbourne, 1976 (1976), p. 21.. Details
• Spink, John, 'Australian Physics and the Evolution of CSIR', in Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science, Congress (Canberra: 1984), pp. 1-27.. Details

Journal Articles

• Currie, George and Graham, John, 'CSIR 1926-1939', Public Administration, 33 (1974), 230-52. Details
• Currie, George; Graham, John, 'Growth of Scientific Research in Australia: the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the Empire Marketing Board', Records of the Australian Academy of Science, 1 (3) (1968), 25-35. http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9680130025.htm. Details
• Gentilli, J., 'A History of Meteorological and Climatological Studies in Australia', University Studies in History, 5 (1967), 54-88. Details
• McNamara, Nicole; Kopinathan, Anitha; Wolff, Helen; Spurling, Thomas H.; Simpson, Gregory; and Locock, Katherine E. S., 'Breaking down barriers: standing on the shoulders of Australia's early female chemists', Australian journal of chemistry, 76 (2) (2023), 63-73. https://www.publish.csiro.au/CH/pdf/CH22235. Details
• Schedvin, C. B., 'Environment, Economy and Australian Biology 1890-1939', Historical Studies, 21 (1984), 11-28. Details
• Turner, A. W., 'Gilruth's Work with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, 1929-1936', Australian Veterinary Journal, 13 (1937), 112-115. Details
• Upstill, Garrett; Spurling, Thomas H.; and Healy, Terence J., 'CSIR and Australian industry, 1926-49', Historical Records of Australian Science, 32 (1) (2021), 52-66. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR20012. Details
• White, F. W. G., ' A personal account of the historical development of CSIRO', Nature, 261 (1976), 633-6. https://doi.org/10.1038/261633A0. Details
• White, Frederick, 'CSIR to CSIRO - the events of 1948-1949', Public Administration, 34 (4) (1975), 281-93. Details

Parliamentary Acts

• 'Science and Industry Research Act 1926', in Federal Register of Legislation, Australian Government, Canberra, ACT (online), 1926. https://www.legislation.gov.au/C1926A00020/latest/text. Details

Resources

• Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-629990. Details

Resource Sections

• 'Primary description of agency CA 486; Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial Research [CSIR] Head Office. Registration of entity: 17 June 1977', in RecordSearch, National Archives of Australia, 2000, https://RecordSearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/AutoSearch.asp?Number=CA%20486. Details
• 'Council members', in CSIROpedia, Colin Ward, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organisation, Canberra, ACT, 2023. https://csiropedia.csiro.au/council-members/. Details

Theses

• Alvarez, Amaya, 'Writing about Women in the History of Science: a Study of Women at the CSIR 1930-1950', MA thesis, University of Melbourne, 1993. Details

See also

• Bell, A. W., 'Animal science Down Under: a history of research, development and extension in support of Australia's livestock industries', Animal production science, 60 (2020), 193-231, https://doi.org/10.1071/AN19161. Details
• McCann, D. A.; and Batterham, P., 'Australian Genetics: a Brief History', Genetica, 90 (2-3) (1993), 81-114. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01435033. Details