Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) (1949 - )

Summary

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) can trace its history back to 1916, when it began work as the Advisory Council of Science and Industry. It has operated under its current name since 1949. CSIRO carries out research in primary, secondary and tertiary industries as well as other areas such as environment, conservation and human nutrition. There have been several major restructures during the history of CSIRO, in 1978, 1986 and in 1994-1995.

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

The University of Melbourne Archives

• Department of Otolaryngology - Bionic Ear Records, 1949 - 2000, 2004.0043 at U77/46-55; The University of Melbourne Archives. 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
• Butcher, Barry, Of Vets, Viruses and Vaccines: the Story of CSIRO's Animal Health Research Laboratory, Parkville (Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing, 2000), 336 pp. Details
• Collis, Brad, Fields of Discovery: Australia's CSIRO (Crows Nest, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin, 2002), 520 pp. 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. Details
• Deane, John, 1939-1984: a Picture History of CSIRO Radiophysics (Melbourne: CSIRO, 1985), 69 pp. Details
• Garratt, John; Angus, David; and Holper, Paul, Winds of Change: Fifty Years of Achievements in the CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research 1946-1996 (Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing, 1998), 136 (148) pp. Details
• Main, George, et al., Of Beauty Rich and Rare: Fifty Years of CSIRO Wildlife and Ecology (Canberra: CSIRO Division of Wildlife and Ecology with Surrey Beatty, 1999), 93 pp. Details
• McKay, Andrew, Surprise and Enterprise: Fifty Years of Science for Australia (Melbourne: CSIRO, 1976), 48 pp. Details
• Rivett, D.E.; Ward, C.W.; Beikin, L.M.; Ramshaw, J.A.; and Wiltshire, J.F.K., The Lennox Legacy: the History of the CSIRO Laboratory at 343 Royal Parade, Parkville (Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing, 1996), 384 pp. Details
• Sandland, Ron; and Thompson, Graham, Icon in crisis: the reinvention of CSIRO (Sydney: NewSouth Publishing, 2012), 357 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Sherratt, Tim, 'CSIRO' in Oxford Companion to Australian History, Graeme Davison; John Hirst; Stuart Macintyre, ed. (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 164-165. http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/pubs/articles/tps/csiro_history.htm. Details

Conference Papers

• Kent, Philip and Teakle, Rodney, 'CSIRO - Recordkeeping and Electronic Laboratory Notebooks', in Working With Knowledge, International Archives Conference, 6-7 May 1998 (1998)., http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/asa/stama/conf/WWKRodney.htm. Details

Edited Books

• Davis, William E.; Recher, Harry E.; Boles, Walter E.; and Jackson, Jerome A. eds, Contributions to the History of Australasian Ornithology (Cambridge (Mass.) : Nuttall Ornithological Club, 2008), 481 pp. Details
• Mawson, Vivienne, Tranter, David J.; and Pearce, Alan F. eds, CSIRO at Sea: 50 Years of Marine Science (Hobart: CSIRO Marine Laboratories, 1988), 216 pp. Details
• Saunders, Denis, Spratt, David and Van Wensveen, Monica eds, Perspectives on Wildlife Research: Celebrating 50 Years of CSIRO Wildlife and Ecology (Chipping Norton: Surrey Beatty & Sons in Association with CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, 2002), 144 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• 'Robert V. Dunkle; University of California to CSIRO', Australian Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating, 20 (7) (1966), 48-49. Details
• 'M. V. Tracey, Chief, Division of Food Research [CSIRO]', Australian Journal of Dairy Technology, 26 (3) (1971), 70. Details
• Austin, R. H., 'History of CSIRO Division of Fisheries and Oceanography', Australian and Marine Science Bulletin, 74 (1981), 8-10. Details
• Bergersen, F. J., 'Research on Biological Nitrogen Fixation in CSIRO Plant Industry, 1952-1998', Historical Records of Australian Science, 13 (3) (2001), 255-300. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR0011330255. Details
• Day, M.F.C. et al., 'The Biological Collections in CSIRO: a National Heritage', Historical Records of Australian Science, 15 (1) (2004), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR04002. Details
• Gentilli, J., 'A History of Meteorological and Climatological Studies in Australia', University Studies in History, 5 (1967), 54-88. Details
• Keig, Gael; Hide, Robin L.; Cuddy, Susan M.; Buettikofer, Heinz; Bellamy, Jennifer A.; Bleeker, Pieter; Freyne, David; and McAlpine, John, 'CSIRO and land research in Papua New Guinea 1950 - 2000, part 2: post-independence', Historical Records of Australian Science, 30 (2) (2019), 100-11, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR180125. Details
• Keig, Gael; Hide, Robin L.; Cuddy, Susan M.; Buettikofer, Heinz; Bellamy, Jennifer A.; Bleeker, Pieter; Freyne, David; and McAlpine, John, 'CSIRO and land research in Papua New Guinea 1950 - 2000, part 1: pre-independence', Historical Records of Australian Science, 30 (2) (2019), 83-99, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR18019. Details
• Lefroy, Ted and Porfirio, Luciana L., 'Changing fortunes: a brief history of CSIRO funding from Treasury and external sources, 1926 to 2015', Historical Records of Australian Science, 28 (1) (2017), 12-7, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR17901. 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
• Price, J. R.; Lamberton, J. A.; and Culvenor, C. C. J., 'The Australian Phytochemical Survey: Historical Aspects of the CSIRO Search for New Drugs in Australian Plants', Historical Records of Australian Science, 9 (4) (1993), 335-356. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9930940335. Details
• Schedvin, Boris, 'The Culture of CSIRO', Australian Cultural History, 2 (1982), 76-89. Details
• Spurling, T., 'Historical Origins of CSIRO Molecular Science', Chemistry in Australia, 64 (9) (1997), 12-15. Details
• Upstill, Garrett, 'Promoting Australian industry: CSIRO 1949-79', Historical Records of Australian Science, 30 (2) (2019), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR18016. Details
• Upstill, Garrett; and Spurling, Thomas H., 'Engaging with Australian indusry: CSIRO in the late twentieth century', Historical Records of Australian Science, 31 (1) (2020), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR19006. Details
• Upstill, Garrett; Spurling, Thomas H.; Healy, Terence J.; and Simpson, Gregory W., 'Realignment and change: CSIRO and industry 2000-10', Historical Records of Australian Science, 34 (2) (2023), 109-22, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR22017. Details
• Wark, I. W., 'The CSIRO Division of Industrial Chemistry, 1940-1952', Records of the Australian Academy of Science, 4 (2) (1979), 7-41. http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9790420007.htm. 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
• Willis, J. B., 'The CSIRO Division of Chemical Physics, 1944-1986', Historical Records of Australian Science, 7 (2) (1988), 153-178. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9880720153. Details
• Willis, J. B., 'Spectroscopic Research in the CSIRO Division of Chemical Physics, 1944-1986', Historical Records of Australian Science, 8 (3) (1991), 151-182. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9910830151. Details
• Wolff, Helen A.; Healy, Terence J.; and Spurling, Thomas H., 'An introduction to the CSIRO oral history collection', Historical Records of Australian Science, 30 (2) (2019), 112-8, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR18026. 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

Reports

• Basinski, J. J.; Wood, I. M.; Hacker, J. B., The Northern Challenge: a History of CSIRO Crop Research in Northern Australia (Brisbane: CSIRO Division of Tropical Crops and Pastures, 1985). Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1117048. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/142692412. Details
• Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-458251. Details
• Ward, Colin, The Chair's Medal for Science and Engineering Excellence, CSIROpedia, CSIRO, 2023. https://csiropedia.csiro.au/chairmans-medal/. Details

Resource Sections

• 'Primary description of agency CA 641; Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation [CSIRO], Head Office. Registration of entity: 12 November 1984', in RecordSearch, National Archives of Australia, 2000, https://RecordSearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/AutoSearch.asp?Number=CA%20641. Details
• Ward, Colin, 'CSIRO Medal for Lifetime Achievement', in CSIROpedia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), 2022, https://csiropedia.csiro.au/csiro-medal-for-lifetime-achievement/. Details

Reviews

• Collis, Brad, Fields of Discovery: Australia's CSIRO, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, New South Wales, 2002, 520 pp.
  Robin, Libby; McCarthy, Gavan, Historical Records of Australian Science, 14 (2), (2002), 211-214. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR02011. Details

Theses

• Lola, Susan, 'Contesting organisational change: CSIRO, the media, and other stakeholders', PhD thesis, Swinburne University of Technology, 2024. Details

See also

• Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Technology in Australia 1788-1988, Online edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, 3 May 2000, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/index_c.html. Details