Corporate Body

CSIR/O Division of Soils (1929 - 1997)

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

From
1 August 1929
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
To
1997
Black Mountain, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Functions
Industrial or Scientific Research and Earth Sciences
Reference No
CA 4460
Legal Status
Agency of the Commonwealth of Australia
Location
Black Mountain, Australian Capital Territory [Date?] 1976: "Adelaide, with laboratories in Brisbane, Canberra, Townsville, Queensland, and Hobart."

Summary

The CSIR/O Division of Soils was established in 1929, taking the place of the Murray River Soil Investigation Unit. The Division survived the change from the Councill of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). In 1997, the Division of Soils amalgamated with the CSIRO Division of Water Resources and the CSIRO Division Environmental Mechanics, to form the CSIRO Division of Land and Water.

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Details

From "CSIRO research for Australia" (1962) pdf pages 24-25:
"Soon after C.S.I.R. was established, a small group of soil scientists was appointed to work in Adelaide at the Waite Institute on problems of irrigation soils. In 1929 the group was constituted as the nucleus of a new C.S.I.R. Division of Soils, Professor J. A. Prescott, F.R.S. (who later became Director of the Waite Institute), acted as Chief of the Division in a parttime capacity until 1947, when he was succeeded as Chief by Mr. J. K. Taylor, who had been with the Division since its inception. The present headquarters laboratory is in the grounds of the Waite Institute. There are four regional laboratories in Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart and Perth, and several sub-regional centres.

For the first ten years of its existence the Division was very largely preoccupied with irrigation soils. During the second decade there was a pronounced diversification of research interests, as the scope of the work was gradually enlarged to include a wide range of arable soils extending through every State in Australia. During this period more scientific disciplines were brought to bear on soil problems, and by 1948 four internal sections bad become recognized, specializing in Soil Classification and Mapping, Soil Chemistry, Soil Physics, and Soil Microbiology. More recently two other sections have emerged. The first of these is concerned with the rapidly advancing subject of Clay Mineralogy, and the second with Micropedology, the microscopic study of the soil "fabric" and structure and the development of the natural soil profile.

Soil mapping in Australia has been extended steadily in two senses since Professor Prescott produced the first soil map of Australia in 1931. Firstly, a much greater area of Australia has been subjected to study. By 1961 some 30,000 square miles had been surveyed in moderate detail, and a further 800,000 square miles in reconnaissance, the latter largely by soil surveyors of the Division temporarily attached to the survey teams of the Division of Land Research and Regional Survey (see "Under-developed Regions"). At the same time the accuracy and detail of the maps have been improved. Dr. Stephen's Manual of Australian Soils, produced in the 'fifties, defined 45 soil groups as compared with 18 groups used in 1931, and an Atlas of Australian Soils is being produced in 10 sheets, the first of which appeared in 1960, designed to show yet more detail."

Timeline

 1927 - 1929 CSIR Murray River Soil Investigation Unit
       1929 - 1997 CSIR/O Division of Soils
             1973 - 1982 CSIRO Division of Land Resources Management
             1997 - 2014 CSIRO Division of Land and Water
                   1982 - 1986 CSIRO Division of Groundwater Research
                         1987 - 1989 CSIRO Water Resources Research Section
                               1988 - 1997 CSIRO Division of Water Resources
                                     1997 - 2014 CSIRO Division of Land and Water

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Ailie Smith

Created: 6 July 2000, Last modified: 7 March 2025

EOAS ID: biogs/A000672b.htm

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