Vallance, Thomas George (1928 - 1993)

Summary

Thomas George Vallance was Associate Professor of Petrology at the University of Sydney from 1965 to 1989. His principal geological research was into the petrology of spilites (altered basaltic rocks), somewhat controversial work which contributed significantly to understanding the mechanisms acting during hot water circulation through basaltic oceanic crust. Early in his career Vallance became interested in the history of petrology but this expanded to cover just about the whole range of the history of earth science, particularly in Australia. His major work on he life of Robert Brown was published posthumously as Nature's Investigator: the diary of Robert Brown in Australia, 1801-1805 (2001). His card index of Australian mining scientists and geologists, on which he had been working since the 1960s, was published as a CD-ROM. Vallance was active in professional societies, including the Geological Society of Australia, and held office as President of the Linnean Society of New South Wales four times. Vallance is commemorated in the Tom Vallance Medal, awarded biennially by the Earth Sciences History Group of the Geological Society of Australia for work on the history of Australian geology.

Details

Chronology

1950

Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of Sydney

1951 - 1953

Award - Linnean Macleay Fellow (Geology), University of Sydney

1953 - 1954

Award - Fulbright-Smith Mundt Award, University of California, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.

1954

Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Sydney

1954 - 1956

Career position - Lecturer in Petrology, University of Sydney

1955 - 1956

Career position - Federal Secretary, Geological Society of Australia

1956 - 1965

Career position - Senior Lecturer in Petrology, University of Sydney

1958 - 1959

Career position - Chairman, New South Wales Division, Geological Society of Australia

1959 - 1960

Career position - President, Linnean Society of New South Wales

1965 - 1989

Career position - Associate Professor, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Sydney

1967 - 1993

Career position - Foundation Member (later Vice-President), International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences (INHIGEO)

1968 - 1969

Career position - President, Linnean Society of New South Wales

1974 - 1975

Career position - President, Linnean Society of New South Wales

1977 - 1978

Career position - Visiting Professor, University of Geneva, Switzerland

1988 - 1989

Career position - President, Linnean Society of New South Wales

1992 - 1993

Award - Councillor Emeritus, Linnean Society of New South Wales

1993

Award - Sue Tyler Friedman Medal, Geological Society of London

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Vallance, T. G.; Moore, D.T.; and Groves, E. W., Nature's Investigator: the Diary of Robert Brown in Australia, 1801-1805 (Canberra: Australian Biological Resources Study, 2001), 666 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Branagan, D. F.; Vallance, T. G., 'Keene, William (1798-1872), geologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 5: 1851 - 1890 K-Q, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1974), pp. 5-6. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A050007b.htm. Details
• Branagan, D. F.; Vallance, T. G., 'Stutchbury, Samuel (1798-1859), geologist and biologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 6: 1851 - 1890 R - Z, Bede Nairn, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1976), pp. 216-217. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A060233b.htm. Details
• Branagan, D. F.; Vallance, T. G., 'Dun, William Sutherland (1868-1934)' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 8: 1891 - 1939 Cl-Gib, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1981), p. 364. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080388b.htm. Details
• Branagan, David; Vallance, Thomas, 'The Earth Sciences: Searching for Geological Order' in The Commonwealth of Science: ANZAAS and the Scientific Enterprise in Australasia, 1888-1988, Roy MacLeod, ed. (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1988), pp. 130-146. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'Carne, Joseph Edmund (1855-1922), geologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 7: 1891 - 1939 A-Ch, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1979), pp. 565-566. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A070573b.htm. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'The Fuss About Coal: Troubled Relations between Palaeonbotany an Geology' in Plants and Man in Australia, D. J. Carr and S. G. M. Carr, eds (Sydney: Academic Press, 1981), pp. 136-76. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'Early German Connections with Natural History, Geology and Mining in New South Wales and Queensland' in New Beginnings: The Germans in New South Wales and Queensland: A Commemorative Volume, Johannes H. Voigt, ed. (Stuttgart: Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, 1983), pp. 269-278. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'Laseron, Charles Francis (1887-1959), naturalist and connoisseur' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 9: 1891 - 1939 Gil-Las, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1983), pp. 675-676. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090677b.htm. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'Maitland, Andres Gibb (1864-1951), geologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 10: 1891 - 1939 Lat-Ner, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1986), pp. 386-387. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100379b.htm. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'Osborne, George Davenport (1899-1955), Geologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 11: 1891 - 1939 Nes-Smi, Geoffrey Serle, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1988), pp. 101-102. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110112b.htm. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'Pittman, Edward Fisher (1849-1932), geologist and administrator' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 11: 1891 - 1939 Nes-Smi, Geoffrey Serle, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1988), pp. 241-242. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110247b.htm. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'Wade, Arthur (1878-1951), geologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 12: 1891 - 1939 Smy-Z, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1990), pp. 338-339. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120378b.htm. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'Browne, William Rowan (1884-1975), geologist and teacher' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 13: 1940 - 1980 A-De, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1993), pp. 280-282. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A130317b.htm. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'Edwards, Austin Burton (1909-1960), Geologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 14: 1940 - 1980 Di-Kel, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1996), pp. 81-82. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A140093b.htm. Details
• Vallance, T. G.; Branagan, D. F., 'Murray, Reginald Augustus Frederick (1846-1925), geologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 5: 1851 - 1890 K-Q, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1974), pp. 321-322. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A050367b.htm. Details
• Vallance, T. G.; Branagan, D. F., 'David, Sir Tannatt William Edgeworth (1858-1934), geologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 8: 1891 - 1939 Cl-Gib, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1981), pp. 218-221. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080242b.htm. Details

Conference Papers

• Barkas, J. P.; Aitchison, J. C., 'The Great Serpentine Belt of New South Wales: Evolution of Ideas from Benson through Vallance to the Present', in Useful and Curious Geological Enquiries Beyond the World: Pacific-Asia Historical Themes: The 19th International INHIGEO Symposium, Sydney, Australia, 4-8 July, 1994 edited by D. F. Branagan and G. H. McNally (Sydney: International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences, 1994), pp. 241-247.. Details
• Branagan, David, 'Thomas George Vallance, 1928-1993', in Useful and Curious Geological Enquiries beyond the World: Pacific-Asia Historical Themes: The 19th International INHIGEO Symposium, Sydney, Australia, 4-8 July, 1994 edited by D. F. Branagan and G. H. McNally (Sydney: International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences, 1994), pp. ix-xxi.. Details

Journal Articles

• Branagan, D. F.; and Vallance, T. G., 'The Geological Society of Australasia (1885-1905)', Journal of the Geological Society of Australia, 14 (2) (1967), 349-51. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'History of Science in Australia. Pt. 7. Beginning of the geological system', Scan, 1 (7/8) (1968), 28-34. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'History of Science in Australia. Pt. 4: the early years of settlement', Scan, 1 (4) (1968), 11-15. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'Origins of Australian Geology', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 100 (1975), 13-43. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'William Rowan Browne, 1884 - 1975 (Memorial series, no. 24)', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 102 (2) (1977), 76-84. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'Gilbert Percy Whitley, 1903 - 1975 (Memorial series, no. 23)', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 101 (4) (1977), 256-60. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'Arthur Bache Walkom 1889-1976 (Memorial series No.25)', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 102 (3) (1978), 148-55. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'Pioneers and leaders - a record of Australian palaeontology in the nineteenth century', Alcheringa, 2 (1978), 243-50. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'A key to the memorial series of the Linnean Society of New South Wales (1928 - 1978)', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 103 (1) (1979), 133-4. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'William Rowan Browne 1884-1975', Records of the Australian Academy of Science, 4 (1) (1979), 65-81. http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9790410065.htm. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'Start of Government Science in Australia: A. W. H. Humphrey, His Majesty's Mineralogist in New South Wales, 1802-12', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 105 (2) (1981), 107-146. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'Sydney Earth and After: Mineralogy of Colonial Australia, 1788-1900', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 108 (1986), 149-181. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'Achievement in Isolation: A. W. Howitt, Pioneering Investigator of Metamorphism in Australia', Earth Sciences History, 5 (1) (1986), 39-49. Details
• Vallance, T. G., 'Jupiter botanicus in the bush: Robert Brown's Australian field work, 1801-5', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 112 (1990), 49-86. Details
• Vallance, T. G.; and Moore, D. T., 'Geological Aspects of the Voyage of H.M.S. Investigator in Australian Waters, 1801-5', Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History): Historical Series, 10 (1) (1982), 1-43. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q34412334. Details
• 'Vallance, Thomas George (19280423-19930307)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1474008. Details

Resource Sections

• Branagan, D. F., 'Vallance, Thomas George (Tom) (1928 - 1993)', in Australian dictionary of biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, Canberra, 2017, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/vallance-thomas-george-tom-18241. Details
• Vallance, T. G.: with contributions by E. S. Hills, 'William Rowan Browne 1884-1975', in Australian Academy of Science Biographical Memoirs, Australian Academy of Science, 2006, https://www.science.org.au/fellowship/fellows/biographical-memoirs/william-rowan-browne-1884-1975. Details

See also

• Kruta, V. et al., Dr. John Lhotsky : the turbulent Australian writer, naturalist and explorer Melbourne (Melbourne: Australia Felix Literary Club, 1977), 176 pp. Details
• MacLeod, Roy ed., The Commonwealth of Science: ANZAAS and the Scientific Enterprise in Australasia, 1888-1988 (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1988), 433 pp. Details