Balme, Basil Eric (1923 - 2023)

Summary

Basil Balme was a geologist, widely considered to be one of the leaders of palynology in Australia. Much of his research was on the coal fields. His pioneering study of the Permian miospores of the Collie coalfield in southwestern Australia, published in 1952, was the first study of palynomorphs of any age from Western Australia. Between 1952 and 1957 he worked for the CSIRO Coal Research Section where he published on Mesozoic (Jurassic-Cretaceous) spores and, with John Hennelly, three papers which laid the foundations of Permian spore pollen systematics in Australia. Rock material supplied during this period to Isabel Cookson at the University of Melbourne proved vital in her studies of dinoflagellate cyst taxa. In 1957 Balme the moved to the University of Western Australia where he concentrated on his palynological research interests, especially in the Upper Palaeozoic-Mesozoic and in relation to stratigraphy and floral reconstructions. He also established fruitful links with the petroleum industry; which enabled him to make significant contributions to unravelling details of the continental Permian and Mesozoic succession in the Perth Basin. Later studies included a comprehensive catalogue of in-situ spores and pollen grains and an extensive collaborative project on the Late Triassic palynology of the Rankin and Goodwyn gas fields in the Carnarvon Basin. Balme's distinguished career at the University of Western Australia included terms as Dean of the Faculty of Science and as a Member of the University's Senate.

Details

Chronology

1942 - 1946

Military service - Served with the Royal Australian Navy in the southern and Western Pacific Ocean

1948

Education - BSc (hons), University of Western Australia

1949 - 1952

Career position - Scientific officer (later Senior Research Officer) National Coal Board laboratory, Sheffield, United Kingdom

1952

Career event - Foundation Member, Geological Society of Australia

1952 - 1957

Career position - Research Officer (later Senior research Officer) , CSIRO Coal Research Section

1957 - 1969

Career position - Lecturer in Geology, University of Western Australia

1961

Career position - President, Western Australian Division, Geological Society of Australia

1962 - 1963

Career position - Professor of Geology, New York University, New York, U.S.A.

1962 - 1963

Award - Senior Fulbright Award, New York University, New York, U.S.A.

1962 - 1963

Career position - Visiting professor of Micropaleontology, New York University and American Museum of Natural History, U.S.A.

1962 - 1972

Career position - Member of the Editorial Board, Micropaleontlogy

1967 - 1994

Career position - Member of the Editorial Board, Review of palaeobotany and palynology

1968 - 1988

Career position - Associate Professor, School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Western Australia

1969

Education - DSc, University of Western Australia

1971 - 1972

Career position - Visiting Research Scientist, Chevron Oilfield Research Laboratory, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

1972 - 1977

Career position - Member, Western Australian State Government Conservation through Reserves Committee

1973

Career position - Chairman, University Scholarships Committee, University of Western Australia

1973 - 1978

Career position - Member of the Board, University of Western Australia Press

1975 - 1976

Career position - President, Royal Society of Western Australia

1975 - 1978

Career position - Member of the Senate, University of Western Australia

1976 - 1980

Career position - Member, Research Committee, University of Western Australia

1978

Career position - Visiting Fellow, Aarhus University, Denmark

1979 - 1981

Career position - Dean, Faculty of Science, University of Western Australia

1979 - 1982

Career position - Member, Fulbright Selection Committee

1983 - 1985

Career position - Head, Department of Geology, University of Western Australia

1988 - ?

Career position - Honorary Senior Research Fellow, School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Western Australia

1988

Award - W.R. Browne Award, Geological Society of Australia

Related entries

Published resources

Book Sections

• Balme, B. E., 'The palynological record of Australian pre-Tertiary floras' in Ancient pacific floras: the pollen story, Cranwell, L. M., ed. (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1964), pp. 49-80. Details
• Playford, G. and Truswell, E. M., 'Basil E. Balme' in Palynological and palaeobotanical studies in honour of Basil E. Balme, Jell, P.A. and Playford, G., eds (Sydney: Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 1988), pp. 1-4. Details

Edited Books

• Jell, P.A. and Playford, G. eds, Palynological and palaeobotanical studies in honour of Basil E. Balme (Sydney: Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 1988), 341 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• Anon, 'W. R. Browne Medal [awarded to Basil Balme]', Australian journal of earth sciences, 35 (1988), 595. https://doi.org/10.1080/08120098808729477. Details
• Backhouse, John and Playford, Geoffrey, 'Basil Eric Balme 13th June 1923 - 10th July 2023: doyen of Australian palynology', Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 106 (2023), 23-4. https://www.rswa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/BACKHOUSE_PLAYFORD_FINAL.pdf. Details
• Balme, B. E., 'Upper Palaeozoic microfloras in sediments from the Lake Phillipson Bore, South Australia', Australian journal of science, 20 (1957), 1-61. Details
• Balme, B. E., 'The Permian-Triassic boundary in Australia', Special publications of the Geological Society of Australia, 2 (1969), 99-112. Details
• Balme, Basil E., 'Fossil in situ spores and pollen grains: an annotated catalogue', Review of palaeobotany and palynology, 87 (2/4) (1995), 81-323. https://doi.org/10.1016/0034-6667(95)93235-X. Details