Person

Prider, Rex Tregilgas (1910 - 2005)

Born
22 September 1910
Narrogin, Western Australia, Australia
Died
6 October 2005
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Occupation
Geologist and University Administrator

Summary

Rex Prider was a geologist who joined the Department of Geology at the University of Western Australia in 1934 and retired as Professor of Geology in 1975. He was noted by his students as being approachable and supportive. His research focused on Precambrian rocks in the Yilgarn Craton. However, he is internationally recognised as having undertaken work on the leucite lamproites of the northern Canning Basin. His paper, initially rejected and ultimately published as his Presidential address to the Geological Society of Australia in 1959, implied the presence of diamonds in the Kimberley region. Prider was active in the Royal Society of Western Australia (RSWA) and the Geological Society of Australia, holding office as President of both. He was awarded the Medal of the RSWA in 1970. The Rex T. Prider Medal is awarded by the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Western Australia to the Honours student showing the greatest aptitude for research.

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Details

Chronology

1932
Education - BSc (hons), University of Western Australia
1932 - 1934
Career position - Assistant Surveyor, South Kalgurli Gold Mine
1934 - 1936
Career position - Assistant Lecturer in geology, University of Western Australia
1938
Education - PhD, University of Cambridge
1939 - 1948
Career position - Lecturer in Geology, University of Western Australia
1944 - 1945
Career position - President, Royal Society of Western Australia
1946 - 1975
Career position - Head, Department of Geology, University of Western Australia
1949 - 1975
Career position - Professor of Geology, University of Western Australia
1952
Career position - Foundation Fellow, Geological Society of Australia
1959 - 1960
Career position - President, Royal Society of Western Australia
1959 - 1961
Career position - President, Geological Society of Australia
1967 - 1970
Career position - Federal President, Gem Association Australia
1970
Award - Medal of the Royal Society of Western Australia
1975 - ?
Career position - Emeritus Professor of Geology, University of Western Australia
2004
Award - Chancellor's Medal, University of Western Australia

Related Awards

Related Corporate Bodies

Published resources

Books

  • Clarke, E. de C., Prider, R. T. and Teichert, C., Elements of geology for Western Australian students (Crawley, W.A.: Francis Henry Beaumont, 1948), 303 pp. Details

Book Sections

Edited Books

  • Prider, Rex T. ed., Mining in Western Australia (Nedlands, W.A.: University of Western Australia Press, 1979), 304 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • Bevan, J. C., Gwalani, L. G., Jaques, A. L. and Downes, Peter J., 'Dedication to Professor Rex Tregilgas Prider, 1910 - 2005', Mineralogy and petrology 110(2/3):149-53, 110 (2/3) (2016), 155-7, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00710-016-0430-x. Details
  • Glover, J. E., ' Obituary: Professor Rex T. Prider', Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 88 (2005), 197. Details
  • Prider, R. T., 'Igneous activity, metamorphism and ore-formation in Western Australia', Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 31 (1948), 43-84. Details
  • Prider, Rex T., 'The leucite lamproites of the Fitzroy Basin, Western Australia [Presidential address]', Journal of the Geological Society of Australia, 6 (2) (1959), 71-118. Details
  • Prider, Rex T., 'The "greenstones" of south western Australia: Presidential address 1960', Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 44 (1) (1961), 1-9. Details

See also

  • Who's who in Australia 1995 (Melbourne: Information Australia Group, 1995), 1622 pp. Details

Helen Cohn

Created: 11 June 2026

EOAS ID: biogs/P008070b.htm

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