Home > William Branwhite Clarke

Clarke was born at East Bergholt, in Suffolk. He received his early education at Dedham grammar school, and in 1817 entered Jesus College, Cambridge; he took his B.A. in 1821, was ordained and became MA, in 1824. In 1821 he was appointed curate of Ramsholt in Suffolk, and he acted in his clerical capacity in other places until 1839. Having become interested in geology through the teachings of Sedgwick, he utilized his opportunities and gathered many interesting facts on the geology of East Anglia which were embodied in a paper On the Geological Structure and Phenomena of Suffolk (Trans. Geol. Soc. 1837). He also communicated a series of papers on the geology of S.E. Dorsetshire to the Magazine of Nat. Hist. (1837-1838).

In 1839, after a severe illness, he left England for New South Wales, mainly with the object of benefiting by the sea voyage. He remained, however, in that country, and came to be regarded as the Father of Australian Geology. From the date of his arrival in New South Wales until 1870 he was in clerical charge first of the country from Paramatta to the Hawkesbury river , then of Campbelltown, and finally of WilloughbyWilloughby is the name of several places: Willoughby, New South Wales is a suburb Sydney, Australia. Cape Willoughby on Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Willoughby, Ohio is a city in the United States.. He zealously devoted attention to the geology of the country, with results that have been of paramount importance. In 1841 he discovered goldFor alternative meanings, see gold (disambiguation Gold is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Au ( L. aurum and atomic number 79. A soft, shiny, yellow, heavy, malleable, ductile (trivalent and univalent) transition metal, gold d, being the first explorer who had obtained it in situ in the country, finding it both in the detrital deposits and in the quartzites of the Blue MountainsFor other mountain ranges, see Blue Mountains (disambiguation). The Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, roughly 100 kilometres west of Sydney, are a range of sandstone mountains that reach to about 1200 metres above sea level, and form part of t, and he then declared his belief in its abundance. In 1849 he made the first actual discovery of tinThe word tin is often used to mean a can, even if it does not contain any tin metal. Tin is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Sn ( L. Stannum and atomic number 50. This silvery, malleable poor metal that is not easily oxidized i in Australia and in 1859 he made known the occurrence of the diamondAlternate meanings: Diamond (disambiguation Diamond is one of the natural allotropes of carbon (the main allotrope being graphite; see also allotropes of carbon). The hardest of naturally occurring materials, diamonds cut into multi-faceted shapes are amo. He was also the first to indicate the presence of SilurianAlternate use: The Silurians, a reptillian race from the science fiction series " Doctor Who . The Silurian is a major division of the geologic timescale that extends from about 408. 5 million years before the present (BP) with the end of the Ordovician p rocks, and to determine the age of the coalCoal is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by mining. It is a readily combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock. It is composed primarily of carbon and hydrocarbons, along with assorted other elements, including sulfur. Often associated wi-bearing rocks in New South Wales. In 1869 he announced the discovery of remains of Dinornis in QueenslandQueensland State flag ( In detail) Coat of Arms ( In detail) Capital Brisbane Governor HE Ms Quentin Bryce Premier Peter Beattie Area — Land — Marine — Total 1 730 648 km² 121 994 km² 1 852 642 km² Population (2002) Density 3 729 000 2. 15/km² Time zone U.

He was a trustee of the Australian museum at Sydney, and an active member of the Royal Society of New South Wales . In 1860 he published Researches in the Southern Gold-fields of New South Wales. He was elected F.R.S. in 1876, and in the following year was awarded the Murchison medal by the Geological Society of London. His contributions to Australian scientific journals were numerous. He died near Sydney.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. 1911 Britannica