Ben Dickinson


Sir Samuel Benson "Ben" Dickinson was an Australian geologist. He was government geologist in South Australia, before being appointed director of exploration for Rio Tinto Australia in 1956. In the 1960s he was a mining consultant working from Sydney, which include exploration work for Gove Bauxite Corporation in the Northern Territory. He retired in 1975, but continued to serve as a ministerial advisor in Adelaide for a further 10 years. He was knighted in 1980.

Early life and education

Samuel Benson Dickinson was born in Hobart, Tasmania, on 1 February 1912. He was a son of Sydney Rushbrook Dickinson and Margaret Dickinson, née Clemes, and was raised a Quaker.
He was educated at Haileybury College, Melbourne, where his father was headmaster, and the University of Melbourne, where he graduated with a first-class honours BSc in geology and MSc.

Career

Benson worked for the Commonwealth Government on the North Australian Aerial Geological and Geophysical Survey and was a geologist for Gold Mines of Australia in Victoria. He worked with Electrolytic Zinc Co. in Tasmania, and with Mt. Isa Mines, at Mount Isa, Queensland, from 1937 to 1941.
He was appointed Deputy-Director of Mines and Deputy Government Geologist in the South Australian Department of Mines in 1942, and Director of Mines from 1948 to 1956. During this time, he created the Geological Survey of South Australia. Also during this period he was chairman of the Radium Hill Uranium Mining project 1943–1956, and he was responsible for the aerial survey and mapping of the Telford Cut coalfield at Leigh Creek.
In 1956, Dickinson resigned from the South Australian Public Service and took the position of director of exploration for Rio Tinto Australia based in Melbourne, Victoria.
He moved to Sydney, New South Wales, in 1960, becoming a mining consultant. He was appointed field manager of the Gove Bauxite Corporation in the Northern Territory in 1962, which been established as an Australian company to keep profits in Australia. Dickinson wrote to Prime Minister Robert Menzies frequently during this period, advocating a "vigorous mineral development policy". The company lodged an application to mine bauxite on the Gove Peninsula in Arnhem Land. In consultation with the Sydney-based head of the Methodist Overseas Mission, Arthur Gribble, Dickinson started staking out an area for exploration, and announced plans to set up mining headquarters at Gunipinya, near the Yirrkala mission. Gunipinya was the site of a freshwater spring, and a sacred site for the local Yolngu people at the mission, who were upset at seeing their land being staked out for mining without consulting them. Mission superintendent Edgar Wells persuaded Dickinson to attend a meeting with around 60 Yolngu people, along with his French colleague Silve. Further meetings ensued, but the matter was not resolved, leading to the creation of the Yirrkala bark petitions, which were presented in the Australian Parliament in August 1963. Dickinson later appeared as a witness before the government committee set up to investigate the Yolngu's grievances. His view was that mining bauxite would bring prosperity to all through further development of the peninsula. The mining went ahead in the end.
On nominal retirement in 1975, he returned to Adelaide, where he served as a ministerial advisor for a further 10 years.

Personal life

Dickinson married Jessica Helen Ward on 22 November 1941 in Adelaide. They had two sons.

Death and legacy

Dickinson died on 2 February 2000. He was survived by his sons from his first marriage as well as his second wife and their two children.
The basal animal Dickinsonia was named after him by Reg Sprigg.

Recognition