Australia Yearbook - 2001

870 Year Book Australia 2001
pleuropneumonia was also developed for use in
the successful eradication program.
CSIR entomologists were involved in the
successful program to control prickly pear by the
Prickly Pear Board that had been formed by the
Commonwealth and the Governments of
Queensland and New South Wales. The first
successful release of the biological control agent
Cactoblastus cactorum coincided with the
creation of CSIR.
An increasing role for manufacturing industry in
Australia’s economic performance, standard of
living and employment opportunities was
becoming apparent in the mid 1930s. The Acts
under which CSIR operated enabled it to carry
out scientific researches for the benefit of primary
or secondary industries but, as indicated earlier in
this article, the research in the first decade of the
existence of CSIR was almost entirely for primary
industry. The first involvement of CSIR in
research for secondary industry arose from the
establishment of the Commonwealth Aircraft
Corporation for aircraft manufacture and the
decision to form an aeronautics research
laboratory. The outbreak of war hastened the
construction of the Aeronautics Research
Laboratory that played an important
technological role in the design and manufacture
of aircraft in Australia.
By the mid 1930s it became very clear that the
provision of adequate reference standards in
Australia was necessary for quality mass production
in the expanding manufacturing sector. CSIR
received approval to establish a National Standards
Laboratory (NSL) along the lines of the National
Physical Laboratory in England and the Bureau of
Standards in the United States. NSL, which was
located at the University of Sydney, was not
completed until September 1940. During the war,
NSL was heavily involved in the manufacture of
precision gauges, with routine calibration,
refractive measurements of optical glass for
munitions and improving existing manufacturing
processes. It had not been intended that NSL
would be involved in routine testing, but the
demands of wartime production meant a delay for
its main role as a research laboratory in
establishing and improving standards.
The manufacturing industry in Australia in the
1930s was fragmented, and production was
directed to a small local market. It was protected
by tariffs and most of the technology was
imported. Only the large firms were in a position
to perform significant applied research and
technological development. Small firms often
needed information or assistance to solve
problems on the production line. CSIR
conceded that an information service would
be more suited to their needs than the sort
of applied or basic research appropriate for
CSIR. Rivett was convinced that applied
research for a competitive secondary
industry must include a component of basic
research, but he doubted whether industry
in Australia would have the need for such
research. However, Rivett saw a role for
research in the physical sciences in
improving the utilisation of Australia’s
mineral and agricultural resources. A Division
of Industrial Chemistry was established in
March 1940 with preference for research in
the following areas: mineral chemistry, alloys,
ceramics and cement, and the processing of
wool, hides, leather and dairy products. Ian
Wark, who had extensive industrial as well as
academic research experience, was
appointed to lead the division. He had
achieved considerable international acclaim
for his work on the flotation process for
mineral purification.
The contribution of
science and technology to
the 1939–45 war effort
Science and technology made a vital
contribution to the war effort, especially in
the production of munitions, aircraft and
other defence equipment, but it had an
important role in many areas including radio
communication, meteorology, the synthesis,
isolation and manufacture of drugs and
vitamins, the formulation and testing of
insect repellents, the proofing of textiles and
equipment for tropical conditions, and the
composition and processing of army food.
Scientists and technical staff in industrial
laboratories, as well as in the CSIR, the
Munitions Supply Laboratories and other
State and Commonwealth Departments,
transferred to war-related projects. University
academics played leadership roles in several
projects and many new graduates were
obliged to join industrial or laboratory work.
The war led to a growth in Australian
industry and a considerable increase in its
technological sophistication. The staff in
CSIR increased almost four-fold between