The idea to form an Australian Clay Minerals Society germinated during the 1950-s in the fertile seed beds of the Macaulay Institute in Edinburgh and at Rothamsted in Kent. George Walker was the prime mover, probably following the example of the British Clay Minerals Group, and he enthused Keith Norrish and Jim Quirk with the concept.

On their return to Australia the Society took shape with George as President and Jack Hosking, Jim Quirk and Richard Thompson as Vice Presidents. Alan Posner was the Secretary, Keith Norrish and John Hutton were also on the Committee. George drafted Rules for the Society, and these form the basis of our present Rules.

The inaugural meeting of the Society was at the University of Melbourne in February 1962. There were 56 registrants (see photograph), and 24 papers were delivered over the two days of the conference, at the leisurely rate of two an hour. The roll-call of authors is truly a Who's Who of Australian clay science.

After 5 biennial meetings, the fourth as a one-day meeting during the 9th International Conference of Soil Science and the 5th in conjunction with the Fourth Australian Ceramic Conference, the next decade was much quieter for the Society. Fred Loughnan organized the sixth as a Symposium of the International Geology Congress in Sydney, before Bill Cole reignited the kiln with a meeting in Melbourne at the CSIRO Division of Building Research in 1980. The Society has held conferences approximately every two years since then, including hosting the 11th International Clay Conference (which was also the 13th ACMS Conference).

Group photograph from the first ACMS conference (courtesy Fred Loughnan), and Delegates to the First ACMS Conference in 1962 and their affiliation then.

 Please e-mail any additions or corrections to this brief history to Peter.Self@csiro.au