alive and well - Geological Society of Australia
alive and well - Geological Society of Australia
alive and well - Geological Society of Australia
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Vale Patrick J Coleman1926–2011Patrick Coleman died at home on 22 May 2011. He wasabout to turn 85.Patrick Coleman entered the University <strong>of</strong> Western<strong>Australia</strong> (UWA) as an undergraduate in the Faculty <strong>of</strong>Science, majoring in Geology in 1944. He graduatedwith First Class Honours in April 1948 after workingon foraminifera from the subsurface <strong>of</strong> the Perth Basin(published as an article in the Journal <strong>of</strong> the Royal<strong>Society</strong> <strong>of</strong> Western <strong>Australia</strong> in 1952). He was born inNarrogin on 30 May 1926 <strong>and</strong> was educated ina convent in Manjimup. He won a High SchoolScholarship to St Ildephonsus College at New Norcia.I first met Patrick when he was a young-lookingHonours student in 1946 at the time that Basil Balme<strong>and</strong> I returned from the Services. It is an indication <strong>of</strong>the almost familial atmosphere <strong>of</strong> the Department <strong>of</strong>Geology in those days that I remember hearingPr<strong>of</strong>essor E de C Clarke saying to the Secretary how fortunate it wasthat Patrick <strong>and</strong> Basil were attracted to such charming girls as Marjorie<strong>and</strong> Helen: each pair later became life partners.After obtaining Honours, Patrick worked as an Assistant Micropaleontologistwith the Australasian Petroleum Company in Port Moresby,Papua New Guinea under Martin Glaessner. This introduced him to hislife-long consuming research interest in the Western Pacific. He returnedto UWA in 1949 to begin a PhD on Permian Brachiopoda from Western<strong>Australia</strong>, which he completed in 1953 (<strong>and</strong> published as BMRBulletin 40 in 1957). Patrick was the first PhD graduate in Geology fromUWA. While in the early stages <strong>of</strong> his PhD in 1950 he joined the teachingstaff <strong>of</strong> the University <strong>of</strong> Sydney as Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer (from1957). He married Marjorie in 1955. After ten years in Sydney theyreturned to Perth <strong>and</strong> Patrick became Senior Lecturer <strong>and</strong> then Readerat the Department <strong>of</strong> Geology, UWA. He was responsible for allpaleontological courses <strong>of</strong>fered in the Department (with the exception<strong>of</strong> palynology) <strong>and</strong> also taught geological mapping <strong>and</strong> tectonics untilhis retirement in 1984. He succeeded Brian Glenister, who had goneto Iowa, <strong>and</strong> was eventually succeeded by David Haig, a formerQueensl<strong>and</strong>er, who also had experience in New Guinea.After Patrick completed his PhD, his main research interests turnedto the Western Pacific isl<strong>and</strong> arcs <strong>and</strong> young orogenic belts. He was amajor contributor to Sydney University’s geological mapping <strong>of</strong> theBritish Solomon Isl<strong>and</strong>s in the 1950s <strong>and</strong> continued this work during the1960s from UWA. Patrick used both his micropaleontological <strong>and</strong>stratigraphic mapping skills, <strong>and</strong> his growing fascination with platetectonics, to determine the geological history <strong>of</strong> these isl<strong>and</strong>s. His mostoutst<strong>and</strong>ing paleontological contribution after his PhD was a description<strong>of</strong> the Cenozoic larger (complex) foraminifera that he was using to placethe shallow-water carbonates <strong>of</strong> the Solomon Isl<strong>and</strong>s into a stratigraphiccontext (published in 1963 in Micropaleontology 9, 1–38). As <strong>well</strong> aspublishing on the geology <strong>of</strong> particular isl<strong>and</strong>s in the Solomons, heproduced l<strong>and</strong>mark reviews on isl<strong>and</strong> arcs (Earth Science Reviews 11,47–80), plate boundaries (with Gordon Packham in Earth ScienceReviews 12, 197–233 <strong>and</strong> with HF Ryan in Marine <strong>and</strong> PetroleumGeology 9, 89–97), subduction withoutvolcanism (with LW Kroenke in Geo-MarineLetters 1, 129–134) <strong>and</strong> tsunamis as geologicalagents (Journal <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Geological</strong> <strong>Society</strong> <strong>of</strong><strong>Australia</strong> 15, 267–273). He edited The WesternPacific: isl<strong>and</strong> arcs, marginal seas, geochemistry(1973, UWA press). Papers in Nature includedrecognition <strong>of</strong> the Solomon Isl<strong>and</strong>s as an isl<strong>and</strong>arc (211, 1249–1251), determination <strong>of</strong> the age<strong>of</strong> basal schists in the Solomon Isl<strong>and</strong>s (withJR Richards <strong>and</strong> others, 211, 1251–1252)<strong>and</strong> some very innovative thoughts on thedistribution <strong>of</strong> the green turtle in relation tosea-floor spreading in the Pacific (249,128–130). In recognition <strong>of</strong> Patrick’s work onthe Western Pacific, the University <strong>of</strong> Sydneyawarded him a Doctor <strong>of</strong> Science in 1977.In retirement, Patrick continued his work on the Western Pacific, mainlyconcerned with reviews <strong>of</strong> the mineral <strong>and</strong> petroleum prospects <strong>of</strong>various isl<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> the Melanesian Arc, collaborating with Geoscience<strong>Australia</strong> (<strong>and</strong> its predecessor the <strong>Australia</strong>n <strong>Geological</strong> SurveyOrganisation), the East–West Center in Honolulu, the Circum-PacificCouncil <strong>of</strong> Energy <strong>and</strong> Mineral Resources, the <strong>Geological</strong> Survey <strong>of</strong> PapuaNew Guinea <strong>and</strong> the Lamont Doherty <strong>Geological</strong> Observatory.It is impossible to describe Patrick’s mannerisms <strong>and</strong> traits in a fewwords. Scott Fitzgerald described ‘personality’ as an unbroken series <strong>of</strong>successful gestures. I remember recalling this one day after Patrick hadbeen away for a few weeks. We had been speaking seriously for sometime, when he suddenly said, “I have an urgent message” <strong>and</strong> rushed upto someone passing. I then saw him interrupt that conversation withgreat energy to catch someone else, <strong>and</strong> then he moved on to another.Socially, he had made up for his earlier absence in a few minutes. Thesebursts <strong>of</strong> energy were characteristic, which is not to deny his generallymore thoughtful <strong>and</strong> reflective manner.I found that as the leader <strong>of</strong> student field parties he combinedinstruction with humour <strong>and</strong> exhortation, <strong>of</strong>ten with a wry expressionsuggesting that he didn’t expect perfection from the group that he wastalking to, but that he wanted them to do their best anyway. He wasentertaining <strong>and</strong> got results.Patrick was fascinated by music, art <strong>and</strong> the natural environment,<strong>and</strong> he enjoyed farming. But <strong>of</strong> all his varied interests, family life washis main influence. He collapsed suddenly at home when nearing theage <strong>of</strong> 85 while with Marjorie.A moving account by his son Nick can be found athttp://www.nickcoleman.org/blog/index.cgi?post=dad!201105221630!generalJOHN GLOVER42 |TAG September 2012