Geologist Ian McLeod in Antarctica in 1958. Picture: Graham Knuckey
Ian McLeod: Courage in the frozen wilderness
By Malcolm Robertson
Chipping steps to traverse the icy slope of an Antarctic glacier only metres away from a sheer precipice takes both courage and skill. To do it on your own, still aged in your twenties, to reach two injured colleagues, survivors of a nasty helicopter crash, takes a special sort of person. Geologist Ian McLeod, who has died aged 89, was certainly that. In February 1960, in appalling windy conditions, his mountaineering experience and gritty geologist's determination ensured that he and his injured friends, all members of the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) summer party to Wilkes base that year, made it safely back.
The dogs all had different characters - loafers, humourists, workers, you name it - and they could be a handful at times, but I found it the best way to travel and to really see the country
-- Ian McLeod describing dogsledding in Antarctica
In 1960, McLeod was no stranger to Antarctica and the vagaries of its weather conditions that had led to the helicopter incident. He had joined the Australian Government's Bureau of Mineral Resources (BMR, now Geoscience Australia) to over-winter at Mawson base in 1958 as glaciologist and geologist. In that year, he had earned the respect of his colleagues with a 650km traverse across Kemp and Enderby Lands in the hinterland behind Mawson base in the company of a surveyor and radio operator using a dog sledging team for transport, a feat little different to the pioneering traverses by Sir Douglas Mawson in the early years of the twentieth century.
To quote Ian: "During the traverse, the surveyor nominated the spot at each rock outcrop for a fix, and while he was doing that, I would do some basic geological observations. We used hickory wood sledges fastened with rawhide. There were no nails or rivets in the frame so the whole construction was flexible. The dogs all had different characters - loafers, humourists, workers, you name it - and they could be a handful at times, but I found it the best way to travel and to really see the country.”
Helping to recover his injured colleagues in 1960 drew on all his previous Antarctic experience, his mountaineering skills and his inner resolve and strength.
Ian McLeod with sled dog Lewis in 1958. Picture: Geoscience Australia
McLeod was born in Rockhampton on 26 July 1931, the eldest of three children born to parents Roy and Edith McLeod. Roy McLeod was a qualified accountant working with Vacuum Oil Company which later became Mobil. The family moved to Brisbane in 1940 and Ian finished his primary schooling at Taringa State School before moving to Brisbane Grammar School for his secondary education. He chose to study geology for his matriculation, a subject he soon found fascinating and absorbing.
McLeod went on to the University of Queensland to achieve distinctions in geology, First Class Honours and a Master of Science, working part-time in the Geology Department as a graduate demonstrator and research assistant in his post-graduate years. A quiet and thoughtful young man, he loved the outdoors and the Australian bush, hiking extensively in untracked areas while at university, building skills in bushcraft, navigation and rockclimbing.
McLeod's introduction to field work was in 1955 when he spent two months with three others in western Tasmania, being supplied by fortnightly airdrops. In early 1956, Ian joined Reg Sprigg's Geosurveys of Australia to explore for nickel in the far northwest of South Australia and adjoining Western Australia. The geology of the area was then hardly known, except that there were several well-exposed bodies of layered rocks, some dipping near vertically with thicknesses up to seven kilometres and exposed strike lengths up to 40 kilometres.
Being among the first to investigate these was exciting and challenging. The only road in the area was a two-wheel track winding through the bush to Mulga Park station, 250 kilometres to the east, but over the next two years, Giles weather station was established and the redoubtable Len Beadell began to grade the network of roads for the Woomera rocket range and the atomic bomb test sites. All the geological work was done using specially flown aerial photographs.
McLeod moved to BMR in late 1957 and went on to be one of Australia's leading experts in Antarctic geology. He returned to the frozen continent five times over the period 1960 to 1970 to participate in and supervise summer field work out of Mawson station and in the vast Prince Charles Mountains further south. His contribution to Antarctic geology is recognised with McLeod Massif, the McLeod Nunataks, McLeod Glacier and McLeod Island all bearing his name, and with a Polar Medal, an MBE and the Bellinghausen medal from the Russian Academy of Science.
On his return from Antarctica, McLeod lived at Havelock House where he met Beverley Bradfield, a young pharmacist who had moved from Sydney to take up a position in Civic. They became good friends and married in 1964. Their two children, Graeme and Jennifer, were born in 1966 and 1968.
McLeod's greatest contribution to Australia's growth as a nation came when he became head of the BMR's Mineral Economics Section in 1974. This Section was responsible for compilation, analysis and publication of information on Australia's mineral assets, and for the provision of expert advice to both government and industry. Its work was critical to the development of Australia's mineral resources and to the policy and regulation framework that the mining industry works within today. As well as leading the Section, Ian was the commodity specialist for tin.
His role evolved and by 1985 he was responsible for the co-ordination and broad supervision of the groups in the wider Mineral Resources Branch. He retired at the end of 1990 but his extensive knowledge of Australia's mineral resources continued to be in demand. Ian's career had included membership of several national and international committees concerned with Antarctica and the mineral industry, including the Australian National Committee on Antarctic Research, the Working Group on Geology (of which he was secretary) of the international Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, and the International Strategic Minerals Inventory Working Group. He continued part time as consultant on these and on several resource studies for BMR while quietly throwing himself into the other activities he loved.
Ian McLeod in retirement (ca 2013). Picture: Beverley McLeod
He became a voluntary explainer at Questacon, a role he continued for many years, and where he was recently awarded Emeritus Volunteer status.
McLeod also devoted more time to the iconic Canberra Alpine Club which he and Beverley had joined when they had arrived in Canberra. Ian was an active member, bushwalking, skiing, at work parties, and in the management of the Club on committee positions over many years. He was still actively organising the next work party when he became ill. He is remembered as an absolute gentleman, a quiet achiever, who was always ready to lend a hand, and who got things done. His welcoming smile left a lasting impression on everyone he met. He was elected honorary life member in 1997. McLeod's role as Mt Franklin Officer with the Club brought him in close contact with ACT Parks and Conservation. His knowledge of the mountains of Namadgi National Park was legendary and combined his love for geology, the bush and the solace of the wilderness. His steadfast passion and enthusiasm for the heritage of Mt Franklin and the Canberra Alpine Club's association with skiing in the Brindabellas is a tangible legacy.
Ian McLeod is survived by his sister Fiona, his wife Beverley and their two children.
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