24 Facts About Reg Sprigg

Reginald Claude Sprigg was an Australian geologist and conservationist.

Reg Sprigg was involved with oceanographic research and petroleum exploration by various companies that he initiated.

Reginald Claude Sprigg was born 1 March 1919 on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula where his family were living in the small town of Stansbury.

Reg Sprigg's parents were Claude Augustus Sprigg and Pearl Alice Irene nee Germein, who married on 17 September 1913 in Stansbury.

The Reg Sprigg family relocated to the Yorke Peninsula after being "forced off their pastoral lease at Oulnina because of drought".

Reg Sprigg matriculated from the Adelaide Technical High School in 1938.

At the University of Adelaide, he was a pupil of Sir Douglas Mawson who said that "Reg Sprigg was his best-ever student".

Reg Sprigg completed the requirements for his Bachelor of Science and then graduated Master of Science in 1942, receiving the science faculty's highest award, the Tate medal.

Reg Sprigg transferred to the soils division of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation until 1943, when he joined the South Australian Geological Survey, which sent him to reopen the Radium Hill uranium field in 1944, and to map the Mount Painter uranium field, new sources being required for the Manhattan Project.

Reg Sprigg was sent by the South Australian government in 1946 to inspect abandoned mines in the Ediacaran Hills, to ascertain whether old mines could be reworked profitably using new technologies.

Reg Sprigg thought that the organisms had probably been jellyfishes.

Reg Sprigg submitted a paper to the journal Nature, but it was rejected.

Reg Sprigg travelled to London and presented his findings to the 1948 International Geological Congress, but failed to excite either interest or belief.

In 1954 Reg Sprigg formed the company Geosurveys of Australia, which was a consulting and contracting company for geological and geophysical work.

In 1962 Geosurveys became incorporated into Beach Petroleum, of which Reg Sprigg was General Manager.

In 1968, Reg Sprigg purchased the pastoral lease of Arkaroola, a property and important uranium exploration field of 610 square kilometres in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia, and converted it into a wildlife refuge and tourist attraction.

Reg Sprigg served as the founding chair of the Australian Energy Producers, which was originally established as the Australian Petroleum Exploration Association and rebranded as the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association in 1996, before adopting its current name in 2023.

Reg Sprigg acknowledged the potential harm of burning fossil fuels as early as 1969, warning in the Australian Fisheries journal about changes to the atmosphere's chemical composition.

Reg Sprigg attracted the attention of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation in 1950, due to Reg Sprigg's knowledge of uranium deposits in Australia and throughout the world.

In 1943 Reg Sprigg had been secretary of the Australian Association of Scientific Workers.

In 1942, Reg Sprigg married Patricia Day who had been born in Wiltshire, England and relocated to Adelaide with her parents in 1927.

On 3 February 1951, Sprigg married Griselda A Findlay Paterson, daughter of Robert Findlay Paterson and Grace nee Dreghorn, born December 1921 in Paisley, Scotland.

Reg Sprigg died on 2 December 1994 whilst on holiday in Glasgow, Scotland.

Reg Sprigg is the author or coauthor of these books:.