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CLARKE, WILLIAM BRANWHITE (1798-1878)

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 447 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CLARKE, See also:WILLIAM BRANWHITE (1798-1878) , See also:British geologist, was See also:born at See also:East Bergholt, in See also:Suffolk, on the 2nd of See also:June 1798. He received his See also:early See also:education at See also:Dedham See also:grammar school, and in 1817 entered Jesus See also:College, See also:Cambridge; he took his B.A. in 1821, was ordained and became M.A. in 1824. In 1821 he was appointed See also:curate of Ramsholt in Suffolk, and he acted in his clerical capacity in other places until 1839. Having become interested in See also:geology through the teachings of See also:Sedgwick, he utilized his opportunities and gathered many interesting facts on the geology of East Anglia which were embodied in a See also:paper " On the See also:Geological Structure and Phenomena of Suffolk " (Trans. Geol. See also:Soc. 1837). He also communicated a See also:series of papers on the geology of S.E. See also:Dorsetshire to the See also:Magazine of Nat. Hist. (1837-1838). In 1839, after a severe illness, he See also:left See also:England for New See also:South See also:Wales, mainly with the See also:object of benefiting by the See also:sea voyage.

He remained, however, in that See also:

country, and came to be regarded as the " See also:Father of Australian Geology." From the date of his arrival in New South Wales until 187o he was in clerical See also:charge first of the country from Paramatta to the Hawkesbury See also:river, then of Campbelltown, and finally of See also:Willoughby. He zealously devoted See also:attention to the geology of the country, with results that have been of See also:paramount importance. In 1841 he discovered See also:gold, being the first explorer who had obtained it in situ in the country, finding it both in the detrital deposits and in the quartzites of the See also:Blue Mountains, and he then declared his belief in its abundance. In 1849 he made the first actual See also:discovery of See also:tin in See also:Australia and in 1859 he made known the occurrence of the See also:diamond. He was also the first to indicate the presence of See also:Silurian rocks, and to deter-mine the See also:age of the See also:coal-bearing rocks in New South Wales. In 1869 he announced the discovery of remains of Dinornis in See also:Queensland. He was a trustee of the Australian museum at See also:Sydney, and an active member of the Royal Society of New South Wales. In 186o he published Researches in the See also:Southern Gold-See also:fields of New South Wales. He was elected F.R.S. in 1876, and in the following See also:year was awarded the See also:Murchison See also:medal by the Geological Society of See also:London. His contributions to Australian scientific See also:journals were numerous. He died near Sydney, on the 17th of June 1878.

End of Article: CLARKE, WILLIAM BRANWHITE (1798-1878)

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