Final stage completed for rare mineral collection

Nov 12, 2003

The final stage in the assemblage and display of a rare collection of mineral and rock samples, the Howard Worner Collection, has now been undertaken. The collection has been recognised as the best mineral display of any Australian university or teaching institution.

The collection, on show in the main foyer of the University of Wollongong's Sciences Building, consists of about 1,000 mineral, rock and fossil specimens and 18 medals and awards donated by Howard Worner. Professor Worner, who still does occasional work for the University's largest subsidiary (ITC) as a Scientific Adviser, is aged 90.

It is not the first donation to the University of Wollongong by Professor Worner as he has given works of art to Creative Arts, and has donated prizes for students in Engineering, Environmental Science and Geosciences.

Professor Worner, CBE, has been described as a true icon of Australian metallurgy and materials science having mentored generations of metallurgists.

From the late 1930s and early 1940s when he was considered the leading world authority in scientific study of dental and surgical materials (work that led to the Australian Dental Standards Bureau), through to extensive investigation into iron smelting and casting, his work has been at the forefront of Australian and international development.

Professor Worner developed a way to convert steelworks waste dust and sewage into usable iron compounds early in the 1990s. A recipient of a Centenary Medal issued by the Federal Government, he was also the first non-American to win the Benjamin F.Fairless Award in 2002 - the most prestigious award given out by the international steel industry.

The Collection is housed in three display cases with funding for the first two cases from the Vice-Chancellor in 2000.The first wall case includes an important suite of Broken Hill minerals so the backdrop to this collection was designed to show aspects of mining and minerals of this important mining region.

The central case contains the medals, some of Professor Worner's collecting equipment, a copy of the book "Minerals of Broken Hill" of which Professor Worner was the principal editor, about 500 minerals separated into categories of varieties of quartz, carbonates, sulphates; minerals from Mexico and Africa; and spheres and mineral art.

Funding for the final case came from ITC and this comprises the remainder of the collection - minerals (including meteorites and pseudomorphs), synthetic minerals, rocks and fossils.

All the graphics and detail of the design and layout were designed by Associate Professor Paul Carr and Ms Penny Williamson from the School of Geosciences.

Professor Carr's particular interests lie in mineralogy and petrology while Ms Williamson is the Curator of the collections of Geosciences, with a long-standing interest in minerals and displays.

They have written an article describing the importance of the collection and more details about its display in the Australian Journal of Mineralogy, Vol 7(1), June 2001.

They said the collection predominantly contains Australian specimens but there were also samples from all over the world including significant contributions from Mexico and Chile. Historically significant specimens include those from Sir Maurice Mawby and Sir Douglas Mawson.