Oliver Warin
1931
- 2008
Geologist
Oliver
Noel Warin was a geologist, and also an accomplished musician and artist.
He spent his childhood in
Goldhanger. His father died in 1934 and he was raised with his brother Jack by
his mother who was the respected and well liked headmistress of the village school from 1939 to 1969. They lived in a tiny
cottage provided by the Parish for the headmistress at No. 10 Head St. which
was the former village Poorhouse.
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No.10
Head St |
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village school |
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There
does not appear to be any recognisable photos of Oliver in the village
archives, however as his mother was headmistress of the school and Oliver would
have been six at the time, it is highly likely that he was one of the children
in this Coronation parade in the Square.
After
attending the village school Oliver went to Maldon Grammar school, and
following national service, won a scholarship to St Johns College, Cambridge,
where he gained a degree in Natural Sciences, specialising in geology. Even at
an early age Oliver was a talented pianist and could frequently be heard
playing his mother piano, while occasionally playing the organ in St Peters
Church. Some recall that when he came home from university he would begin by
playing a piece of well known classical music and then evolve it into a one of
his favourite jazz pieces.
He left
home in 1955 and spent the next seven years field mapping with the Australian
Bureau of Mineral Resources. In 1962 he joined Utah Development Company as
senior geologist, and was in charge of their research into iron ore and tin
deposits in Australia and their search for phosphate throughout the world.
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at
Cambridge |
at Cambridge |
in
Australia |
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In 1980
he was asked to lead the worldwide mineral exploration activities of the parent
company Utah International, in San Francisco, and he continued in that role
when that company was acquired by BHP. He successfully led BHPs global
exploration team until his retirement. Today (2025) BHP is the worlds most successful and largest mining company.
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1980 |
1989 |
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In 1994
the Australian Academy of Sciences awarded Oliver the Mawson Medal, recognising
his outstanding contribution to earth science in Australia. The citation for
the award said: Since taking over Utah
International and under Warins direction, BHP has become one of the most
successful of all mineral exploration companies. He gave the Mawson
Memorial lecture at the Australian Geological Convention in Perth in September
in that year. Here are extracts from the beginning and end of the lecture...
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SIR DOUGLAS MAWSON LECTURE 12th Australian Geological
Convention Exploration in a changing world
- 2000 and beyond Pity the poor ageing Exploration
Managed! Not only is he physically not up to it any longer; finding himself stumbling, slow and short
of breath when it comes to climbing hills with the younger geologists - but
he is mentally not up to it any longer; finding himself stumbling, slow and short of breath as he tries vainly to
climb the geological, geochemical, geophysical hills they seem to scamper up with ease. Then, to add
insult to injury or perhaps to kick a man when he is
trying to lay down, he gets
asked to give talks and lectures with imposing titles - on the basis, I suppose, that anyone that has been around
that long must have acquired sonic wisdom, some knowledge worth imparting. But what can he talk about? I
decided long ago that the most dangerous topic for an Exploration Manager to
talk about is "Success in Exploration" and a close second are subjects
like "How to Organize Exploration Teams", etc. "Success" is a
beautiful and very attractive but very easily frightened, creature; if you
have actually managed to coax her out of the shadows you need to be very
careful not to make a noise or any sudden movement if you are not to frighten
her back into the shadows again! This time to stay hidden for years. . . . I would like to urge on you as
you take on this role of front runners for your companies and in the process,
front runners for the market economy, for entrepreneurialism and even for
democracy, that you carry with you an awareness of how you will be viewed. You will be judged in Uzbekistan
and Ulan Bator, in Alma Ata and Audra Pradesh, Ouagadogou and Timbuctoo, in
Zimbabwe and Zambia, in Punta Arenas and Tierra Del Fuego both as individuals
and as representatives of your company, your profession and your culture. I feel bound therefore to offer
two words of advice. Those two words are: INTERESTING and DIFFERENT. If you are an alert and alive human
being willing, as were Mawson and his companions, to travel and explore this
magnificent world, you will find, I guarantee, more than 90 percent of what
you see will be interesting. And essentially interest is always what dispels
discomfort. And you will find much that you
see and have to deal with is different. It is, perhaps, an unfortunate
trait of our Westernized upbringing that we feel, in the interests of
efficiency and progress, we must make mental judgements and we must pronounce
them essentially as soon as they are made. All I can say is that you will
find yourself welcome everywhere if you can just take to heart the simple
phrase. "not better or worse - just different". Thank you Mr Chairman. |
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It
was said:
without
doubt the most creative phase of Oles career was running BHPs exploration
program out of San Francisco. Copper, diamonds and gold were some of his
success stories...Oliver paved the way for the discovery of the Bowen Basin
coal deposits, the Cannington zinc-lead-silver deposit in Queensland,
Kalimantan coal, Syama sulphide gold deposit in Mali, Escondida Copper in
Chile, Reko Diq Cu-Au (gold-copper) in Pakistan and the Ekati diamond field in
Canada.
In retirement Oliver pursued his interest
in art in several forms...
Oliver Warin passed away at his home in
San Anselmo, San Francisco, California in 2008.
some of the information and
photographs here are taken from...
oliverwarin.com and
obituaries-australia/warin-oliver-noel
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