Reg Sprigg
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Reginald Sprigg, A.O. D.Sc., h.c. A.N.U. & Flinders University, was the discoverer of the most ancient animal fossils later known as Ediacaran in South Australia in 1946.
Reg Sprigg was born on 1 March 1919 in Stansbury, a small town on the York Peninsula in South Australia. His original qualifications were gained at the Adelaide University, with a Master of Science in the subject of Geology gained in 1941. In 1940 he enlisted in the Royal Engineers, and was in Munitions from 1941 to 1942. He moved to work with the soils division in CSIRO until 1943.
The South Australian Geological Survey sent Reg Sprigg to reopen the Radium Hill Uranium Field in 1944, and to map the Mount Painter uranium field. At this era in history, uranium was believed to be rare, and was required for the Manhattan Project. Uranium from these mines were used to manufacture British nuclear weapons but was not ready in time for the first atomic bomb.
He found the Ediacara Hills fossils when the sun was low in the sky, and able to cast shadows in the shallow indentations on the fossil casts. Sprigg realised that these fossils were very ancient and from Precambrian strata. He published and promoted his finds. Although Precambrian fossils had been found before, they had not been accepted as organic.
In 1951 he married Griselda Paterson and fathered two children, Margaret and Douglas.
Of other significance, he helped set up Santos Ltd, discovered the oil deposits in Cooper Basin, and the Moomba Gas Field. He was granted the officer of the Order of Australia in 1983.
Reg Sprigg died in December 1994.
