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Rock Star; The Story of Reg Sprigg - outback legend
By Kristin Weidenbach Price: $32.95 |
Oil; uranium; geology; conservation; these are the catch-cries of our times and Reg Sprigg embodies them all. Rock Star tells the life of this intrepid, determined and oft-times irreverent pioneering Australian renowned as one of our nation’s greatest geologists.
By the age of thirty Reg had discovered the oldest fossils in the world and some of its deepest under-sea canyons. He had worked at Australia’s first two uranium mines and searched for material to construct the world’s first atomic bomb. By the time he was 40 he had helped found SANTOS and discovered the great Cooper Basin oil and gas fields. By the time he was 50 he had driven the first vehicle across the Simpson Desert and crossed the continent from north, south, east and west. He had also launched Arkaroola Wildlife Sanctuary, one of Australia’s first eco-tourism resorts.
Written in a lively narrative style, Rock Star will make you laugh and cry and introduce you to a fascinating world that you never knew existed and won’t easily forget.
About the Author
Kristin Weidenbach is the author of Mailman of the Birdsville Track: the Story of Tom Kruse which has sales of nearly 100,000 copies and is currently in its 20th printing since publication in 2003. Kristin is a PhD immunologist who switched to a writing career after completing postdoctoral research at Stanford University in California.Reviews
"This book is a delightful read, in places a real 'page-turner' and a fine tribute to an outstanding geologist and a 'modern pioneer', a relatively pugnacious fighter for his ideas who was not afraid to put his money where his mouth was, and work for what he believed in, and in the process succeeding well beyond what might have been expected...I can only recommend that you read the book and see what was accomplished in the relatively recent past...Read and enjoy."
- David Branagan, The Geology Society of Australia Inc.
"Reg Sprigg’s passion for geology and the Australian landscape deposited him at the forefront of his field...A wonderful story about a pioneering Australian."
- Australian Geographic
"The life story of one of South Australia's true legends in the mining, oil and conservation fields will be told in a book to be launched in Adelaide next week...Dr Sprigg AO has pretty much done it all when it comes to South Australian resources: he helped reactivate the Radium Hill uranium mining field in the mid-40s, discovered the world's oldest fossilised animals and was a co-founder of Santos - now Australia's third largest oil and gas company, as well as Adelaide's Beach Petroleum."
- The Advertiser (Cameron England - Business Section)
"Author Kristin Weidenbach's last book sold about 100,000 copies, and her latest story on SA mining, oil and conservation legend Reg Sprigg also looks set to be a big hit."
- Sunday Mail
"Weidenbach is the author of "Mailman of the Birdsville Track"...Her latest book is equally as fascinating with vivid stories and many illustrations and maps."
- Queensland Country Life
"Rock Star" is a fascinating glimpse into the life of one of Australia's modern day adventurers- Reg Sprigg...we follow an amazing career... searching for uranium, discovering fossils of great geological importance, mapping of as yet unmapped areas of SA, his involvement in the formation of SANTOS and oil ventures, treks across the Simpson Desert, underwater explorations and discoveries, and the formation of the Arkaroola Wildlife Sanctuary.Full of wonderful stories and events and interwoven with many other well known people, "Rock Star" gives us a wonderful 'feel' for outback South Australia during these adventurous times.
"
- http://southaustralia.barinya.com/
"Family, friends, and old colleagues met
in the foyer of the South Australian
Museum recently for the launch of "Rock
Star - the story of Reg Sprigg"...Kristen spent two years trawling through
archives, conducting interviews,
collecting photographs, letters and other
documents as she researched the life of
Reg Sprigg, one of South Australia’s most
extraordinary men. With mountains of
material at hand, she spent a further
twelve months writing "Rock Star"."
- Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary Newsletter
"...you’ll see it being reviewed in the papers. It’s not on the best-seller list YET, but it soon will be."
- Leo de Kroo (Radio 2DU)
"The book is a delight to read, as she writes in a lucid and most engaging way. The book works through Reg’s life chronologically, and this endows it with a powerful narrative thrust, and an intriguing glimpse of a past age. The book is full of splendid anecdotes, and fascinating quotations, such as excerpts from the long correspondence between Reg and Sit Mark Oliphant, who much admired Reg for his great enthusiasm for science.
The author rightly says that Reg was Australia’s last explorer. This book will wrench you, the reader, out of your modern perspective, and transport you back a half century and astonish you with one person’s amazing achievements. It is compulsive reading !
"
- Scoresby Shepherd, AMSA Bulletin
"Champion of Mighty Flinders Ranges...Graduating from biology at Flinders University two decades ago, Kristin Weidenbach watched as Reg Sprigg, mineral explorer and environmental conservationist, was awarded an honorary doctorate. Now Weidenbach has written Sprigg's biography, loves his son Doug and has produced his granddaughter, Lila."
- The Eastern Courier
"It would be a nice story to write that Reg was instantly recognised for his genius but the truth is he had a very hard time convincing others of his discovery. His mentor was the Antarctic explorer Sir Douglas Mawson. But when he took his discoveries to the University of Adelaide, he was publically rebuked by Mawson who did not believe him...It took a decade for Ediacara to be recognised firstly as just a fossil reserve and later as containing the earliest animals on the planet.
"
- Stateline (ABC TV)
"Reg Sprigg's sharp eye changed the course of time. Literally. Sprigg's spying of a jellyfish-like impression on a piece of ancient sandstone in 1946 resulted in a Golden Spike being hammered six decades later into the 635-million-year-old rocks of the Fliners Ranges, with the name Ediacara rising to lead Earth's geological timeline."
- The Advertiser (Samela Harris - Review Section)
"If ever proof was needed that playing in the dirt and collecting rocks as a boy could lead to a lucrative career, this book is it. An inspirational story of Reginald Sprigg - Australia's pre-eminent geologist and founder of mining giant Santos - this book is told with a deep sense of love and respect..."
- Travelling Australia
"'Rock Star' is a book for all readers about an incredible man living life to the fullest during interesting times."
- Escape: Canberra Airport Magazine
"I have just read "Rock Star" and had previously read "Mailman of the Birdsville Track". Congratulations! Both books I became completely absorbed in. I knew very little of Reg Srigg, now I am well informed
and have an admiration for a real legend. Thank you for bringing both Legends to life for me. Best wishes. Yours Gratefully Don Nicholls
"
- Don Nicholls
"Rocks, geology, fossils, mining and artesian basins could hardly be described as my forte, let alone area of interest. So the ferocity with which I devoured "Rock Star" was a surprising, and altogether unexpected, delight."
- SA Life
"'Rock Star' is an articulate, comprehensive biography of one of Australia's most extraordinary men...Well-written and generous with fact, 'Rock Star' is affectionately
composed but not gushing...'Rock Star' has brought to attention the wondrous, almost
unbelievable life of one of the nation’s greatest individuals... This book is a read for both the geological buff and the casual
observer, but more than anything it will leave you wondering at how this mighty nation can transform ambitious men into legends."
- Outback Magazine
"Kristin Weidenbach continues her successful science writing career with a biography of pioneering geologist Reg Sprigg...a portrait of an intrepid, irreverent and brilliant man."
- Encounter (Flinders University magazine)
"In the true spirit of so many Australian achievers, he's very much the quiet achiever that very few people seem to know about. Your book goes a long way to redressing this oversight...It struck me, reading through the book, that we don't appreciate that even though we are only talking about the middle of the last century—the 1940s, 1950s—when Reginald was doing his exploration work, looking at uranium deposits and then going out into the Cooper Basin and looking for oil and gas, we just don't appreciate how tough it was...it's wonderful to read your book, it's beautifully written. "
- Radio National "In Conversation" with Paul Willis
"Geologist, explorer, environmentalist and a founder of South Australia's oil and gas industry, Reg Sprigg is one of those great pioneers of the 20th century who has contributed hugely to the State and the nation. Until now his name has only been known mainly within government, academia and industry circles, but a new book is spreading the word about this remarkable man to the general public.
"
- Lumen Magazine (Univeristy of Adelaide)
"Rock legelnd of a different kind...Reg Sprigg was a visionary South Australian geologist."
- Launceston Examiner
"A true rock star story of an amazing geologist."
- Midweek (Mackay and Sarina QLD)
"This is an amazing and very revealing look at Reg Sprigg..I love the way you've used images of the Ediacarin fossils throughout the book...you certainly have brought him as a character to life. He is one of our really prominent and very important South Australians and we hope that this book gets the recognition it deserves. It is an amazing story."
- ABC 639 North & West SA (Kieran Weir)
"He is a rock star. There's no doubt about it. Reg Sprigg - obviously a very distinguished South Australian."
- Tim Noonan, ABC 891
"Rock Star is certainly a book all South Australians, and indeed, Australians, should own. I got the distinct impression, from Kristin Weidenbach's crisp, concise narrative style – that if Reg Sprigg had been able to go fossick on the moon, he wouldn't have hesitated a second."
- The Independent Weekly
"The name Reg Sprigg might not be a familiar one to most people, but consider his achievements and you will wonder why. "
- Barrier Daily Truth
"By the time that Reg passed away in 1994, he was already “A Legend in his own lifetime” . The appearance of this new 333-page biography by Kristin Weidenbach confirms that the legend lives on. ...an easy flowing, well co-ordinated and highly readable narrative that is directed towards the general reader....“Rock Star” deserves to be read by all geoscientists in their relaxing moments because it portrays how a great geologist of the modern era succeeded wonderfully in many facets of their profession, despite numerous setbacks. Reg remains a worthy hero and this volume does much to promote him.
"
- MESA Journal # 50 (Barry Cooper)