Last changed 1 September 2021
BMR Wiso Basin Geological Survey, 1965
'The Wieo Basin occupies about 40,000 square miles between Tennant
Creek and Tanami in the Northern Territory. Most of this area is
desert, and little was known of its geology before 1965, when a field
party from the Bureau of Mineral Resources made a reconnaissance survey
and also drilled 10 scout holes.' (Milligan et al 1966:1)
The prominent dashed line on the map shows the main ground route of the survey parties

Wiso Basin : routes of surveys
(Milligan et al 1966 Figure 5)
'The survey was carried out by helicopter traverse over a period of 33 days' (Milligan et al 1966:9)
'Ground support was by Land Rovers and two four-wheel drive 3 ton
trucks. Shallow scout-holes were drilled on an east-west to north-west
line across the northern part of the area, concurrently with the
helicopter survey.' (Milligan et al 1966:10)
field party
Ralph Nichols
Ted Milligan
Ken Smith (BMR supervisor, joined party in July)
Fred Doutch (joined party in July)
Brian Dietrich (field hand)
'Tas' (field hand)
helicopter pilot
Ginty Gorey (driller)
Gloria Gorey (cook)
…
…
Dr Ralph Nichols' narrative
Dr EN (Ted) Milligan's photographs
traverse paths of helicopter geology survey
References
Milligan, E.N., K.G. Smith, R.A.H. Nichols
& H.F. Doutch. 1966.
Geology of the Wiso Basin, Northern Territory. Bureau of Mineral
Resources Gelogy and Geophysics Records 1966/47
http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/11761
Gorey
& Cole operated for over 40 years at Alice Springs:
'Gorey & Cole Drillers was founded in 1946 and sold
to a senior employee Viv Oldfield in 1988'
http://www.easternwell.com.au/about-us/our-history.html
Tom Cole. 1990. Hell West and Crooked. North Ryde: Collins/Angus
& Robertson.
pp.144-5: letter from Sandy Cole to Tom Cole. Ginty Gorey's father 'drilled water bores for Vesteys mainly'.
Karlantijpa history page
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Created 30 August 2021
Last changed 1 September 2021
URL http://www.anu.edu.au/linguistics/nash/kt/1965-BMR/index.html