Last changed 16 July 2021
1965 Wongela Geophysical helicopter gravity survey
In
June 1965 Wongela Geophysical Pty Ltd carried out a helicopter gravity
survey under contract to BMR (Flavelle 1965). Alan J. Flavelle
was the representative of the BMR, and Geoff F. Lonsdale was Project
Supervisor.
Lindsay Ingall (1927–99) was the the founder and CEO of Wongela. He
visited the field party west of Tennant Ck, as recorded in his diary:
26/6/65 drove Aileron to Tennant Creek
stayed overnight in field camp caravan (access by vehicle)
28/6/65 left Tennant Creek for Alice Springs
29/6/65 returned Sydney
The typical operation of the helicopter gravity survey is described by
Phil McSharry from Peter Mewkill (1940–2001): search for 'Lindsay
Ingall' in https://web.archive.org/web/20190306172051/http://www.smedg.org.au/PeterMewkill.html
See especially Plate 4 in Flavelle 1965, showing the DD, DJ, DE and DF lines of bench marks, and 'Vaughn Strip' at DE-50.
The survey used helicopters of Rotor Work, Sydney:
2 Bell 47G3B VH-AHF, VH-AHH
Bell 47G2 VH-WHS
Hillier 12C VH-THA
with pilot and engineer Gordon Anderson and Jim Hilferty
Wongela Geophysical was based at 22 Kurraba Rd, North Sydney NSW:
When I visited Lindsay Ingall he showed one of the gravity meters used in the survey:
Wongela name
Lindsay Ingall told me he chose the company name, meaning 'boomerang', from a
book of Aboriginal words. This very likely derived from the entry
Boomerang wongela
published in Curr 1886 vocabulary No. 153 'The Barcoo River, 40 Miles West Of Blackall, Yangeeberra Tribe', by John Ahern. Breen's 1990 Salvage studies of Western Queensland Aboriginal languages groups this with evidence from other languages of the district to reconstitute the word as wangala, that is, with pronunciation ['waŋala]. Lindsay Ingall pronounced his company's name [won'gilə], and others may have said [won'ʤilə].
Reference
Visit with Lindsay Ingall, North Sydney, 29 November 1990.
Flavelle, Alan J. 1965. Helicopter survey by contract, N.T. & Qld. 1965, Part I. BMR Record 1965/212 (unpublished). http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/11665
Smith, Mike (compiler). 2017. Memories of Lindsay Ingall. https://www.aseg.org.au/sites/default/files/Memories%20of%20Lindsay%20Ingall%20-%20M%20J%20Smith%20July%202017%20%282%29.pdf
Lindsay Ingall’s grave at Leura Memorial Gardens https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/205372328/lindsay-neil-ingall
With thanks to Laurie McLean for sources on Lindsay Ingall.
To Karlantijpa page
©
2021
David
Nash
Created 31 May 2021
Modified 16 July 2021
URL http://www.anu.edu.au/linguistics/nash/kt/1965-Wongela.html