Person
Farquharson, Robert Alexander (1883 - 1959)
OBE
- Born
- 2 May 1883
Dunedin, New Zealand - Died
- 27 December 1959
Perth, Western Australia, Australia - Occupation
- Petrologist
Summary
Robert Farquharson was a petrologist with the Geological Survey of Western Australia from 1911 to 1922. He published a number of significant reports for the Survey, including Petrological contributions to the geology of Western Australia (1912) and (with colleague E. C. Saint-Smith) Geology and mineral resources of Yilgarn Goldfield, part I (1913). He also contributed the petrological section to other Survey reports. Between 1922 and 1938 he was Government Geologist and Director of Agriculture in British Somaliland. Farquharson retired and returned to Perth in 1938.
Details
Chronology
- 1903
- Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), Otago University, New Zealand
- 1906
- Education - Master of Science (MSc), Otago University, New Zealand
- 1906
- Award - 1851 Exhibition Science Research Scholarship (declined)
- 1906
- Award - Rhodes Scholarship, St John's College, University of Oxford [Third Rhodes Scholar from New Zealand]
- 1906
- Education - Associate of the Otago School of Mines, New Zealand
- 1908
- Education - Bachelor of Arts (BA), University of Oxford
- 1911 - 1922
- Career position - Petrologist, Geological Survey of Western Australia
- 1912
- Education - Master of Arts (MA), University of Oxford
- 1922
- Career event - Granted leave of absence to report on the soils of Somaliland on the invitation of the British Government
- 1922 - 1938
- Career position - Government Geologist and Director of Agriculture, British Somaliland
- 1932 - 1934
- Career event - Seconded to the Anglo-Abyssinian Boundary Commission
- 1938
- Life event - Retired, and returned to Western Australia
- 1 Jan 1938
- Award - Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) - Geologist in Charge, Water-Boring Scheme, Somaliland Protectorate
Related entries
Colleague
Published resources
Books
- Blatchford, T., Honman, C. S., Simpson, E. S., Farquharson, R. A., The geology and mineral resources of the Yilgarn Goldfield, part III : the gold belt north of Southern Cross, including Westonia (Perth: Government Printer, 1917), 321 pp. Details
- Clarke, E. de C.; petrology by R. A. Farquharson, mineralogy and underground waters by E. S. Simpson, The geology and ore-deposits of Meekatharra Murchison goldfield (Perth: Government Printer, 1916), 342 pp. Details
- Honman, C. S., The geology of the country between Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie: with a petrological contribution by R.A. Farquharson, and a mineralogical contribution by A.J. Robertson (Perth: Government Printer, 1914), 83 pp. Details
Helen Cohn
Created: 23 July 2026, Last modified: 21 October 2026