Brian Daily (1931-1986)
Papers 1906-1983

MSS 0010

Biographical Note

Brian Daily was appointed Lecturer in Geology in 1961, having previously obtained his B.Sc., B.Sc (Hons.) and Ph.D. as a student at the University in 1952, 1953 and 1957 respectively. He was Palaeontologist at the S.A. Museum from 1956-60 and in 1954 conducted a survey of Melville and Bathurst Islands on behalf of the University on the National Geographic Society expedition under C.P. Mountford.

Daily's principal interest was in the Cambrian system in South Australia (palaeography and stratigraphy) in which area he gained an international reputation, and served on the Cambrian Sub-Commission of the International Stratigraphic Committee. In later years his work on the Kanmantoo Group was noteworthy, and his interests extended into late Precambrian faunas and recent vertebrates and Proterozoic glacial deposits.

These papers were deposited by the Geology Department, by the agency of Maud McBriar, following Daily's death in March 1986. An obituary of Dr. Daily appeared in Lumen in May 1986.

Contents Listing

1-2. Papers relating to expedition to Bathurst and Melville Island April-July 1954.

[Dr. Daily was Geologist on the National Geographic Society expedition led by the anthropologist C.P. Mountford.]
Diary of visit to Melville and Bathurst Islands. 27 April-15 July 1954. lv.

Field notes on expedition (detailed descriptions of locations and specimens). n.d. 6v.
(Vol. 6 barely used - main entry is for "Tucker eaten so far" with the equivalent local aboriginal name.)

Photographs and slides of Melville and Bathurst Island geology, Carslake Island and Torres Strait Island. 1954, 1961 and undated. c.100 prints and negatives. (Some prints numbered but exact locations not otherwise identified.)

Drawings of sections of cretaceous rocks on Melville and Bathurst Islands by Daily. 1955. 6 items.

Maps of Bathurst and Melville Islands. 1944, 1964 and undated. (4 published maps, 1 contour sketch map by Daily.)

Report 'Geological Observations on Melville and Bathurst Islands, Northern Territory'. n.d. (1954). 2cm. Various ms. and typescript drafts.

'Report on the geology of portion of Melville Island and the south coast of Bathurst Island during the period 24th May and 22nd July'. 11 p. ms.

Brief reports and summary notes on the expedition (for the annual University Research Report, for talks and a newspaper article). n.d. (1954). 6p.

Correspondence relating to the expedition. February 1954-September 1968. lcm. (Relates to arrangements for the expedition and subsequent expressions of interest in and requests for information on his findings during the expedition.)

Notes and extracts from articles relating to earlier visits to Melville and Bathurst Islands. 1906-63. 1cm.
(Includes copy of L.G. Gee's 'Notes of a cruise round Melville and Bathurst Islands', 1907, and extracts from W.G. Woolnough's 'Report on Aerial Survey of Melville and Bathurst Islands', 1932.)

Papers on Bathurst and Melville Islands (and the geology of the Northern Territory generally) by S.K. Skwarko and others. 1960-73. 5cm.

Colour slides of Mornington Island and of formations and specimens in the Northern Territory. c.1960 (most undated). 3 boxes.
(The box of N.T. slides was sent to Daily by Dr. A.R. Pilling, University of California. This box has been incorrectly labelled as slides from Melville and Bathurst Islands.)


3-5. Lecture notes, reports, committees, 1951-1985

Geology lecture notes and notes from texts. c.1951-52. 1v.
Lecture notes for Geology I, II, III and Honours, and for student study tours and excursions. c.1960-85. 35cm.

Notes, transparencies for Royal Society talk. 1966. lcm.

Notes, transparencies for Geological Society talk. n.d. 1cm.

Palaeontological reports. 1962-65. lcm.
(Cobar, N.S.W., 1963 for BHP; Naryilco, Dullingari, Pandiebua, 1962-63 for Delhi-Santos; Mt. Charlotte, Napp-a-coongee, 1965 for Transoil (N.T.))

Report by Daily, C.R. Twidale and N.F. Alley, 'Occurrence of Lower Cambrian sediments in Wilpena Pound, South Australia'. February 1967. 9p. (2 copies)

Discussion paper by Daily, C.R. Twidale and J.B. Firman, 'Eustatic and climatic history of the Adelaide area', and other notes and papers compiled in reply to W.T. Ward's assertions re the late Cainozoic geology of the Willunga and Noarlunga basins (Journal of Geology, July 1965). c.1960-65. 2cm.

Sub-Committee for Soil Stratigraphic Nomenclature - minutes, reports, correspondence. 1955-69. 3cm.
[Daily was Secretary of the S.A. Stratigraphic Nomenclature Committee.]

Cambrian Sub-Commission of the International Stratigraphic Committee - correspondence re Daily's membership of 1973. lcm.

Notes, as referee, on paper by Duncan Merrilees. 1966. lcm.

Draft reply to C.G. Stephens (Nature) on Duricrust. 1966. lcm.

Typed ms. of contribution on Yorke Peninsula. 1957. lcm.

Draft letter on establishing a national conservation policy. n.d. 1cm.


6-8. Reference and correspondence files, 1952-1983

Comprising variously correspondence, draft and published papers by Daily and others, notes, maps, cuttings, reports, transparencies, air photos. 1952-1983. 45cm.
File titles as follow:

• Adelaide Geosyncline
• Adelaide Supergroup (see also Cambrian - Delamere)
• Adelaide System
• [Antarctica - see International Geological Correlation Programme]
• Biconulites
• Cambrian
• Cambrian - Beltana
• Cambrian - California
• Cambrian - Dalgarnos correlation charts
• Cambrian - Delamere, Rapid Bay
• Cambrian - Fleurieu Peninsula
• Cambrian - India and Kashmir
• Cambrian - South Australia
• [Cambrian] charts and maps
• Cambrian rocks in S.A., with particular reference to phosphate
• [Cave fossils] - Phoscalarctos
• [Cave fossils] - Thylacinus
• [Cave fossils] - [Mt. Gambier, Piccaninny Ponds]
• Cuddapah Basin - see Platform sediments
• Diapirism
• Georgina Basin (single letter re)
• Glaciation (bibliography re)
• Gnalta trip (N.W. N.S.W. 1965 - reports by others, maps)
• Hallett Cove (newspaper cuttings, letters, article re conservation of)
• International Geological Correlation Programme, Antarctica (project proposal and related correspondence and articles)
• Kanmantoo Group (Kangaroo Island)
• Lake Eyre
• Marsupials (notebook re Naracoorte trip 1957, correspondence 1962-64, notes, list of sthenurus specimens)
• Minlaton Bore (reports, notes, correspondence, c.1958)
• Mount Painter area (air photos)
• North West S.A. - late Precambrian fossils (notes on specimens)
• North West trip, Coffin Hill, S.A. (reports by others, photographs, related articles) Ordovician - Central Australia
• Ordovician - Koonenberry Range
• [Ordovician] - Öpik, AA, Caloola syncline
• Platform sediments (includes report on Daily's scientific visit to India, 1983, with  reference particularly to geology of the Cuddapah Basin)
• Tasmania - base of Cambrian (transparencies)