Sir Gordon Lindesay Clark AC KBE CMG MC (1896-1986) was one of Australia's great mining visionaries. After distinguished service in World War I he completed a mining engineering degree in Melbourne and began work at the Cockle Creek lead smelter. While lecturing at the University of Melbourne, he worked in the State Electricity Commission and as a consulting engineer in Central Australia and Papua New Guinea. During World War II he was Deputy Controller of Mineral Production, overseeing the establishment of many new ventures. After the war he became chairman of WMC and its subsidiaries. In 1956 he took the chair at Broken Hill South, overseeing significant diversification of the company. Through the 1950s he steered WMC, too, into new mineral enterprises that led to the establishment of Alcoa of Australia in 1961; he remained Alcoa's founder chairman until 1970. Clark received a plethora of mining and metallurgy awards and several honorary doctorates as well as his imperial and Australian honours. His memoir, Built on Gold, was published in 1983.
Gift of Alcoa World Alumina Australia 2005. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
© Shane Pugh
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