Sir Laurence Brodie-Hall

BRODIE-HALL, Sir Laurence Charles, AO CMG AWASM CitWA Hon DTech (WAIT) FAIMM (1910-2006)

Laurence Brodie-Hall (Brodie) was born in London on the 10th June 1910, one of 5 children. He married Dorothy Jolly in April 1941 and they had three sons, Charles, Phillip and Robert and daughters, Lesley and Kate. After Dorothy passed, Brodie married Jean Verschuer in 1978.

Brodie migrated to Australia in 1924 where he worked as a farm hand in NSW before venturing to Western Australia in 1928. He went gold mining in the Murchison where he began at the very bottom as an underground miner but it was the start of a lifelong love affair with the mining industry. He enjoyed the social life in the Goldfields where he engaged in amateur theatricals, played the violin and sang much to the delight of his many friends.

In 1934 Brodie joined WMC’s Triton mine near Cue as a machine miner. From there he went to Kalgoorlie and took a shift job at the Kalgurli ore treatment plant and began a part time course at the WA School of Mines. Next, he went to work at the Emperor mine in Fiji in 1939, but when war broke out he returned to WA and worked as a Plant Superintendent on Claude de Bernales’ Bailey mine at Coolgardie.

When Japan entered the war, Brodie enlisted as a sapper in the Royal Australian Engineers and by the end of the war he had risen to the rank of Captain in the 2/2nd Mechanical Equipment Company of the Royal Australian Engineers. When demobilised he returned to Kalgoorlie and studied at the WA School of Mines under the Commonwealth Rehabilitation Scheme as a mature age student, graduating in both Mining and Metallurgy. In 1948 WMC’s Managing Director, (Sir) Lindsay Clark, offered him a job as a junior mine geologist at Norseman. He wasn’t there long before he was transferred to Melbourne as Technical Assistant to (Sir) Lindsay Clark.

In June 1951, after having worked on proposals to re-establish gold mining at Bullfinch, Brodie was appointed General Superintendent of Great Western Consolidated. For the next seven years he worked at Bullfinch where his reputation for technical innovation and good management was established.

Kambalda Nickel Operations - Aerial view of nickel concentrator

In 1958 Brodie was promoted to WMC’s General Superintendent in WA, and in 1962 he became an Executive Director. In this role, he directed the considerable broadening of WMC’s operations including the major expansion of Gold Mines of Kalgoorlie, re-opening of the Mount Charlotte mine, the formation of Three Springs Talc and Alcoa of Australia. It was due to his encouragement and support that WMC discovered nickel sulphides in Kambalda in January 1966. The rapid establishment of Kambalda Nickel Operations in 1967, the Kwinana Nickel Refinery in 1970 and the Kalgoorlie Nickel Smelter in 1972 were among his major achievements.

Nickel Smelter for Western Mining Corporation, near Kalgoorlie
Source: SLWA 264894PD

In 1967 Brodie moved to Perth where in involved himself increasingly in industry and community affairs.

Senior positions held

1951 - General Superintendent of Great Western Consolidated;
1958 - WMC’s General Superintendent in WA;
1962 - WMC’s Executive Director;
Director Alcoa Australia;
Chairman of Kalgoorlie Lake View Pty Ltd;
Chairman of Kalgoorlie Mining Associates;
Chairman of Central Norseman Gold Cooperation NL;
Chairman of Three Springs Talc;
Chairman of Gold Mines of Kalgoorlie Ltd;
Chairman of Westerntech Innovations Corp;
Chairman of Energy Research Group (ERG); and
Director of Coolgardie Gold NL.

Engineering organisation involvement

1973 - President of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy;
1976 - Awarded the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Medal; and
1988 - Awarded Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Hon Life Membership as an Honorary Fellow.

Involvement in other professional organisations and other interests.

1970 to 1974, President of the WA Chamber of Mines;
A member of the Australian Mining Industry Council;
The Goldmining Industry spokesman with the State and Federal Governments;
As a member of the RFDC, Brodie was responsible for the introduction of the Aerial Ambulance Contributory Scheme;
WA Environmental Protection Council;
CSIRO advisory Council for 10 years; and
Chairman of the State Committee of CSIRO for 10 years.

Awards and Industry Recognition

1974 - WA Citizen of the Year Award;
1978 - Awarded the CMG in Queens Birthday Honours;
1982 - Created Knight Bachelor in the Queen’s Birthday honours list "for Services to the Mining Industry, Education and the Community.";
1993 - Made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AO) in recognition of his significant contribution to the Australian mining industry; and
Life Member of the Chamber of Mines of Western Australia.

Post principal qualification involvement with education and training

Sir Laurence’s abiding interest and support in WASM has been shown by the establishment of Agricola in 1969, and its extension in 1972 to accommodate 75 students, at which time he was made a Life Member of Agricola College Inc.;
In 1987/8 he raised $4.1 million from industry to finance the purchase of equipment, construct the WMC Conference Centre and establish a Chair in Mineral Economics, and additional student accommodation to which he contributed $100,000;
Sir Laurence was chairman of the School’s Board of Management from 1989 to 1991. He devoted himself to raising both the status of the School and a considerable amount of money to provide for its further development;
He established the WASM Education Fund with a personal donation of $135,000, to fund research, equipment purchases and assist staff in their professional development;
In 1996, he established a Research and Consultancy Centre at WASM with a personal donation of $100,000;
Sir Laurence was a Councillor of the Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT which became Curtin University);
In 1998 Sir Laurence received an honorary Doctorate of Technology from WAIT;
Sir Laurence was appointed a Fellow of Curtain University for his many years of service to tertiary education. His name is commemorated in the ‘L C Brodie’s Hall Administration Centre’ at Agricola College, Kalgoorlie, the ‘Brodie-Hall Research and Consultancy Centre’ at Curtin University and ‘Brodie-Hall Drive’ at Technology Park, next to WAIT in Perth;
Sir Laurence was founding member of the Western Australian Foundation for Contemporary Science and Technology, otherwise the SCITECH Discovery Centre, and was Chairman from 1989 to 1994;
Sir Laurence was the driving force behind the funding to build the WASM Student Guild Premises, the main support for which came from 4 graduates, Graeme Smith, Barry Patterson, Ron Harken and George Botica;
He was an Honorary Member of the Graduates Association of the WASM and was honoured in 1988 by being made a Freeman of the City of Kalgoorlie Boulder. He has been a tireless and successful fundraiser over many years and for many causes.

Places where he lived

Kalgoorlie, Melbourne and Perth

Legacy

Sir Laurence was interested not only in academic qualifications but also in the personal development of individuals and there are many in the industry today ready to acknowledge the help, guidance and encouragement given them by ‘the man who made it from the bottom to the top’ without losing the human touch.

Sir Laurence Brodie-Hall died in Perth in 2006.

Sources and copyright acknowledgement:
Brodie, Memoirs of Sir Laurence Brodie-Hall. 1994;
Mandarins & Mavericks, Remembering Western Mining 1993-2005.
For additional photos refer to SLWA 384348PD for Kambalda Nickel Operations and to SLWA 268987PD for the Nickel Smelter.
Prepared by Phil Plaisted for the centenary book 'Anything is possible' in March 2019.