A history of CSIRO’S Central Australian Laboratory 1953 – 2018

CSIRO’s Central Australian Laboratory and its earlier incarnations in Alice Springs supported arid zone research for over 64 years until its closure in 2018. Former scientists Margaret Friedel, Steve Morton, Gary Bastin, Jocelyn Davies and Mark Stafford Smith have recently published its history. Written in two parts, this history is available in Historical Records of Australian Science, along with extensive supplementary material that includes a list of all known staff members and a comprehensive list of publications in many categories for both papers.

There are two papers: ‘A history of CSIRO’S Central Australian Laboratory 1, 1953–80: pastoral land research‘ and ‘A history of CSIRO’s Central Australian Laboratory 2, 1980–2018: interdisciplinary land research‘.

These papers are open access and the supplementary material can be accessed in both cases via a link at the end of the main text.