Geoscience Australia
{{Short description|Agency of the Australian Government}}
{{Use Australian English|date=December 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}}
{{Infobox government agency
| agency_name = Geoscience Australia
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| picture = Geoscience Australia.jpg
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| picture_caption = Geoscience Australia headquarters located in the Canberra suburb of {{ACTcity|Symonston}}
| formed = 2001
| preceding1 = Australian Surveying and Land Information Group
| preceding2 = Australian Geological Survey Organisation
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| jurisdiction = Australia
| headquarters = {{ACTcity|Symonston}}, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
| coordinates = {{coord|35|20|36|S|149|09|30|E|type:landmark_region:AU_ACT|display=inline,title}}
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| employees = 671 {{small|(as at 30 June 2023)}}{{cite web |url=https://beta.transparency.gov.au/publications/industry-innovation-and-science/geoscience-australia/geoscience-australia-annual-report-2022-23-earth-sciences-for-australia-s-future |title=Geoscience Australia Annual Report 2022-23 Earth sciences for Australia's future |work=Annual Report, Geoscience Australia |publisher=Australian Government |date=2023 |access-date=24 October 2023}}
| budget = {{AUD}}207.30 million {{small|(2020)}}{{cite web |url=https://www.industry.gov.au/data-and-publications/annual-report-2020-21 |title=Department of Industry, Innovation and Science Annual Report 2020-21 |work=Annual Report, Department of Industry, Innovation and Science |publisher=Australian Government |date=2020 |access-date=16 December 2021 |page=186 }}
| minister1_name = {{nowrap|The Hon. Madeleine King MP}}
| minister1_pfo = Minister for Resources
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| chief1_name = Dr James Johnson
| chief1_position = Chief Executive Officer
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| parent_department = Department of Industry, Science and Resources
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| website = {{URL|portal.ga.gov.au}}, {{URL|ga.gov.au}}
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Geoscience Australia is a statutory agency of the Government of Australia that carries out geoscientific research. The agency is the government's technical adviser on aspects of geoscience, and serves as the repository of geographic and geological data collated by the Commonwealth.
On a user pays basis, the agency offers geospatial services, including topographic maps and satellite imagery. It is also a major contributor to the Australian Government's free, open data collections such as {{URL|data.gov.au}}A search on the http://data.gov.au catalogue revealing many thousands of Geoscience Australia datasets: [http://data.gov.au/dataset?q=organization=geoscienceaustralia] and {{URL|portal.ga.gov.au}}.
Strategic priorities
The agency has six strategic priority areas:{{cite web |title=Strategic Priorities |url=http://www.ga.gov.au/about/role |website=Geoscience Australia Strategic Priorities |date=14 May 2019 |publisher=Geoscience Australia |access-date=2 August 2019}}
- building Australia's resource wealth in order to maximise benefits from Australia's minerals and energy resources, now and into the future;
- ensuring Australia's community safety so that Australian communities are more resilient to natural hazards;
- securing Australia's water resources in order to optimise and sustain the use of Australia's water resources;
- managing Australia's marine jurisdictions in order to maximise benefits from the sustainable use of Australia's marine jurisdiction;
- providing fundamental geographic information in order to understand the location and timing of processes, activities and changes across Australia to inform decision-making for both natural and built environments; and
- maintaining geoscience knowledge and capability in order to maintain an enduring and accessible knowledge base and capability to enable evidence-based policy and decision-making by government, industry and the community.
History
Geoscience Australia came into being in 2001 when the Australian Surveying and Land Information Group (AUSLIG) merged with the Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO). Its history dates back almost to the Federation in 1901 when it was decided to set aside land for the national capital. This decision led to the establishment of the Australian Survey Office in 1910, when surveying began for the Australian Capital Territory.
AUSLIG's main function was to provide national geographic information. It was formed in 1987 when the Australian Survey Office joined with the Division of National Mapping, which was formed in 1947. Another important component of AUSLIG was the provision of satellite imagery to industry and government, started by the Australian Landsat Station in 1979, and renamed the Australian Centre for Remote Sensing (ACRES) in 1986.
AGSO's predecessor organisation the Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and GeophysicsTownley, K. (1976) History of the Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics pp.101 - 111 - in {{Citation | author1=Johns, R. K. (Robert Keith) | author2=Johns, R. K. (Robert Keith), (ed.) | author3=Australia. Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics | title=History and role of government geological surveys in Australia | year=1976 | publication-date=1976 | publisher=A. B. James, Govt. printer | isbn=978-0-7243-2497-2 }} (BMR) was established in 1946; with the name changing to AGSO in 1992.
The BMR was a geological survey with the main objective being the systematic geological and geophysical mapping of the continent as the basis for informed mineral exploration.[https://trove.nla.gov.au/people/383822 Geoscience Australia] National Library of Australia, Trove, People and Organisation record for Geoscience Australia
Geoscience Australia's activities have expanded and today it has responsibility for meeting the Australian Government's geoscience requirements. This role takes the Agency well beyond its historic focus on resource development and topographic mapping to topics as diverse as natural hazards such as tsunamis and earthquakes, environmental issues, including the impacts of climate change, groundwater research, marine and coastal research, carbon capture and storage and vegetation monitoring as well as Earth observations from space. Geoscience Australia's remit also extends beyond the Australian landmass to Australia's vast marine jurisdiction.{{cite web |url=http://www.ga.gov.au/about/who-we-are/history |title=Our history |work=Geoscience Australia |date=15 May 2014 |publisher=Australian Government |access-date=31 October 2015 }}
=Summary of predecessor agencies=
Facilities
It has a free place name search{{cite web |url=http://www.ga.gov.au/placename |title=Gazetteer of Australia place name search |work=Geoscience Australia |publisher=Australian Government |access-date=2 August 2019 }} and its earthquake monitoring services can be freely accessed.{{cite web|url=https://earthquakes.ga.gov.au/ |title=Earthquakes |work=Geoscience Australia |publisher=Australian Government |access-date=2 August 2019 }} The Library is the premier geoscience library in Australia providing services to geoscience organisations, universities, research centres, the mining and petroleum industries and the public.{{cite web |url=http://www.ga.gov.au/data-pubs/library |title=N H (Doc) Fisher Geoscience Library |work=Geoscience Australia |date=15 May 2014 |publisher=Australian Government |access-date=2 August 2019 }}
Economic Demonstrated Resources
Geoscience Australia defines Economic Demonstrated Resources (EDR) as {{blockquote|resources for which profitable extraction or production under defined investment assumptions
is possible|https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_Representatives_Committees?url=isr/resexp/chapter2.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}}} For EDR, tonnages and grades are computed from samples of the resource taken from points spaced to provide assured resource continuity.
See also
{{Portal|Australia|Geology|Geography}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [https://www.ga.gov.au/ Geoscience Australia home page].
- [https://portal.ga.gov.au/ Geoscience Australia Data Discovery Portal].
- [https://portal.ga.gov.au/3d Geoscience Australia Geological Digital Twin].
- [https://portal.ga.gov.au/persona/education Community and Education Geoscience Discovery Digital Atlas].
- [https://portal.ga.gov.au/persona/minesatlas Australian Mines Atlas].
- [https://portal.ga.gov.au/persona/minewaste Atlas of Australian Mine Waste].
- [https://portal.ga.gov.au/persona/afgn Australian Fundamental Gravity Network (AFGN)].
- [https://portal.ga.gov.au/persona/marine AusSeabed Marine Data Portal].
- [https://portal.ga.gov.au/persona/cmmi Critical Minerals Mapping Initiative].
- [https://portal.ga.gov.au/persona/geochronology Geochronology and Isotopes Data Portal].
- [https://portal.ga.gov.au/persona/gadds Geophysical Archive Data Delivery System (GADDS)].
- [https://portal.ga.gov.au/persona/hydrogen AusH2 - Australia's Hydrogen Opportunities Tool].
- [https://portal.ga.gov.au/persona/minexcrc MinEx CRC National Drilling Initiative].
- [https://portal.ga.gov.au/persona/pa Positioning Australia National Positioning Infrastructure].
- [https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/geoscience-australia Geoscience Australia in Google Cultural Institute].
- [http://www.ga.gov.au/map/names/distance.jsp As the cocky flies] distance calculator
- International Map of the World
- [http://xnatmap.org/ XNATMAP's home page preserving NATMAP's (The Division of National Mapping) history and maintaining contact with the people who were part of that history].
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Category:Commonwealth Government agencies of Australia
Category:Geography of Australia
Category:Geological surveys of Australia