J. W. Whiting

Joseph William Whiting was a geologist and palaeontologist who worked for the New South Wales Department of Mines in the 1940s and 1950s. With co-author R. E. Relph, he wrote the report The Occurrence of Opal at Lightning Ridge and Grawin, with Geological Notes on County Finch which has provided much of the geological and historical background of early Lightning Ridge that we rely on today.

J. W. Whiting was born in Walcha, New South Wales, in 1912. His parents were Ethel and Thomas. He was educated at the University of Sydney.

He was married in 1939.

In 1947, Whiting participated in research into fossilised clam shells found near Thuddungra, New South Wales. In 1950, he recorded significant data on fossils from the silurian period (443.8-419.2 million years ago) near Jackadgery, New South Wales.

In 1958, The Occurrence of Opal at Lightning Ridge and Grawin, with Geological Notes on County Finch was published, covering the extensive geology of the Lightning Ridge area, and surrounding county.

J. W. Whiting passed away in 1990 at the age of 78.

Article: Research by Russell Gawthorpe and Leisa Carney, edited by Russell Gawthorpe. LRHS research compiled by Len Cram and Barbara Moritz. Sources: ‘Museum Officials’ Visit - Sequel to Discovery of Clam Shell’, The Grenfell Record and Lachlan District Advertiser’, 19 June 1947, p. 6; ‘Further Remarks on the Sedimentary Formations of N.S.W’, p. 171; Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, pts. I-IV, vol. 9, 1957; ‘Lyndon Charles Noakes’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, 2012, vol. 18.