MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION


MS 111 - WHITE, F W G, FAA (1905-1994)


White was Professor of Physics, Canterbury University College, New Zealand 1937-41, Chief of the Division of Radiophysics, CSIR 1942-45 and was on the CSIR/O Executive 1945-59. He was Chief Executive Officer 1949-56 and later Chairman of CSIRO 1959-70.


111/1

  1. Papers relating to the Biographical Memoir on Lord Casey, written for the Australian Academy of Science 1977
  2. Papers relating to FWGW's contribution to Captain Cook; navigator and scientist (ed G M Badger) - published to celebrate the bicentenary of Cook's discovery of Australia 1970


111/2

  1. Papers relating to the Royal Society discussion - 'The theory of electric and magnetic waves in the ionosphere and the magnetosphere'. December 1974
  2. Papua New Guinea. Metric Conversion Commission

    Annual Report 1972-73
    Annual Report 1973-74 Pacific Conference on Metric Conversion, Lae, June 1974 Metric Conversion Board.
    Annual Report 1970-71
    Annual Report 1972-73
  3. The Australian Atomic Energy Commission: a case study in Australian science and government, by A M Moyal, 1975
    Towards new perspectives for Australian meteorological services. AGPS, 1976
    Towards new perspectives for Australian scientific research in Antarctica    . AGPS, 1975
    Report of the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Programs, Volume 1    . December 1974
    Prospectus for meteorological research in Australia    , by W J Gibbs, C H B Priestley and F W G White. June 1967
  4. 1966 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
    1969 Hon DSc Australian National University
    1970 Hon DSc University of Papua and New Guinea
    Clippings from Monash University Gazette and Australian Physicist re Hon DSc (Monash) and Hon Fellowship Australian Institute of Physics


111/3

    Series 1. Personal/biographical

  1. Personal-biographical material 1936-78
  2. Department of Physics, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, NZ. 1944, 1979
  3. PhD thesis, Some studies of the propagation of wireless waves. ca 1931
  4. Fishing diary 1960-79
  5. Diary of trip to Nepal (?). Undated
  6. ANZAAS Medal 1975
  7. UFOs 1979
  8. Biographical papers. General activities, mostly post-retirement 1978-87
  9. Material gathered in preparation for a proposed oral history interview 1959-87
  10. Personal file. Mainly correspondence, some newspaper cuttings 1981-89. [These papers were received in an envelope marked 'Private papers for retention']
  11. Miscellaneous correspondence December 1985 - January 1993
  12. Miscellaneous reprints, not by FWGW
  13. 'Biographical record' - curriculum vitae, family history, schooling, Victoria University College, Cambridge, early researches, up to 1945
  14. Draft autobiography 1989
  15. Dictated tapes for his 'Biographical notes, volume 2': Years of change; CSIR to CSIRO - early history
  16. Dictated tapes for his 'Biographical notes, volume 2': The application of science to industry via CSIRO; The Radio Research Board
  17. Dictated tapes for his 'Biographical notes, volume 2': National Measurements; Industrial Chemistry
  18. Handwritten version of parts of his 'Biographical notes, volume 2' 1989
  19. Draft chapters of his 'Biographical notes, volume 2' ca 1987 (largely a transcript of the dictated tapes)
  20. Draft chapters of his 'Biographical notes, volume 2' ca 1987 (largely a transcript of the dictated tapes)


111/4

  1. Draft chapters of his 'Biographical notes, volume 2' ca 1987 (largely a transcript of the dictated tapes)
  2. Unbound version of his 'Biographical notes, volume 2' ca 1988
  3. 'Biographical notes' 1989 (2 copies)
  4. 'Biographical notes' 1989
  5. 'Biographical notes, volume 2'
  6. 'Biographical notes, volume 3'. Undated, ca 1990 (draft and final versions)

    Series 2. CSIRO and radar

  7. Madsen to Julius 1926
    Committee on Standards and Testing 1945 Secondary Industries Testing & Research (Julius Committee 1937)
    Technical Assistance for Secondary Industry (White) 1945
  8. Julius, Richardson, Bastow 1946-89
  9. 'Dr D F Martyn and the Radiophysics Advisory Board' 1939-41. Confidential; not to be used without EXCOM approval
  10. Radar - D F Martyn - security
    Discussions with Schedvin
    Appendixes to R.A.B. (Radiophysics Advisory Board) history
    Archival data for P.A.P. Moran
  11. Interview with Michael Moran, 29 January 1980, regarding radar development during World War 2 and the Japanese attack on Darwin, February-March 1942. Transcript
  12. Moran, Michael. 'Radar defence and the Darwin disaster, 1942'
  13. FWGW. 'CSIR. Technical assistance for secondary industries: industrial liaison'. April 1945
  14. Extracts from G B Gresford's diary 1946-66
  15. Meteorological Physics 1946-84
  16. Wool Textile Research 1956-87
  17. Copy of menu from dinner at Guy Gresford's, 25 July 1959, with guests' signatures
  18. CSIRO history 1959-80
  19. Poems re CSIRO. Two undated; two dated 15.9.62
  20. Radioastronomy 1962-87
  21. Photographs. Party for Howard Florey at Glenthorne Research Station, Adelaide, 11 September 1963
  22. Evans, W F 'History of the Radiophysics Advisory Board 1939-1945'. Melbourne: CSIRO, 1970
  23. Priestley, C H B 'Environmental research: practical contributions from a fundamentally oriented group'. CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Physics, 1972. Dedicated to FWGW
  24. Evans, W F 'History of the Radio Research Board 1926-1945'. Melbourne: CSIRO, 1973
  25. Articles and correspondence relating to CSIRO, particularly with Rod Home and Boris Schedvin 1982-88
  26. Interview with Dr C B Schedvin, 16 August 1978 regarding the early history of CSIRO (ca 1945-52). Transcript


111/5

  1. Autographed copy of Boris Schedvin's 'Shaping science and industry; a history of Australia's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research 1924-49'. 1987
  2. Speech made by Boris Schedvin at the launch of his book 'Shaping science and industry; a history of Australia's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research 1924-49' 1987
  3. Draft chapter on Radiophysics for Boris Schedvin's book on CSIRO, with pencilled comments by Paul Wild. February 1987
  4. Portions of draft of Schedvin's history of CSIRO and related correspondence August 1987
  5. Letter to Schedvin from FWGW re Schedvin's Ockham's Razor talks on the ABC, 30 June 1988
  6. 'The White years in CSIRO'. Handwritten notes by Guy Gresford, July 1987
  7. FWGW 'The origins of radioastronomy in Australia; the recollections of an executive' 15 December 1987
  8. 'Years of change'. Paper by FWGW submitted to Historical records of Australian science, and response by the editor December 1987 - January 1988

    Series 3. Science related cassette tapes

  9. Lecture by Lord Rutherford at Goettingen, 14 December 1931 - 'ß-ray spectra compared with Ó rays'
    Remarks by Mark Oliphant
  10. Opening of CERES phytotron 29 September 1962. Speeches by FWGW, R G Menzies and O H Frankel
  11. Interview with R Hanbury Brown by Robyn Williams, ABC, 6 August 1987
  12. Slater, Peter 'Why birds sing'. Australian Academy of Science, 11 September 1987

    Series 4. Science related activities and correspondence

  13. Photographs from Cavendish Laboratory:
    Group photograph 1932
    Four snapshots, each of 3 or 4 people, undated. Subjects are Aston, Bullard, Chadwick, Cockcroft, Gray, Lewis, Massey, Oliphant, Rutherford, Thomson, White, Wilson
  14. Account of visit to New Guinea with Henry Booker, 1944. Typescript
  15. Dinner given by the Australian delegation to the Royal Society and British Commonwealth Scientific Official Conferences, London, at the Savoy Hotel, 17 July 1946
  16. Correspondence with C H B Priestley, 26 April 1977 and V D Burgmann, 21 September 1978
  17. Letter from Paul Anderson 2 December 1979
  18. Phillip Law. Correspondence, biographical material, articles 1979-87
  19. Review by FWGW of 'The commonwealth of science - ANZAAS and the scientific enterprise in Australia 1889-1988', edited by Roy MacLeod. July 1988
  20. Correspondence regarding Cockburn and Ellyard's book, Oliphant 1981
  21. FWGW's speech at dinner given by the Royal Society in November 1987 in honour of the 50th anniversary of Sir Mark's election to the Society

    Series 5. E G Bowen

  22. Random notes dictated by E G Bowen after reading A technical history of the beginnings of radar, by Sean S Swords, August 1984
  23. Bowen, E G 'Development of airborne radar in Great Britain'. Draft. 1 May 1985
  24. Bowen, E G 'The Tizard Mission to the USA and Canada'. Draft. 1 May 1985
  25. Bowen, E G 'From wartime radar to postwar radio astronomy in Australia'. Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Australia 8(1), March 1988

    26-30. Material relating to Bowen memoir published in Historical records of Australian science 9(2)

  26. Correspondence June 1987 - April 1992
  27. Original handwritten version of 'The radiotelescope at Parkes'
  28. Material on the Anglo-Australian Telescope 1968-89
  29. Correspondence from Bowen's colleagues 1989-90 [reminiscences]
  30. Early, handwritten, draft of memoir ca 1989

    Series 6. Royal Society

  31. E G Bowen's election to the Royal Society of London and general file of proposed candidates 1973-74. CONFIDENTIAL

    Series 7. Australian Academy of Science

  32. Australian Academy of Science general file 1977-78
  33. Historical records of Australian science 1978-81
  34. Material collected for a paper on 'Cook the navigator', published in Captain Cook; navigator and scientist, edited by G Badger 1970
  35. Elizabeth and Frederick White Research Conferences 1981-88. Also contains a small amount of correspondence from the Australian Academy of Science relating to other gifts from FWGW


111/6

    Series 8. Joint Academies Committee for the Protection of Prehistoric Places

  1. Minutes of committee meetings 1980-81
  2. Chairman's correspondence and reports 1981
  3. Rock Art Conservation Workshop, 25-27 November 1980
  4. (see 3. above)
  5. Weekend meeting on rock-art deterioration and conservation, 13-14 June 1981
  6. Aboriginal rock art, Burrup Peninsula, Dampier Archipelago 1981
  7. Printed material - annual reports, reprints, newspaper cuttings etc 1979-80
  8. (see 7. above)
  9. Proposal for Conservation Resource Unit for aboriginal rock art 1983-86
  10. Minutes of committee meeting, 7 July 1987

    Series 9. Post-retirement committees, etc

  11. Antarctic 1974, 1979
  12. Metric Conversion Commission, New Guinea 1974-75
  13. National Standards Commission 1976
  14. Ian Clunies Ross Memorial Foundation 1977
  15. Royal Commission on Australian Government Administration 1977
  16. ANU Council 1977-79
  17. Maxwell Society, King's College, University of London 1979
  18. Cambridge Commonwealth Trust. Australian Committee. August 1987


111/7

    Series 10. Birdsong notebooks

  1. Birdsong notebook no 2. Theoretical notes [Note: Birdsong notebook no 1 not received]
  2. Birdsong notebook no 3
  3. Birdsong notebook no 4
  4. Birdsong notebook no 5. Macrogeographical variation in dialect, Olive whistler, 1984
  5. Birdsong notebook no 6. Grey shrike thrush. OW - Jane Edwards (daughter of FWGW)
  6. Birdsong notebook no 7. Olive whistler


111/8

    Series 10. Birdsong notebooks (cont'd)

  1. Birdsong notebook no 8, 1986. Jane Edwards' notes November 1986 - 1987
  2. Birdsong notebook no 9. Whistlers; magpies; Greenewalt-frequency modulation; crows and ravens
  3. Birdsong notebook no 11. Ravens and crows [Note: Birdsong notebook no 10 not received]

    Series 11. Publications on birds by FWGW

  4. Publications on birds by FWGW 1985-87
  5. 'Summer-winter movements of Olive Whistlers (Pachycephala olivacea) in the Snowy Mountains'. Manuscript and correspondence 1985-86
  6. 'Macrogeographic variation of the songs of the Olive Whistler in eastern Australia'. Correspondence with editor of The emu 1986-87
  7. 'Macrogeographic variation in the song of the Olive Whistler in Australia'. Manuscript versions 1985
  8. Diagrams of songs of Olive Whistlers. Sonograms - geovariation
  9. Olive Whistler sonograms. Handwritten
  10. 'Tracheal resonance in the voice of Australian corvids'. Manuscript submitted to Nature in April 1988


111/9

    Series 12. Material received via Peter White after the death of FWGW

  1. Historical directory of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization 1926 to 1976 and background research notes on dates of service of various members of the Executive
  2. Diary notes of overseas trips 1944-1970
  3. Passports, official and personal, 1943-1992
  4. Article 'Summer low water', dated 19 March 1970; article submitted to Nature in April 1988 - 'Tracheal resonance in the voice of Australian corvids';.correspondence with Peter Robertson re his book, Under the Southern Cross 1990.
  5. Correspondence re death of Jack Ratcliffe on 25 October 1987 and Henry Booker on 1 November 1988, and re memorial appeal for Harrie Massey 1989-1990
  6. Miscellaneous correspondence 1987-1992. Includes nominations of J P Wild and A B Costin for BHP Awards for the Pursuit of Excellence; L T Evans for a Royal Society Royal Medal; correspondence with the wife of G H Munro re his possible nomination as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science; letter from Ray Specht, 28 May 1992, re Koonamore Trip 1962.
  7. Correspondence 1988-1989 concerning George Julius and the totalisator machine; correspondence with C B Schedvin 1992 regarding his article on Ian Clunies Ross in the Australian dictionary of biography; letters from Barry Jones and J H Carver, June 1992
  8. Letter from N K Boardman 7 July 1989
  9. Correspondence re Rutherford biography project 1992, Rutherford birthsite project 1991-1992 and St John's College Cambridge £7 million fundraising campaign 1993
  10. Correspondence regarding E G Bowen memoir February 1991; material on relatives in England ca 1989; admission to Royal Society 1966 and celebration of tercentenary of Royal Society 1960
  11. Manuscript version of E G Bowen memoir and associated corrrespondence with the Royal Society 1992
  12. Letter from I H Richards, Chief Executive Officer of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, 19 April 1993, regarding the possible funding of a Fellowship by FWGW
  13. Why research?, by Ian W. Wark, with the annotation "Fred White, With my warm personal regards, Ian Wark 15.11.'68"
  14. Electromagnetic waves, by FWGW, 4th ed., 1950, with handwritten amendments

111/10

    Series 13. Degree and award certificates

  1. BSc (University of New Zealand) 30 May 1928
  2. BSc (Hons) (University of New Zealand) 10 May 1929
  3. MSc (University of New Zealand) 10 May 1929
  4. PhD (University of Cambridge) 26 January 1934
  5. CBE citation 1 January 1954
  6. CBE certificate 1 January 1954
  7. KBE citation 2 June 1962
  8. KBE certificate 2 June 1962
  9. FRS 17 March 1966
  10. DSc (Honoris Causa) (Monash University) 2 May 1969


111/11

  1. Correspondence from Officers of AAS Council, 16 July 1973, re FWGW taking on a suggested role of Executive Vice-President of the Academy
  2. Correspondence re Bank portrait 1981
  3. Rivett, Sir David. ‘Science and responsibility'. Address to the 18th Annual Commencement Ceremony of the Canberra University College, 25 March 1947, with attached handwritten biographical notes on FWGW.
  4. Science and government; report to the Advisory Council CSIRO, by FWGW. November 1966
  5. Account by FWGW of his time in Christchurch from January 1937 to March 1941
  6. Fifty years of CSIRO. Articles by various CSIRO chiefs in Nature, vol. 261, 24 June 1976
  7. 2 b & w photos of FWGW, one probably taken in the 1960s when he was Chairman of CSIRO and one probably taken in the 1990s. Copy of article from CoResearch, February 1975, with article on FWGW being awarded the ANZAAS Medal
  8. Birdsong. Photocopies of three journal articles by FWGW, 1985-1987 and draft of portion of FWGs's biographical memoir, with covering letter to Peter Fullagar, 11 October 1995
  9. Personal letters from FWGW to Sir Rutherford Robertson, 1959-1991
  10. R N Robertson's file on Fred White. Contents: Biographical data; bibliography of publications, speeches, etc.; obituaries in Australian Academy of Science Newsletter no. 26, October-December 1994; The ANU Reporter, 12 October 1994 and the Royal Society of New South Wales Bulletin no. 181, September 1994; letter from Peter White, FWGW's son, 3 June 1995; correspondence with Jane Edwards (FWGW's daughter), 1994-1995; list of manuscript records held in the Basser Library at MS 111
  11. R N Robertson's second file on Fred White. Contents include Academy of Science letters; letters from Harry Minnett. Notes on the development of CSIRO: notes on Darwin disaster 1942; ‘CSIR to CSIRO – the events of 1948-1949' by FWGW, published in Public Administration, vol. XXXIV, no. 4, December 1975; articles in CoResearch on FWGW's appointment as CSIRO Chairman in 1959 and retirement in 1970; photo of a dinner in Brisbane; The University of Papua and New Guinea. "The first graduates" and "Ceremony of conferring of degrees", both 18 August 1970. FWGW received a DSc (honoris causa)
  12. Notes from phone conversations with Keith Boardman and Max Day, 1994
  13. List of FWGW's honours; commemorative address at funeral by Denis Young.
  14. The Australian Wool Corporation; the first decade, by Walter Ives. Melbourne, The Australian Wool Research and Promotion Organisation, 1994
  15. Relevant papers". Contents include correspondence from Harry Minnett, letter from Rod Home with suggested amendments to memoir and correspondence with Royal Society
  16. Obituary notice. Manuscript version, with accompanying correspondence from Harry Minnett
  17. Obituary published in Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
  18. Correspondence re memoir 1992-1998. Contains a small amount of correspondence re E G Bowen memoir.
  19. Submission to the Committee of Inquiry into the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, by FWGW. 1976


111/12

    1-4. Harry Minnett's memoir files

  1. Harry Minnett's notes for memoir.
  2. Corrected proofs of memoir for Royal Society of London
  3. Obituary notice. Manuscript version
  4. Notes from three meetings and discussions with R N Robertson
  5. Draft memoir for readers
  6. Letter to readers
  7. Comments on draft
  8. Peter Bishop, Keith Boardman
  9. David Craig, Max Day
  10. Lloyd Evans, Rod Home


111/13

  1. Walter Ives, Paul Wild
  2. Schedvin. CSIRO's history; Occam's Razor talks and correspondence; ‘The culture of CSIRO'. Paper
  3. Bound volume of articles on radio wave transmissions, 1926-1932, some with FWGW as one of the authors
  4. Pedersen, P O. “The propagation of radio waves along the surface of the earth and in the atmosphere”. Copenhagen, Danmarks Naturvidenskabelige Samfund, 1927. Contains handwritten notations by FWGW.

212 cm

APPENDIX

List of Sir Fred's numbered files. These were placed into different series, because this seemed more logical. The new location for each file is indicated in brackets.

  1. Curriculum vitae; family history - schooling; Victoria University College - Cambridge; early researches (111/3/13)
  2. Julius, Richardson, Bastow (111/4/8)
  3. Madsen to Julius October 1926; Committee on Standards and Testing 1945; Secondary Industries Testing & Research - Julius Committee 1937; Technical Assistance for Secondary Industry (White) 1945; Scientific Liaison & Information Bureau; Scheme for Approved Testing (before NATA was formed); Committee on Standards & Testing (seeking an approach to NATA) (111/4/7)
  4. Published papers (Fellows Collection)
    1. Radar. D F Martyn security; discussions with Schedvin; appendixes to Radiophysics Advisory Board history; archival data for Moran (111/4/10)
    2. Moran, Michael. 'Radar defence and the Darwin disaster, 1942' (111/4/12)
    3. Evans, W F 'History of the Radiophysics Advisory Board 1939-1945'. Melbourne, CSIRO, 1970 (111/4/22)
  6. Wool Textile Research. Summary of events; blends; International Wool Textile Research Conference, England, 1960; International Wool Textile Research Conference, Australia, 1955; Letter to Lipson; Lipson's paper, The Early Years (111/4/16)
  7. Radioastronomy. Origins of Radioastronomy: recollections of an Executive (FWGW); Correspondence; Mills Crossing v Parkes Dish, Bulletin 1962; Prehistory of Parkes Telescope (Bowen), Proc ASA 1981; Origins of radioastronomy in Australia (Bowen) - includes other items; Bracewell (111/4/20)
  8. Meteorological physics. Sequence of events; Bureau of Meteorology 75 years; Flinders Lecture; Schedvin's account; Correspondence; Philip Ford's account; Reminiscences - Priestley; Correspondence - my original contact with Meteorology; Research Committee; Original programme (Priestley); appointment (111/4/15)
  9. Biographical papers. General activities, mostly post-retirement (111/3/8)
  10. Not received
  11. Publications, speeches of Sir Frederick White: a bibliography. Note: This folder actually contained 4 published articles on birds by FWGW (111/8/4).

212cm