Sturt Gorge in southern suburbs of Adelaide globally significant for glacial rock found by Walter Howchin in 1900
The sturt tillite rock formation found by South Australian geologist Walter Howchin (right) in what became Sturt Gorge Recreation Park was recognised as highly significant for understanding the worldwide Precambrian glacial period.
Gorge image by Andrew Moore. Howchin image courtesy State Library of South Australia
Sturt Gorge Recreation Park, in the Adelaide suburbs of Bellevue Heights, Craigburn Farm and Flagstaff Hill, about 13 kilometres from the city centre, was protected and heritage-listed after it was found to have glaciation geology with global significance.
When South Australian geologist Walter Howchin showed in 1900 that the rocks in Sturt Gorge were glacial, it was the first proof that there had been an ice age in the southern hemisphere. Howchin found a gorge rock formation, known as sturt tillite, believed to be from glacial material dropped from ice floating in the ocean that covered South Australia 800 million years ago. The sturt tillite was the first definite evidence of cryogenian glaciation (the Snowball Earth).
The glaciation at this gorge was recognised as highly significant for understanding the worldwide Precambrian glacial period. Besides getting a state heritage listing, the gorge’s importance for education and research saw it designated a geological monument by the Geological Society of Australia (South Australian division). It was classified as an IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Category III protected area and listed on the former register of the national estate in 1980.
Sturt Gorge Recreation Park, established in 1973 and channelling the Sturt River down to the Adelaide Plains, also conserved the nationally threatened greybox grassy woodland vegetation once abundant across southern Australia.
Geologist Walter Howchin arrived in Adelaide in 1881 to combat a lung disease contracted in England as a Primitive Methodist minister. He had become interested on geology, in particular the fossils of foraminifera (single-celled plankton), while in Northumberland. In 1878, he became a fellow of Geological Society of London. Howchin’s health returned in Adelaide and he was elected to the Royal Society of South Australia in 1883. He was the society’s editor mostly until 1933, president 1894-96 and published 77 mostly geological papers in its Transactions, the first in 1884 on South Australian cretaceous foraminifera.
Although staying a Methodist minister, Howchin never had a South Australia circuit but tried to reconcile science and beliefs within the church over Charles Darwin’s work. In his early Adelaide years, Howchin worked as a journalist and as secretary of Adelaide Children's Hospital. In 1901-23, he was a governor of the Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery and then honorary palaeontologist to the museum.
Howchin lectured in mineralogy at Adelaide School of Mines in 1899-1904 and, after professor Ralph Tate died, he became lecturer in geology and palaeontology at Adelaide University in 1902. In 1918, he was designated honorary professor. After retiring in 1920, he continued productive work in geology. From 1894, he was closely associated with eminent Australian geologist Edgeworth David.
Besides Tate's pioneering work on the tertiary period, Howchin laid the foundation of South Australian geological stratigraphy. He described the two great glaciations affecting South Australia, the oldest in the Precambrian, and clearly defined stratigraphic sequence in the Adelaide geosyncline.
Howchin's The Geology of South Australia (1918) remained a student text for 40 years. In 1925-30, he contributed to handbooks on the flora and fauna of South Australia: The Building of Australia and the Succession of life, with Special Reference to South Australia. The Geological Society of London awarded Howchin the Lyell Medal in 1934. He was also the first to receive the Royal Society of South Australia's Verco Medal in 1929. Several fossils were named after him.