About the records

Administrative Information

This collection was assembled from fragments collected from the Department of Metallurgy, University of Melbourne and Mrs. Pat Mather, secretary to Professor Greenwood until the time of his death. This small collection of papers is being added, as a furthur accession, to the Greenwood papers already held at the University of Melbourne Archives.

• The records have been allocated to 6 series. The codes used to uniquely identify each series range from GREES001 to GREES006.
  
  
• Through the processing of the records, 1 provenance entity was identified. The code used to uniquely identify this provenance entity, i.e. records creator or custodian, is GREEP01.
  
  
• The inventory covers 15 items, and may include records of continuing value, records sentenced for destruction and records that have been destroyed. The codes used to uniquely identify each inventory item range from GREE00001 to GREE00015. The total collection occupies 5 linear cm of shelf space (or its equivalent).
  
  
• The documentation of the records at inventory level started on 19 January 2004. The latest additions were made on 19 January 2004. The latest modifications were made on 8 November 2007. This collection profile was updated on 8 November 2007.
  
  

Scope and Content

'As an educator he [Greenwood] may be said to have launched three generations of Australian graduates who have become the metallurgical mainstay of the Australian extractive industries and of the manufacturing industries derived from them, as well as providing the continuum of education and research in a score of professors and numerous other academic and research staff in Australia and overseas. As a researcher and director of research he made fundamental contributions to the knowledge of creep and related phenomena in metals. As a consultant he directed personally the investigations into major problems in metallurgical equipment and in engineering structures including the famous King's Bridge failure; also he led a team of his graduates and his engineering staff in the development of manufacture of tungsten rod and wire for radio valves during World War II.'

'Teaching in mining and in extractive metallurgy had been introduced at Melbourne University as early as 1874, mining being given as a component in civil engineering and metallurgy as a sub-branch of the Chemistry Department. Sydney and Adelaide Universities also offered courses in mining and extractive metallurgy. Schools of Mines in several States had provided diploma and certificate courses even earlier. Physical metallurgy was substantially unknown, and a major consideration in the establishment of the first Chair of Metallurgy in 1924 was the introduction of that branch.'

From the Proceedings of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, No. 280, December, 1981., p.4