CSIRO article: Some detective work, Antarctic explorers and a very old jar of earth – 100-year celebration at the Australian National Soil Archive!

Excerpt of CSIRO’s article written by Gabrielle Corser, 26 March 2026

A simple soil sample unveils an interesting story

Maxwell Jacobs (1905–1979) was a prominent Australian forester who studied at the University of Adelaide, receiving the Lowry scholarship to research forest soils.

With this scholarship he went on to become one of the first post graduate students at the Waite Agricultural Research Institute in the University of Adelaide, coincidentally the main location today for CSIRO’s soil research in South Australia.

Dr Jacob’s scientific contributions are well documented – he described several Eucalyptus species and went on to author The Growth Habits of Eucalypts in 1955, a globally recognised text. He also has a street in Canberra named after him.

Georgia Reed, manager of CSIRO’s soil archive, said, luckily for the archive and for soil research, he was also a good note taker.

“When I read through Dr Jacob’s notes that accompanied the 1926 soil samples, I came across a fascinating reference to the Antarctic explorer Sir Douglas Mawson.

“We believe that the land from where the samples were collected was owned by Mawson, as there are references to him in the notes and we discovered he had ties to the area through a 1923 Trove article on the Kuitpo Forest fire.”

The archivist said it made sense as he was also a professor at the University of Adelaide.