Keith Quartermaine
QUARTERMAINE, Maitland Keith BE(Hons) MIEAust, AMAustIMM, Hon Fellow WASM OAM (1917-1995)
M K (Keith) Quartermaine was born in Subiaco on January 9, 1917, the son of mine accountant Maitland John Quartermaine and his wife Lillian Emma Quartermaine (nee Upham). In 1926 his father was appointed the Accountant of Wiluna Mines. Keith went to school at Meekatharra and Wiluna State Schools but in 1929 was sent to Perth Boys School. In 1930 he was selected to go to Perth Modern School, boarding with his Aunt in Subiaco. Later his family purchased a house in Nedlands where he lived with his mother and sister.
In 1935 Quartermaine commenced and Engineering degree at the University of Western Australia, and in 1939 followed with study at the Kalgoorlie School of Mines. He completed his five year course in Engineering at the University of Western Australia in 1940.
Between 1941 and 1946 Quartermaine spent four years as a production engineer in a munitions factory and then was employed as a surveyor at Hannan’s North Mine. In 1947 he was appointed Lecturer in Charge of Mining and Surveying at the Kalgoorlie School of Mines.
Quartermaine was involved with the Kalgoorlie Group of the Institution of Engineers Australia and was elected to the role of Secretary/Treasurer in 1948. In 1951 he married Rita Myra Halford at Kalgoorlie and they had a son and a daughter.
With other staff from the Kalgoorlie School of Mines, Quartermaine was involved in an expedition to explore 15 caves on the Nullarbor Plain in 1953, having previously been part of an interstate group that explored Nullarbor Caves in 1951. Ultimately, he was involved with a systematic mapping of caves and karst features on the Nullarbor Plain leading to 1,500 now being mapped.
He led his friends on expeditions into the Heron, Avoca and Balladonia exploration country. Between 1951 and 1976, Quartermaine wrote 26 journals and took over 10,000 photographs on his exploration of the Nullarbor and Goldfields exploring, recording and researching the history, flora, fauna, caves, meteorites, tektites and geological features of the region.
In 1962 he was remarried to Mavis Irene Cundill after the death of his first wife, Rita, in 1959. In 1977, Keith retired from the WA School of Mines as the Head of the Department of Mining and Engineering.
Quartermaine was also President of the Eastern Goldfields Historical Society. His published books include Technological Survey of the Golden Mile (1981) and Review of the Technological Developments in Kalgoorlie and their application to Industrial Archaeology (1980).
In 1988 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the WA School of Mines. In 1995 he was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for his services to the mining industry and historical research. Quartermaine Street in Kalgoorlie is named after him. He died on December 10, 1995.
References:
P R Heydon, Wiluna Edge of the Desert, Hesperian Press, 1996
Kalgoorlie Miner, 17.2.1947, p1
Sunday Times, 26.10.1952, p25
Australian Caver no 149, November 1999
Heron Resources Limited, Annual Report 2001
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