Alan Knox Denmead

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Alan Knox Denmead (1902–1994) was an Australian geologist who led Queensland's Geological Survey as Chief Government Geologist from 1956 to 1967.

He was born in Melbourne on 5 November 1902. His family moved to Brisbane in 1917. He attended Anglican Church Grammar School and studied at the University of Queensland, earning a B.Sc in 1926 and an M.Sc in 1928. His master's thesis looked at metamorphic rocks around Brisbane. He married fellow geologist Noela Harris in 1932.

Denmead joined the Queensland Geological Survey in 1927 and worked there for 40 years. He was District Geologist at Charters Towers in 1946, Assistant Chief Geologist in 1950, and Chief Geologist from 1956 until his retirement in 1967. He and his wife lived in Cracow in 1932 during the gold boom.

Denmead pushed for extensive geological mapping and coal resource evaluation. With support from the Commonwealth, he helped explore the Bowen Basin coal reserves, which fueled Queensland’s mining for decades. The period also saw growth in bauxite mining, alumina refining, and research into oil and gas.

He published more than 100 articles in the Queensland Government Mining Journal. In 1960, he and Dorothy Hill published The Geology of Queensland, a standard reference for years to come.

Denmead was active in the Geological Society of Australia, serving as Queensland division chair and as national president in 1962–1963. He was also a member of the Royal Society of Queensland and the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

He died on 30 August 1994, survived by his wife and daughters. The Queensland division of the Geological Society of Australia established the annual A.K. Denmead Lecture in his honour.