b'PeopleNewswhilst conducting a First Order Regionalin the early 1990s, Mike served on thefrom all walks of life. From indigenous Magnetic Survey, he criss-crossed theASEG ACT Committee in the position asleaders and pastoralists to scientists from Australian continent in the familiarTreasurer. In 1996 he went on his firstaround the world, he enjoyed meeting yellow BMR Land Rovers of the day. HeAGSO marine survey with the RV Rigand talking to people no matter who returned to Mawson Base in Antarctica inSeismic. This survey, for the Law of thethey were. Of particular note was his time 1979, which was one of the highlights ofSea project, was conducted around Newworking with North Korean scientists his career. Caledonia and New Zealand. Despiteaboard the Rig Seismic where, despite being very prone to seasickness Mikelanguage, cultural and political barriers, In 1980 he joined the Land Seismicloved going to sea. In 1998 he visited thehe spoke highly of GA staff setting the section at the BMR. Between 1980 andseas to the east and west of North Korea.standard for diplomacy and friendship.1982 Mike was geophysicist and thenIn 2002 he returned to Antarctica on a Party Leader on a series of surveys inmarine survey traversing the SouthernMike very much saw GA not only as an SE Queensland. These surveys formedOcean from Hobart to Durban. He wentorganisation that could produce great the basis for the first major deep crustalon a number of smaller marine surveysscience, but one that could do good for seismic profile, the EromangaBrisbaneafter that, his last being the multichannelother people. He was always invested Transect, undertaken in Australia withsub-bottom profiling component of thein the next generation, and taught so coincident seismic refraction and deepPetrel Sub-Basin Survey in 2012. much to all those in his team and beyond. sounding MT stations. When completedHe was more focused on the job to be this survey was around 1000 km inDuring his last few years at GA Mikedone and the needs of his colleagues length. Deep crustal land seismiccompiled accurate meta data, includingrather than his own self advancement. surveying continued with the 1985navigation data, for all of the marineMike was an inexhaustible source of Central Australian transect survey andsurveys in GAs possession. He alsogeophysical knowledge and could discuss then, in 1988, the Canning Basin regionalconverted the survey data to the WGS84meaningfully many other areas of science. survey, which consisted of two transectsdatum, which meant the data couldHe was a wizard of the most obscure across the entire basin and was the firstbe easily interrogated and visualisedtechniques for the extraction of data from to image the basement under the Fitzroyusing kml files in Google Earth. Thisthe most recalcitrant data sources. He was Trough. Mike was the Party Leader formade pin-pointing a marine surveysknowledgeable, warm and empathetic, this survey and, as the field season waslocation extremely easy, and the systemand will be sorely missed by all those who longer than six months, Mike was ableMike developed is still being used inknew and worked with him at GA.to have his young family with him forsubmissions to the National OffshoreMike retired from GA after 38 years of part of the time - no doubt a specialPetroleum Information Managementservice in 2014.experience for his children. System (NOPIMS). Mike also extended this system for use by marine biologists. Compiled by Tim Barton (on behalf of the In 1990 Mike joined the Petroleum andACT ASEG Branch)Marine Division, working in marineMike was passionate about geophysics, seismic acquisition and processing. Also,and his career introduced him to peopletimb@grapevine.com.auMike Sexton servicing the HP1000 seismic processing computer with compressed air in camp during the 1988 BMR Canning Basin seismic survey. The computer had stopped working so Mike felt there was nothing to lose by stripping it down, removing all the cards and cleaning all the dust out before we sent it off to be repaired. However, when we re-assembled it and turned it on it didnt miss a beat for the rest of the survey!DECEMBER 2020 PREVIEW 12'