Singleton’s Geoff Sharrock AM was made a Member of the Order of Australia for his service to the mining industry and his community.

Geoff said there hasn’t been just one highlight in his career, and to receive the honour he said it was nice to think he had made a difference.

Geology wasn’t his first university course but when he discovered it at UNSW, he was inspired by lecturers who brought the subject to life.

“It was the 60s, it was an exciting time, there was oil discovered in the Bass Strait, discoveries of nickel and banded iron formation and the best iron ore in the world,” said Geoff.

“I thought to myself, I would like to discover something,” and thus launched his career in mining.

After working with ESSO and Caltex, he went back to UNSW to complete an economics degree and in 1981 Geoff found himself in the Hunter appointed general manager of Bayswater Colliery.

Appearing to be at the end of its life, Geoff’s leadership led to a new exploration licence and 10 years later the mine developed into what is now known at Mt Arthur Coal Mine.

Geoff was also instrumental in bringing the Wambo Coal Mine in line with its approval conditions. When Geoff stepped into the general manager’s position, Wambo had failed to meet many conditions of consent. Within a short period of time, Geoff managed to turn that situation completely around through better work practices and community consultation.

Geoff became a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy back in 1968 and has been a member since. He has held every executive position of the organisation and served as president in 2013/14. During this time, Geoff successfully built membership in the Hunter up from 114 to 400 members. The 11 Australian branches grew to 23 and the organisation now boasts 15,000 members including membership in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and China. His outstanding contribution to the Institute was recognised with Honorary Fellowship in 2017.

Early in his career, coal research was managed by the Federal Government but Geoff could see major benefits if this research was in the hands of industry.

Through the establishment of the Australian Coal Industry Research Program, this significant change happened and since 1991, the program has seen $447 million in research allocated to Australian universities and research organisations.

Geoff loves the Hunter Valley and has called the region home since 1981, having lived at historic Plashett at Jerrys Plains for eight years before moving to Broke where he continues to reside.

Living in the community soon saw him giving back to his community. Geoff was a Singleton Councillor for a term, has been a Rotarian, been a Rural Fire Service volunteer and is involved in local tourism associations.

Key to the Broke community was the establishment of the Broke-Fordwich Private Irrigation District of which he has been chair since 2015. The irrigation system serves the community across the Broke, Fordwich, Bulga and Milbrodale districts.

So as a young student, Geoff wanted to discover something, and he did. He discovered a very fulfilled and wonderful life he continues to enjoy.