A short account of the origins of PESA, by P Cooney.
The Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia (PESA) began as the Professional Division of the Australian Petroleum Exploration Association (APEA, renamed APPEA – Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association and most recently AEP – Australian Energy Producers) and was founded by Earl Abbott in 1968. Earl was the first Federal President (1968–69), and Dick Dumbrell was the inaugural president of the NSW Branch, the first branch formed. There was no constitution, indeed its formulation became Dick’s major task the following year (1969–70) when he took over from Earl Abbott as Federal President.
The South Australian and Victoria/Tasmania Branches were formed in 1969 and the Western Australia Branch a year later. The prior existence of the Queensland Petroleum Exploration Society (QUPEX) delayed the establishment of the Professional Division of APEA (to which it was opposed) for some years and ultimately PESA’s fore-runner was initially accepted as a subunit within QUPEX. The youngest branch, the ACT, was formed only in the 90’s, previously having been part of the NSW/ACT branch, which it has since re-joined.
As APEA’s headquarters were in Sydney, with Ken Horler as the organisation’s Executive Director, Dick used Ken and his staff to foster recruitment, and to compile membership records. The technical meetings were held randomly, as visiting experts and industry notables made themselves available. These meetings were organised, usually, at short notice and generally after office hours in an offshoot room at one of the Sydney group’s ‘watering holes’. By 1970, however, the typical lunch and talk format had become established.
With virtually zero financial resources in Branches across Australia, the major objective was to keep members interested and supportive. One important type of social event used to achieve this objective were Golf Days which NSW branch pioneered and which are still calendar events for SA and WA branches, raising significant donations for charities like the RFDS.
Ken Horler, with his most efficient secretary Brig Abels, did sterling work for APEA and PESA right up until 1977 when the baton passed to the newly formed APEA office in Sydney. During this time, they provided secretarial and administrative support, as well as doing much of the work toward preparation of the APEA Journal. In our early years there was considerable co-operation, even overlap, in the activities of APEA and its Professional Division.
In the years 1972 to 1975 relations between APEA, which was increasingly being seen as an industry lobby group, and the Whitlam Labor government became very strained and the position of Professional Division members who worked for Federal or State governments became very difficult. Accordingly, it was resolved to cut our formal ties with APEA and become the independent Petroleum Society of Australia (PESA). In 1983 PESA was formally incorporated to become the Petroleum Society of Australia Pty Ltd. The driving force behind incorporation was the legal opinion that all the society members as individuals might be liable should an accident occur, or somebody take exception to something said at our meetings, as well as the need to fully separate from APEA with its lobbyist role.
Regional symposia had already been held in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth but, among many other considerations, a concern in PESA that the APEA conference was becoming less technical and more political prompted the organisation of PESA’s own regular technical conferences, WABS (West Australian Basins Symposium) starting in Perth in 1994, EABS (East Australian Basins Symposium) starting in Melbourne in 2001 and finally CABS (Central Australian Basins Symposium) in Alice Springs in 2002. PESA has also cooperated with the Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists (ASEG) to stage joint ASEG–PESA conferences in all states.
In 2006 a very successful joint American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) International Conference and Exhibition and PESA (WABS) was held in Perth. A second such conference combining AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, SEG and PESA was held in Melbourne in 2015.
The establishment of the PESA Visiting Lecturer and PESA Australian Lecturer (also often referred to as the PESA Overseas and Australian Distinguished Lecturers) scheme was largely the work of Bevan Devine during his time on the PESA Federal Executive from 1979 to 1983. Bevan continued to convene the series of Distinguished Lecturers until 1985.
A scientific journal, the PESA Journal, was published on a semi-regular basis from 1982 up until No. 29 published in 2002. Bill Fairburn was the editor of the original issue before the editorial duties were contracted out on a part time basis to Hervey Bagot. The PESA Journal began specifically as “not just another technical journal. Its purpose [was] to act as a unifying agent and bring the PESA Member a feeling of belonging to an important community in Australian Society and in Australian industry.”
In 1992 the PESA Journal became a technical journal with the members’ newsletter function being hived off and expanded as PESA News. The late Dr David Gravestock (SA Department for Mines and Energy) was asked by the PESA Federal Committee to become Honorary Technical Editor for the Journal and served PESA in this capacity for 5 years with Bernie O’Neil providing production editing. During 1997–2002 it was published once a year and featured peer reviewed quality technical papers. The increasing difficulty in finding corporate support, editorial volunteers for peer reviews, and a sense that perhaps Australia already had enough good technical journals in the geosciences led to the discontinuance of the PESA Journal in 2002. Individual PESA members have since taken on technical program editor roles for the annual AEP/APPEA conference and are ensuring strong energy geoscience content in the program.
The magazine/newsletter PESA News was first published in print in 1992 and to some extent took over from the PESA Journal, including technical articles. Although it transitioned to a digital format in recent years, it was discontinued in 2024 due to lack of interest and rising costs.
While the original PESA Journal was very much a SA initiative, the “new” PESA News was largely the work of the WA Branch. PESA News was published from its start in Dec. 1992 until Feb/Mar 2014 by RESolutions Resource & Energy Services. Adrian Williams was the first editor of PESA News and continued as the editor for over twenty years. In 2013 a new publisher was contracted for PESA News. Professional Public Relations Pty. Ltd (PPR) started publishing PESA News with issue No. 129 Apr/May 2014. In April/May 2016 PESA contracted Sweetspot Media to publish the magazine with their first edition being No. 141, the last was published in 2024. The magazine was replaced by a monthly email newsletter in 2024 and the contract with Sweetspot ended in December 2024 with PESA Branch Committees taking on the role of generating articles and content for the monthly communication to members.
The PESA website (pesa.com.au) was set up in Brisbane in 1997/98. During the early years each branch appeared to have its own website – and there wasn’t any cohesion between them. PESA commissioned RESolutions Resource & Energy Services to take over the maintenance – design and content management – of a unified website in late 1998 as well as to build a national Membership Database and the Events Database. The website and database were finally operational in 2003. In August 2014, PPR were also awarded the contract for developing the new PESA website which came online in January 2015.
The importance of email and website communications with members was highlighted during the 2020/2021 Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic put a stop to monthly technical luncheon meetings and social networking events but a positive was that new technologies like Zoom, Teams and Webex enabled provision of webinars and remote meetings.
PESA now provides a program of national monthly webinars that all members can access for free.
PESA uses a number of Committees for efficiency purposes, each is chaired by a member of the board and consists of a number of members from across the country:
- Finance & Governance Committee (chaired by Fed Treasurer)
- Publications, which includes two sub committees: Communications (social media, email and website) and Editorial Committees (chaired by Fed Secretary)
- Education Committee, which also includes two sub committees: programs & scholarships, and conference (chaired by Past President)
- Membership Committee (chaired by Vice President)
Past PESA Federal Presidents
| YEAR | NAME | STATE BRANCH |
|---|---|---|
| 1967 to 1969 | E. O. (Earl) Abbott | NSW |
| 1969 to 1970 | D. (Dick) Dumbrell | NSW |
| 1970 to 1971 | P.L. (Peter) Wall | WA |
| 1971 to 1973 | R.J. Forster | |
| 1973 to 1974 | K.H. Roberts | |
| 1974 to 1975 | R.G.C. Jessop | |
| 1975 to 1977 | D. (Daryl) Johnstone | |
| 1977 to 1979 | J.J.K. (Jaap) Poll | Vic/Tas |
| 1979 to 1981 | P.N. (Peter) Jamieson | NSW |
| 1981 to 1983 | S.B. (Bevan) Devine | SA/NT |
| 1983 to 1985 | I.D. (Ian) Whiteley | WA |
| 1985 to 1987 | R.J. (Dick) Paten | QLD |
| 1987 to 1989 | Colin Glazebrook | Vic/Tas |
| 1989 to 1991 | A.J. (Andy) Rigg | NSW |
| 1991 to 1993 | Bob Laws | SA/NT |
| 1993 to 1995 | D. (Dave) Falvey | ACT |
| 1995 to 1997 | Jim Durrant | WA |
| 1997 to 1999 | Wal Muir | QLD |
| 1999 to 2001 | Ahmad Tabassi | V/T |
| 2001 to 2003 | John Carmody | NSW |
| 2003 to 2005 | Barry Goldstein | SA/NT |
| 2005 to 2007 | David Cliff | WA |
| 2007 to 2009 | Tom Loutit | ACT |
| 2009 to 2011 | Shalene McClure | QLD |
| 2011 to 2013 | Gordon Wakelin-King | Vic/Tas |
| 2013 to 2015 | Max Williamson | NSW |
| 2015 to 2017 | Steve Mackie | SA/NT |
| 2017 to 2019 | Toby Colson | WA |
| 2019 to 2021 | Nathan Parker | QLD |
| 2021 to 2023 | Bronwyn Camac | SA/NT |
| 2023 to 2025 | Helen Debenham | WA |
| 2025 to present | Janny Spilsbury-Schakel | QLD |