20th century scientists
Harold William Wellman
Harold Wellman on Mount Domett, north-west Nelson, in 1939. Aged 30, Wellman had already travelled widely around New Zealand, and had gained experience as a surveyor, goldminer and geologist, Wellman family photograph album
Harold William Wellman
The highlight of the meeting was Harold Wellman. Word had got around about his ideas, and the meeting room was full. He displayed a large handmade geological map. After talking for a while, he suddenly proceeded to slide southern Westland 300 miles along the Alpine Fault to match up strata near Nelson. It was a dramatic moment I have never forgotten.
Ross Taylor, a young geologist (later to become a distinguished geochemist, involved in the lunar science programme), who was present when Wellman presented his ideas on the Alpine Fault at the Pacific Science Congress in February 1949
Harold Wellman emigrated to New Zealand in 1927. He trained as a surveyor, but was unable to find work in the depths of the Depression. This led him to try his hand as a goldminer on the West Coast, awakening an interest in geology. Because he initially had no formal academic training, Wellman started with few preconceived ideas, and based his thinking on his own observations. Although he read widely, in later years he scorned book learning, which he termed, ‘filling your head with other people’s ideas’.
Wellman was appointed assistant geophysicist at the New Zealand Geological Survey in 1938, and studied part-time at university for several years. During the Second World War, he was involved in a variety of investigations for strategic minerals. On a trip to South Westland with Dick Willett in 1941, he noted that a major fault formed the western edge of the Southern Alps. They traced this fault across the South Island, and named it the Alpine Fault. It is now recognised as one of the largest faults in the world.
In the 1940s, geologists believed that the movement of faults was mainly vertical, with little or no sideways movement. In 1948-49, Wellman startled his contemporaries by proposing that matching rocks on the opposite sides of the Alpine Fault in Nelson and Otago had once been joined, and later separated by sideways (transcurrent) movement of 300 miles (480 kilometres). Wellman recalled that the idea came to him on a wet Sunday afternoon, when he picked up a pair of scissors and cut the newly published geological map of the South Island along the Alpine Fault to see if the opposite sides matched.
Wellman had wide scientific interests, making important contributions to different areas of New Zealand earth science. Over the years he published important scientific papers on subjects as diverse as active faults, New Zealand coals, archaeology, the Antarctic dry valleys and palaeontology.
Wellman moved to Victoria University of Wellington in 1957, where he was subsequently appointed professor and had a huge influence on a generation of young earth scientists. The concept of plate tectonics, developed overseas in the late 1960s, provided a unified explanation for many key features of New Zealand geology. With the enthusiasm of a new convert, Wellman began a crusade to change the minds of the unbelievers. In his lifetime there were many arguments about the Alpine Fault and plate tectonics, but most of what was debated 30 to 40 years ago is now accepted.
By Simon Nathan
Medals and awards
FRSNZ 1954, Hector Medal 1957
Further reading
Harold Wellman biography – Dictionary of New Zealand Biography website
11 articles written or co-authored by Wellman, published in the Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, are available online:
An article by Wellman,'Tilted Marine Beach Ridges at Cape Turakirae, N.Z.', published in Tuatara in October 1969, is available online:
Simon Nathan, Harold Wellman: a man who moved New Zealand, Victoria University Press, 2005
Image from the Wellman family photograph album.
