Stanley Robert Mitchell (12 February 1881 – 22 March 1963) was an Australian commercial

metallurgist Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...

as well as an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

mineralogist Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...

and

ethnologist Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Scien ...

Early years

Mitchell was born in

St Kilda, Victoria St Kilda is an inner seaside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, southeast of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Port Phillip Local government areas of Victoria, local government area. St Kilda recorded a ...

, the oldest of eight siblings. His father, James Mitchell, was a commercial traveller and amateur mineralogist. He was educated at Armadale State School. From 1898 he was employed as a metallurgist and industrial chemist in a Footscray

smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron-making, iron, copper extraction, copper ...

works.

Career

Mitchell studied in the evenings at the

Working Men's College of Melbourne The Working Men's College was an Australian college of further education located in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1887 by a prominent Victorian parliamentarian and philanthropist, Francis Ormond. The college was the predecessor to the ...

; he gained a certificate in geology in 1911 and subsequently worked for the Department of Metallurgical Geology and Mineralogy. He established his own businesses, first as a gold assayer, then as S. R. Mitchell & Co., which was a refiner of precious metals from the 1920s, then Mitchell's Abrasives in 1930 to manufacture

sandpaper upright=1.35, Sheets of sandpaper with different grit sizes (40 (coarse), 80, 150, 240, 600 (fine)) Sandpaper, also known as coated abrasive or emery paper, is a type of material that consists of sheets of paper or cloth with an abrasive substa ...

. He also worked as a consultant to mining ventures and was a member of

Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) provides services to professionals engaged in all facets of the global minerals sector and is based in Carlton, Victoria, Australia. History The Institute had its genesis in 1893 with ...

and a foundation member of the

Royal Australian Chemical Institute The Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) is both the qualifying body in Australia for professional chemists and a learned society promoting the science and practice of chemistry in all its branches. The RACI hosts conferences, seminars and ...

. Mitchell was a strong supporter for regional field naturalist clubs, becoming a founder and patron of the Peninsula Field Naturalists' Club in 1952. He would go on to attend and present at club meetings and would regularly contribute to the club newsletter.

Private life

In 1906 Mitchell married Beatrice Anna Pay, a music teacher, with whom he was to have two sons and two daughters. He was widowed in 1922 and married Ila Victoria Davies in 1924, with whom he had a son and from whom he was divorced in 1946. In 1946 he married Bessie Alice Annie Terry, who survived him. His three sons all joined the family business. Mitchell accumulated major collections of rocks, minerals and Aboriginal artefacts and was heavily involved in the activities of field naturalists’ clubs. He wrote numerous articles and a book about his interests.

Honours and awards

* Honorary Mineralogist,

National Museum of Victoria National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ...

(1931–1963) * Founder (1934) and President (1940, 1942-43) of the

Anthropological Society of Victoria The Anthropological Society of Victoria was formed in 1934, in response to the efforts of gifted lecturer Frederic Wood Jones who attracted an enthusiastic non-academic audience to his public lectures in the 1930s. In 1976 it amalgamated with the ...

* President,

Field Naturalists Club of Victoria The Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (FNCV) is an Australian natural history and conservation organisation. The club is the oldest of its kind in Australia and is unique in having existed continuously since its foundation. Since its founding, ...

(1936–1937) * Trustee and Treasurer, National Museum of Victoria (1945–1954) * Honorary Ethnologist, National Museum of Victoria (1949–1963) *

Australian Natural History Medallion The Australian Natural History Medallion is awarded each year by the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (FNCV) to the person judged to have made the most meritorious contribution to the understanding of Australian natural history. The idea origin ...

(1955)

Publications

* Mitchell, S.R. (1949). ''Stone-age Craftsmen. Stone tools and camping places of the Australian Aborigines''. Tait: Melbourne.

References

1881 births 1963 deaths Businesspeople from Melbourne Scientists from Melbourne Australian metallurgists Australian mineralogists Australian ethnologists Australian people of Scottish descent {{ethnologist-stub