Sir Laurence Charles «Brodie» Brodie-Hall AO CMG
Laurence was born Friday, 10 June 1910 in London, Middlesex, United Kingdom. He left his parents at the age of 14 to emigrate to Australia in 1924. He started work as a farm hand in New South Wales and moved to Western Australia in 1927. He teamed up with a colleague to start a garage business but the business failed in the Great Depression. Brodie then worked in underground mining in Murchison, Cue and Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. While in Kalgoorlie, he studied mining part-time at the Western Australian School of Mines. Brodie was enjoyed being involved in amateur theatre where he played the violin and sang. In 1939 he worked at the Emperor Mine in Fiji.

Brodie returned to Western Ausrtralia shortly after the outbreak of World War 2. He worked as a mining plant superintendent in Coolgardie, but he enlisted as a sapper in the Royal Australian Engineers when Japan entered the war in 1941, and rose to the rank of captain. Brodie returned to Kalgoorlie after demobilisation.

Brodie completed his degrees in mining and metallurgy at the Western Australian School of Mines. Brodie was offered a job as junior mine geologist at Western Mining Coroporation in 1948 by Sir Lindesay Clark. He started at Norseman but was soon transferred to Melbourne as technical assistant to Sir Lindesay. In 1951, he was appointed General Superintendent of Great Western Consolidated. By 1958 Brodie had risen promoted to General Superintendent in Western Australia for Western Mining Corporation, and became an executive director in 1962. The Geraldton Iron Ore Joint Venture which led to the first shipment of iron ore from Australia to Japan under long-term contract occurred during his watch, as well as the discovery of nickel sulfides at Kambalda in January 1966.

When living in Perth he involved himself in industry and community affairs, incliding as President of the Western Australian Chamber of Mines, member of the Australian Mining Industry Council, President of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, advisor to government and advisory bodies including the Western Austrralian Environmental Protection Council, the CSIRO Council and Chairman of the State Committee of CSIRO and was chairman of the Western Australian School of Mines Management Committee, Councillor of the Western Australian Institute of Technology, which became Curtin University from which he received an Honorary Doctorate of Technology and was appointed a Fellow of Curtin University in recognition of his service to tertiary education in Western Australia.

Brodie was awarded the Western Australian Citizen of the Year Award in 1974, was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1976, created a Knight Bachelor in 1982, and was made a Freeman of the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder in 1989. He was appointed as a director of the airline company, Ansett Australia. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1993.

Brodie retired from his executive directorship role of Western Mining Corporation in 1975, but retained his position on boards of Western Mining Corporation and Alcoa Australia into the early 1980’s. He was chairman of Kalgoorlie Lake View Pty Ltd, Kalgoorlie Mining Associates, Central Norseman Gold Corporation NL, and Three Springs Talc until 1982 and Gold Mines of Kalgoorlie Ltd until 1985. He was chairman of Westerntech Innovations Corp and Energy Research Group, and a director of Coolgardie Gold NL and a number of non-listed enterprises. His name is commemorated in the L C Brodie-Hall Administration Centre at Agricola College, Kalgoorlie, the Brodie-Hall Research and Consultancy Centre at Curtin University and Brodie-Hall Drive at Technology Park. In 1994 he published his memoirs. He died in Sunday, 1 October 2006 - Meekatharra, Western Australia, Australia/p>

Brodie-Hall married Dorothy Dickson Jolly (born 1918, died 1978). Dorothy supported Brodie-Hall and their young family while he was studying geology at the Kalgoorlie School of mines. They had 5 children. After her death he married prominent landscape architect, Jean Estelle Verschuer, nee Slatyer, a widow to become step-father to her three children. A brief biography is listed in Wikipedia.