of time talking to elderly Aborigines and was able to determine the mythological significance of the paintings, and to map the tribal territories, publishing the results in 1960 (journal or the royal society of Western Australia) (and in more detail in 2007 – Kimberley society). This was the first detailed tribal distribution map to be produced for the West Kimberley's. In these papers he illustrated and discussed the remarkable cave art from the West Kimberley. The rock art on the West Kimberley had been very little studied and the sites he described had not been published previously. Playford also made tape recordings of song cycles recounting the journeys of the great culture heroes of the dreamtime, and collecting the Aboriginal names and associated mythology of hundreds of features through the limestone ranges. These tape recordings and collections have been lodged in the WA Museum and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies in Canberra. Many of the Aboriginal names have been recorded on the new series of geological maps that accompany Playford's publication on Devonian Reef complexes. In 1964 Playford joined an expedition run by the Native Welfare Department that succeeded in locating many Aborigines, living traditional lives in the Great Sandy and Gibson Deserts without having seen Europeans previously. Some elected to go to missions but others remained to return “some moons later” and then elected to move to missions within 12 months. Some of Playford's photographs from this expedition are held by the WA Museum. Honours and awards References 1931 births 2017 deaths Australian geologists Australian maritime historians Members of the Order of Australia Historians of the Dutch East India Company Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering