Radiocarbon Dating at the Museum of Applied Science Victoria 1952–70: a Pioneer Venture

Abstract

The Museum of Applied Science in Melbourne committed in the earlier 1950s to the development of a radiocarbon dating laboratory that would provide dates for carbonaceous material obtained by archaeologists and anthropologists. Progress through the 1950s was very slow due to under-resourcing and -staffing, but Victorian researchers obtained results by sending material to New Zealand and the USA for dating. The laboratory was officially opened in 1961 but few dates emerged. While the process for obtaining carbon dioxide from carbonaceous material, operated by chemist Anne Bermingham, was satisfactory, the apparatus for counting the carbon-14 decompositions, built by her and a series of electronics technicians was never satisfactory. The radiocarbon laboratorywas closed at the end of 1970, bywhich time several other dating services had opened in Australia.