A brief history of national soil classification in Australia since the 1920s

Abstract

Modern soil science concepts and ideas relating to classification were introduced into Australia in the late 1920's by J. A. Prescott who, in 1931 and 1944, also produced the first maps of Australia showing the broad soil zones. This was followed up in the fifties by C. G. Stephens who formalised the Great Soil Group concept in his Manual of Australian Soils (1953) and in 1961 produced a map and publication titled The Soil Landscapes of Australia. Around this time however, other ideas were being put forward, notably by E. G. Hallsworth and colleagues, and especially by G. W. Leeper, whose original ideas on classification were to provide the foundation for the Factual Key of K. H. Northcote (1960a), which was used as the basis of the Atlas of Australian Soils project (1960-68). The Great Soil Group concept of Stephens was amplified in 1968 in A Handbook of Australian Soils (Stace et al. 1968) which was produced for the Adelaide International Society of Soil Science Congress. This review also considers the role of numerical methods and of Soil Taxonomy in Australia and concludes that while neither are likely to provide the most suitable scheme for Australia, the use of the latter to identify our soils must be encouraged so that the rest of the world is able to relate to our published soil research. Currently, the Factual Key and Handbook classifications are both used in Australia. Both are obsolescent as they date from the early sixties and the vast amount of soils knowledge accumulated since then, particularly in tropical Australia, has not been incorporated into either system. Their deficiencies have led over the past seven years to the development of a new Australian Classification System (a five-level hierarchial general purpose scheme with mutually exclusive classes identified by keys). This scheme is now being tested throughout Australia.