Geologist

Aimee Brown

They’re often easy to mix up but when Huw Smith enrolled in geology at university because it sounded like geography, little did he know what a great career choice he had stumbled into.

“I asked one of the people in the geology department what it was about,” Smith says. “He ended up becoming my honours supervisor.”

After completing a bachelor of science majoring in geology at the University of Adelaide, Smith won a spot as a geologist on the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority’s (RTA) graduate program.

As part of the program, Smith did a series of six-month placements around NSW, working in Grafton, Parkes and the Hunter Valley. He is now based in Parramatta and works on roads across Sydney.

His duties as an engineering geologist are varied, combining field work, laboratory-based work and office duties. “At present it’s 95 per cent on-site, but some weeks I won’t even go out into the field,” he says. “Sometimes I do night shifts, if it’s a sensitive road and we need to do our work when the traffic volumes are smallest.”

Smith’s field work consists of many components. “If I’m in the field, I’m looking at retaining walls, embankment flows, geological mapping for road projects, construction inspections. I also work on pavement investigation and design for new and rehabilitated roads.”

Smith tests the soil content of areas where new roads are planned, or where road repairs need to be done. It is a hands-on process that he follows from start to finish.

“You get a backhoe, and you excavate a trench. You’re trying to find out the thickness and different levels of soil. You take samples to the lab for testing. They go through a material lab first, then a chemical lab,” Smith says.

“For the material testing, I use a sieve to work out how much clay, pebbles, rocks there are in the soil. “We’re trying to find out whether it is suitable to be built on. If an area has a lot of clay, it can damage the roads because they can shift.

“Our job is to try and find out information on the cut of a slope, whether there are weaknesses in it or trying to capture what’s there, what defects there are so you can later on interpret that section of rock.”

While he loves being out in the thick of things, he does admit that this means he is often at the mercy of mother nature. “When it gets really windy, or when there’s heat and flies it can be a bit annoying,” he says. “You’re battling the elements so it can get a bit difficult at times when you’ve got work to do.”

How to be a geologist
You have to study science or applied science at university with a major in geology or applied geology. Details: contact the Geological Society of Australia,
02 9290 2194 or gsa.org.au