John started at the University of Melbourne in 1969 as professor of geology, then chairman, in the School of Earth Sciences. He began to further contribute to university management and higher education by becoming the dean of science at Melbourne in 1983 and deputy vice-chancellor research (1985).

Of course, the landing on the moon on July 20, 1969, was something that everyone wanted to see and John’s subsequent studies on the moon rocks continued to attract public attention. It reached its height, perhaps, when the Murchison meteorite landed on the same day (September 28, 1969) that John returned from the US with his first batch of moon rocks. Murchison is a rare carbonaceous chondrite, and it has become the most studied of all meteorites due to its contents of organic compounds and of mineral grains that are older than the solar system.

While convenor of the Melbourne University program on Antarctic studies John participated in Australian National Antarctic Research expeditions in 1978 and 1987. His papers are lodged with the Antarctic Studies Archive at the university library. He also involved himself with International House, and for many years Women’s College/University College, where he was elected governor in 1980, until his recent ill health prevented him from participation in their affairs. He is remembered at the University of Melbourne as a dynamic and highly regarded scientist, with a high public profile due to his work on the chemical analysis of meteorites and moon rocks.

John was appointed vice-chancellor at Flinders University in Adelaide in 1987, serving until 1995. Flinders, established in 1966, was one of the many new universities established at that time, partly in response to the increasing number of university students due to the baby boomers entering the system. From 1990, as the fourth vice-chancellor, John oversaw an extensive program to build three new buildings for law and commerce, information science and technology, and engineering.

Throughout John’s career he showed great aptitude for committee work, as a chair or president and as a significantly proactive committee member attuned to the goals of the organisation. Not only did this mean he was prominent in many university committees, he was also outside the higher-education sector.

Naturally, John attracted many honours for services to geological science and tertiary education, including the award of an AO, fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and the French decoration of Chevalier des Palmes Academiques, among other awards.

He was honoured in 1978 with the naming of a new mineral, loveringite, for his role in developing the fission track dating method to determine the age of rocks. John had established a specialised fission track laboratory in the geology department soon after he arrived in Melbourne. This produced many graduates who further developed the technique for other geological applications. It also spawned a successful company, Geotrack International, which continues today.

John made a positive contribution to Australia in many ways, especially to geological knowledge and its applications, environmental concerns, especially waterways such as the Murray Darling Basin, and groundwater issues, tertiary education and Antarctic science. He set up various consultancies relating to his geological expertise and served as a company director on eight corporate boards.

He held eight commonwealth government appointments, including chairman roles with Murray Darling Basin Commission, Antarctic Science and International Geological Correlation. If only he were around now to deal with the major problems faced by the Murray Darling Basin.

John Lovering held 25 national special appointments, seven of those as chair, most of them related to geology or its applications, and to tertiary education. His seven international appointments were for his geological expertise. He made considerable contributions to Victorian and South Australian governments in a variety of roles. His valuable collection of meteorites was donated to Museums Victoria, where they will be available for future studies.

He also deserved recognition for the contributions he made to the Royal Society of Victoria over many years. He served as a council member in 1970-984, vice-president 1975-977, and president 1977-1979. John returned to the RSV Council in 2000-2004 to assist with its extensive review of RSV governance, to put the society on a sounder financial base for the future and to continue its promotion of science and scientific discoveries to the Victorian community.

John met Kerry FitzGerald at the University of Sydney, where they were both students in geology, and they married in 1954 in California. It was to be a long and successful marriage. Kerry worked initially in geology, then after their return to Australia in 1956 she became an activist in the women’s movement with Women’s Electoral Lobby and as a worker’s compensation review officer. They have three children, Erin, Matthew and Adam.

For those who have affection for John and would like to know more about him, a link to an interview by Robyn Williams on Radio National in 2011, produced by David Fisher, can be found here. It is a masterly interview, in which Williams asks the right questions and captures John’s spirit and liveliness and great enthusiasm for his life’s studies in geology. The authors thank the ABC for the opportunity to use this link.

Authors Lynne Selwood AO and William Birch AM were long-time colleagues and friends of John Lovering.