We sadly announce the passing of Dr Jack Hallberg, one of the ‘greats’ of Western Australian geology. Jack was a devoted husband, father and in recent times, grandfather, and was very well-known as a buyer and seller of a diverse range of collectibles – comics, baseball cards and most recently Pokemon cards.

But it is his contribution to geology of the Yilgarn Craton that places Jack in a category of his own. Jack arrived in Perth in 1967 as a young Stanford graduate with some field experience, and commenced a ‘nickel-boom’ PhD project on the basalts in the Eastern Goldfields region, in synch with Cory Williams, who studied the ultramafics. These studies advanced the understanding of the region and yielded not only a number of landmark joint papers but lifelong friendships. Mary Jo arrived from the US to marry Jack during these PhD years and has been his no.1 fan ever since. Mary Jo, along with Cory’s spouse Gwynn, were introduced to life with field geologists through spartan camping trips, always close to good rocks, and often with a broader gaggle of geologists, such as fellow post grad student, Max Bye.

One of Jack’s passions was rugby union and every winter Saturday, in the late 60’s and early 70’s, he and Mary Jo were fixtures at University of Western Australia rugby matches. Jack was a very capable prop and his affable personality transformed to being a ferocious competitor during the game. He and Mary Jo were a key part of an amazing group that remain in contact today. In legendary post-match celebrations, Jack was often asked about his accent and nationality. He explained that he was Canadian by marriage.