Original occupation text
Junner received his geological training at Melbourne University, and was exercising a scholarship in London when the first war broke out. He immediately joined up as a private in an English regiment, in which he rose to the rank of major. At the conclusion of the war he was appointed to a position on the staff of the Gold Coast Geological Survey under the late. Sir Albert Kitson (also an Australian).
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'Finding of a large diamond', Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Thursday 17 May 1945, page 7
Sir With reference to your paragraph (15/5/45) about the discovery of the 770-carat diamond in Sierra Leone, it may interest you to know that the diamond-bearing gravels of Sierra Leone were discovered some 14 years ago by Major Norman Ross Junner, DSc, &c, late of Melbourne.Sierra Leone was until that time regarded as a colony practically devoid of commercial minerals. To determine this matter Junner was seconded from the Gold Coast Geological Survey for a 12 months reconnaissance of the mountains at the back of Freetown, and the area eastward to the headwaters of the Niger River. During this period he not only discovered the gold and diamond bearing gravels (now out rivalling Kimberley), but also the enormous deposits of high-grade iron ores (now being extensively mined by a North British company) and the various platinoid minerals of the mountain area. Junner received his
geological training at Melbourne University, and was exercising a scholarship in London when the first war broke out. He immediately joined up as a private in an English regiment, in which he rose to the rank of major. At the conclusion of the war he was appointed to a position on the staff of the Gold Coast Geological Survey under the late. Sir Albert Kitson (also an Australian) O. A. L. WHITELAW (Aspendale).