and certainly of primary importance, the favorable political and economic climate which prevails in Australia. For its own use Australia has had very few deficiencies in its mineral economy, but petroleum was the important exception. Having no oil of its own, Australia was forced to import crude oil and refined products, and this represented a serious drain on Australia's foreign exchange. There fore petroleum represented a prime exploration target and the government stimulated the search for it by granting permits to prospect for areas up to 10,000 square miles, subsidizing exploration costs by paying 30% of the cost of geophysical surveys and test drilling on approved projects, and favorable tax concessions. The search for oil has been a really frustrating and expensive venture, costing untold millions to finance dry holes from the earliest drilling in 1892 until the first major oil discovery in 1961 made by Union Oil and Kerri County Land in Central Queensland. This led to the commercial development of Australia's first oil field at Moonie, which is presently producing somewhat at a rate in excess of 7, 000 barrels daily. One major company known to me has spent $78 million searching for oil in Australia and only now has participated in a discovery that looks promising. Commercial quantities of oil and gas have now been discovered offshore, and more recently what appears to be the largest commercial find of oil was reported on Barrow Island off the coast of West Australia. A number of overseas companies are now actively engaged in oil exploration in Australia and undoubtedly significant discoveries will be made. While the intensive search for oil was prompted by internal needs, -6-