Maureen Muggeridge

Who was Maureen Muggeridge?

Maureen Muggeridge was a niece of Malcolm Muggeridge but made her name in a very different field. After graduating in Geology from the University of St Andrews, she made her own way to Perth, Western Australia, with support from her family. Within a week she got a job with a mining company called Tanganyika Holdings and was flying over the Outback searching for diamonds. Tanganyika Holdings was involved in a joint venture with other companies.

In 1976 minerals were found which suggested the presence of diamonds. A joint venture was set up with CRA Exploration which they called the Ashton Joint Venture. This was masterminded by Rees Towie, managing director of Northern Mining. In 1979, Maureen married Towie's son John, she became pregnant and she discovered diamond samples in the flood plains surrounding Smoke Creek, a small stream in East Kimberley that drained into Lake Argyle. At the time word had got out that there might be diamonds and rival exploration teams were in the area.