Detailed knowledge of the Carnarvon Basin, Playford's life work, eventually led to the discovery of the Barrow Island oilfield, which in turn was a trigger for the spread for the exploration of the offshore, now the most active area in Australia.
[8] The Devonian Reef complexes form a spectacular belt of rugged limestone ranges that extends for 350 kilometres (220 mi) along the northern edge of Western Australia's Canning Basin.
[10] At Tamala Station in 1954, elderly stockman Tom Pepper told Playford how he had found the remains of an old sailing ship and showed him coins and other objects he had picked up at the wreck site.
Playford set off alone one weekend in a vehicle to bush bash and locate the site 64 kilometres (40 mi) from his geological camp based on verbal direction from Tom Pepper.
He also wrote 'Voyage of Discovery to Terra Australia by Willem de Vlamingh in 1696–97' (published by the Western Australian Museum in 1998 and reprinted in 1999)[12] and 'The Life and Times of Dirk Hartog' with co-authors Robert Cribb, Greetje Bouma and Cor Boer.
[13] While working on the Devonian limestones, Playford spent a lot of time talking to Aboriginal Elders and was able to determine the mythological significance of the paintings, and to map the tribal territories, publishing the results in 1960.
Playford also made tape recordings of song cycles recounting the journeys of the great culture heroes of the dreamtime, and collecting the Aboriginal names and associated mythology of hundreds of features through the limestone ranges.