[4] Reginald Claude Sprigg was born 1 March 1919 on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula where his family were living in the small town of Stansbury.
Before he was five years old, the family relocated to the Adelaide suburb of Goodwood, which gave the young Reg access to the beach where he collected shells and fossils.
This boyhood hobby developed into a serious interest in geology, which brought him into contact with the geoscientists at the University of Adelaide to whom he took collected samples for identification.
[14] In addition to pursuing his studies in geology, Reg developed drawing skills which gained him credit in the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts merit lists for 1934[15] and 1935.
They prospected for uranium in the Northern Territory and nickel in the north west corner area of South Australia as well as working for Santos.
In 1968, Sprigg purchased the pastoral lease of Arkaroola, a property and important uranium exploration field of 610 square kilometres in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia, and converted it into a wildlife refuge and tourist attraction.
A governing board of Reg Sprigg, his wife Griselda and Dennis Walter, a mineralogist and old friend, oversaw the creation of Arkaroola Village out of existing buildings and the opening to tourists in October 1968.
[23] Sprigg acknowledged the potential harm of burning fossil fuels as early as 1969, warning in the Australian Fisheries journal about changes to the atmosphere's chemical composition.
[23] These views contrast sharply with APEA's later actions, as it worked with the Australian Institute of Petroleum to emphasise uncertainties in climate science.
The association was concerned with the transfer of scientific workers from wartime to peacetime projects once hostilities ceased, and encouraged debate on the social responsibility of science.
In 1943, she graduated as a BA (Adelaide), scoring first place in Political Science and worked in the History School during 1945 and 1946 reading essays and lecturing.
[30] During 1948, Reg, still with the South Australian Mines Department, was in Britain in association with uranium on behalf of the government; Griselda has said that she met Reg "on ...the island of Arran, .... Well there was I with three nursing sisters I'd held up with, and as I walked out of the restaurant that night, they stopped me and said, 'I bet you can't get a date with the Australian before midnight tonight, for tomorrow.