1964 Australian-American Meteorite Expedition Documents Donald Campbell's Land Speed Record Attempt

In 1964, photographer Robert 'Oliver' Chalmers captured images of Donald Campbell's successful land speed record attempt at Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre in South Australia while participating in a meteorite-hunting expedition with American scientists. The expedition, which included Dr. Brian Mason from the American Museum of Natural History and Dr. Ed Henderson from the Smithsonian Institution, searched for meteorites across central Australia but primarily found australites. Campbell achieved a new world record of approximately 403.1 mph on the dry salt lake after previous attempts in 1963 were disrupted by weather. These photographs were recently uncovered through the Photographic Archives Digitisation Project, highlighting historical documentation of both scientific exploration and a significant engineering achievement in remote Australia.