Satisfactory Ike

These are the memoirs of Ian Campbell. An adventurous and humourous account of a man from rural Western Australia and his working career in the international oil business, from exploration in the harsh wildernesses of the Australian outback, Saharan Africa, jungles of Sumatra and Philippines, to the high-stakes corporate shenanigans in the heart of London.

Often cantankerous and very ‘Australian’, Ian walks the reader through his life, from his earliest memories in 1932 up until his early retirement in 1989. He recounts his childhood with his many brothers and sisters in the West Australian wheatbelt, growing up in the hard times of the 1930’s depression, school life in rural Australia and University in the ‘big smoke’ of Perth, Australia.

Graduating with a degree in Geology, Ian narrates how he sets off on an intriguing international career in the oil industry, exploring, living, working, and bringing up a family in many far flung and remote places around the world.