The 1996 Conference of the Geological Society of Australia was held in the national capital, Canberra, and two presentations were concerned with geotourism - perhaps the earliest mention of the term amongst the Australian geological community.

J. N. Casey & A. E. Stephenson spoke from their practical experience and provided "tips and practical experience" on putting geology into tourism. They argued for the use of simple explanations of geology, avoiding the use of jargon, and they suggested including links to indigenous (aboriginal) legends, and also making use of the public's interest in orchards and wineries. (Abstracts - Geological Society of Australia, vol.41, pp.79, 1996)

W. Mayer's paper discussed geology and tourism, and suggested Australia was well suited to nature tours, for example in areas such as Kakadu and the Great Barrier Reef. Mayer also referred to geotours in the Hamersley and Pilbara regions of far northern Western Australia, and argued that geotourism needed "small, compact, but well-illustrated guidebooks", and he suggested that the Geological Society of Australia might help produce these. (Abstracts - Geological Society of Australia, vol.41, pp.278, 1996)

Twelve years later geotourism in Australia is beginning to grow rapidly. The work of the Geological Society of Australia Inc. in publishing guidebooks for geotourists, and other recent developments, including the inaugural Global Geotourism conference held in Fremantle, Western Australia, between the 17^th and 20^th August, 2008, are reviewed here.