The shale oil extraction industry began operating in Australia during the nineteenth century. The majority of oil shale mining which has taken place in Australia has been confined to NSW, with a few exceptions occurring in Tasmania, Victoria and Queensland. (1) At the same time it became operational in Great Britain (mainly Scotland) Germany, France, Brazil and the USW. Other countries such as China, Estonia, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland did not begin to extract oil from shale until the twentieth century.