H.W.B. Talbot was born in Ireland in 1874. Eight years later his family emigrated to New Zealand and in 1894 he and his father joined the gold rush to Western Australia.

In 1899 he joined the Geological Survey of WA and learned field geology from Andrew Gibb Maitland, the Government Geologist. During the next 21 years he mapped the topographical geology of vast tracts of the inland, including a strip of country from Wiluna to Sturt Creek up to 75 miles wide each side of the Canning Stock Route, using Canning's camps as bases.

He and his assistant then trekked overland from Halls Creek to Tanami across the border in South Australia to report on the recently discovered goldfield there.

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