 But he came to the university when it was in great financial trouble, there was no laboratory worthy of the name, and the council could not promise any immediate improvement.In 1904 he accepted the chair of geology at Glasgow, and he was back in Great Britain in October of that year.Besides carrying out his professional work he had many other activities during his stay in Australia; during the summer of 1901–2 he had spent his vacation in Central Australia and made a journey around Lake Eyre.