Abstract
This paper briefly outlines the use of naturally occurring non standard materials in road base construction in australia. After a short survey of the history of usage and the parallel development of current rigorous standards for basecourse materials, a selection of examples of the successful use of materials not meeting those standards is given. Such materials include decomposed rocks, soft rocks, fine grained materials, loams and sands. Some comments are made on construction and maintenance practices appropriate to such usage. No attempt is made to document western australian experience as this is the subject of a further paper in this symposium. (Author/publisher) For the covering record of the symposium, see IRRD No 808826.