Douglas Maxwell Stone

Douglas Maxwell Stone (born 26 June 1948) is an Australian geologist, author, publisher, farmer and businessman. He was born in Kew, Victoria, and is the son of Lawrie Phillip Stone and Josephine Alexander Proctor. He is manager of Outdoor Press, and a farmer on the property known as Granite Springs, Kelvin View, Victoria. He is an author of numerous publications on geology, gold prospecting, and maps (in particular of Victoria).

Over a number of years Stone has written many books on Australian gold prospecting, gemstones, minerals and fossils. He spent 20 years with the Geological Survey of Victoria, initially as a field officer before becoming the editor of the Mining and Geological Journal. In 1976 he started his own publishing business - Outdoor Press. With the introduction of metal detectors onto the Australian Goldfields in 1977 a new "gold boom" was sparked and he has been chasing gold ever since - as a prospector, tour operator, consultant, researcher and author.