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Royal Society of South Australia

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The Royal Society of South Australia (RSSA) is a learned society whose interest is in science, particularly, but not only, of South Australia. The major aim of the society is the promotion and diffusion of scientific knowledge, particularly in relation to natural sciences. The society was originally the Adelaide Philosophical Society, founded on 10 January 1853. The title "Royal" was granted by Queen Victoria in October 1880 and the society changed its name to its present name at this time. It was incorporated in 1883. It also operates under the banner Science South Australia.

History

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The origins of the Royal Society are related to the South Australian Literary and Scientific Association, founded in August 1834, before the colonisation of South Australia, and whose book collection eventually formed the kernel of the State Library of South Australia.[1]

The Society had its origins in a meeting at the Stephens Place home of J. L. Young (founder of the Adelaide Educational Institution) on the evening of 10 January 1853. Members inducted to the new "Adelaide Philosophical Society" were Messrs. John Brown, John Howard Clark, Davy, Doswell, Charles Gregory Feinaigle, Gilbert, Gosse, Hamilton, D. Hammond, W. B. Hays, Jones, Kay, Mann, W. W. R. Whitridge, Williams, Wooldridge and John Lorenzo Young.[2] J. Howard Clark was elected secretary. On 15 September rules were adopted and His Excellency the Governor Sir Henry Young was elected president, with Benjamin Herschel Babbage and Matthew Moorhouse as vice-presidents.[3] T. D. Smeaton has also been credited with helping found the Society.[4] Its aim was "the diffusion and advancement of the Arts and Sciences", and one of its earliest subjects of discussion was the formation of a museum showing the natural history of the Colony.[1]

At the time of its first Annual General Meeting membership had risen to 35,[5] and in 1859 the Society was incorporated under the South Australian Institute Act. The establishment of the University of Adelaide in 1875 revitalised the Society, which had flagged for some years before.[1]

It received royal patronage, becoming the Royal Society of South Australia late in 1880,[6][1] following the nomenclature used in other Australian colonies, and perhaps hoping to emulate their success.[7]

The Field Naturalists Society of South Australia was formed as a section of the Society in 1883.[8] In 1943 Constance Eardley became the first woman to be elected to the Council of the Society.[9]

Membership

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There are five classes of members:[10]

  • Honorary Fellows
  • Sustaining Fellows
  • Fellows
  • Associate Fellows
  • Student Fellows

Awards and medals

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The society awards:[11]

Publications

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The RSSA has published the journal Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia since 1879, previously (from 1877–1878) Transactions and proceedings and report of the Philosophical Society of Adelaide.[12] From 2004, the journal partnered with the South Australian Museum in the Southern Scientific Press, amalgamating their two journals.[13] From 2005, the journal has been available in electronic form only, via Taylor & Francis Online.[12]

In June 2020 an annotated list of 95 Australian bird fossils was published in the Transactions, the first such list since 1975, contributing to the documented knowledge of bird extinctions. The list includes three species of huge flamingos from the Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre and Lake Frome areas of South Australia, which were estimated to inhabit the area for 25 million years before becoming extinct about 140,000 years ago, most likely from drought. There were also penguins measuring about 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) tall, which lived between about 60 million and 30 million years ago, dying out in the Oligocene.[14][15][16]

List of presidents

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Royal Society of South Australia Presidents:[17]

Term Name
1853–1854 Sir Henry Young
1855 Benjamin Babbage
1856–1861 Sir Richard MacDonnell
1862–1868 Sir Dominick Daly
1869–1872 James Ferguson
1877 Sir William Jervois
1878–1879 Ralph Tate
1880–1881 Sir Samuel Way
1882 Sir Charles Todd
1883 H. T. Whittell
1884 Sir Horace Lamb
1885 Henry Mais [18]
1886–1889 Edward Rennie
1889 Sir Edward Stirling
1890–1891 Thomas Blackburn [19]
1892–1894 Ralph Tate (2nd term)
1895–1896 Walter Howchin
1897–1899 William Lennox Cleland
1900–1903 Edward Rennie (2nd term)
1903–1921 Sir Joseph Verco
1921 Richard Sanders Rogers [20]
1922–1924 Robert Henry Pulleine [21]
1925 Sir Douglas Mawson
1926 Theodore Osborn
1927 Frederic Wood Jones
1927–1928 Sir John Cleland
1929–1930 Leonard Keith Ward
1931 Charles Fenner [22]
1932 Thomas Harvey Johnston [23]
1933 James Arthur Prescott
1934 John McConnell Black
1935 Thomas Draper Campbell [24]
1936 Cecil Madigan
1937 Herbert Mathew Hale [25]
1938 James Davidson [26][27]
1939 Henry Fry
1940 Ralph W. Segnit
1941 Sir John Cleland (2nd term)
1942 Joseph Garnett Wood
1943 William Ternent Cooke [28]
1944 Herbert Womersley [29]
1945 Sir Douglas Mawson (2nd term)
1946 Clarence Sherwood Piper [30]
1947 Hugh Christian Trumble [31]
1948 D. C. Swan
1949 Norman Tindale [32]
1950 A. W. Kleeman
1951 Bernard Charles Cotton
1952 H. G. Andrewartha [33]
1953 S. B. Dickinson
1954 J. K. Taylor
1955 R. V. Southcott
1956 C. G. Stephens
1957 I. M. Thomas
1958 L. W. Parkin
1959–1960 T. R. N. Lothian
1961 R. V. Southcott (2nd term)
1962 Nelly Hooper Ludbrook
1963 J. T. Hutton
1964 A. R. Alderman
1965 S.J. Edmonds
1966 Brian Daily
1967 Hugh Bryan Spencer Womersley
1968 K. R. Miles
1969 F. J. Mitchell
1970 C. B. Wells
1971 W. G. Inglis
1972 Helmut Wopfner
1973 K. E. Lee
1974 G. F. Gross
1975 J. W. Holmes
1976 C. R. Twidale
1977 B. P. Webb
1978 J. J. H. Szent-Ivany
1979 J. K. Ling
1980 S. A. Shepherd
1981 Warren Bonython
1982–1983 D. W. P. Corbett
1984 J. S. Womersley
1985–1986 Mike Tyler
1987 T. D. Scott
1988–1989 G. M. E. Mayo
1990–1992 N. A. Locket
1992–1994 W. D. Williams
1994–1996 M. Davies
1996–1998 T. C. R. White
1998–2000 M. A. J. Williams
2000–2002 N. F. Alley
2002–2004 O. W. Wiebkin
2004–2006 Rob W. Fitzpatrick [34]
2006–2008 Allan Pring [35]
2008–2010 John T. Jennings [36]
2010–2012 Nicholas J. Souter
2012–2014 Craig R. Williams
2014–2016 C. Michael Bull
2016–2019 J. Long
2019–Present Sabine Dittmann

Verco Medal recipients

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"The medal shall be awarded for distinguished scientific work published by a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Australia. It is the highest honour that the Society can bestow on one of its Fellows. Only those who have made a significant, outstanding contribution to their field(s) of study receive the award."[11]

The medal is named in honour of Joseph Verco. The first award of the medal was to Prof Walter Howchin in 1929.[37]

Previous winners include:

Year Name Source
1966 A. R. Alderman
2004 N. F. Alley [38]
1962 Herbert Andrewartha
1996 Mike Archer
2011 A. Austin
2001 R. V. Baudinette
1989 Ian Beveridge
1991 A.F. Bird
1930 John McConnell Black
2003 John Bowie [39]
2017 Corey Bradshaw [40]
1994 P.F. Brownell
2009 M. Bull
1933 John Burton Cleland
2013 Alan Cooper [41]
2015 D. Day
1992 Patrick De Deckker
1982 S. J. Edmonds
1960 Hedley Herbert Finlayson
1999 Rob Fitzpatrick
1970 Martin Glaessner [42]
1979 G. F. Gross
1946 Herbert M. Hale
1978 J. W. Holmes
1929 Walter Howchin
1976 J. T. Hutton
1986 W. G. Inglis
1987 R. K. Johns
1935 Thomas Harvey Johnston [43]
1990 R. T. Lange
1985 K. E. Lee
2018 Mike Lee [44]
2014 John A. Long [45]
1963 Nelly Hooper Ludbrook
1945 Cecil Madigan
1931 Douglas Mawson
2012 B. McGowran
1971 Charles P. Mountford
1983 K. H. Northcote
1972 L. W. Parkin
1995 P. A. Parsons
1957 Clarence Sherwood Piper [46]
1998 W. V. Preiss
1938 James Arthur Prescott
2002 J. R. Prescott
2005 A. Pring
1967 L. D. Pryor
1981 R. W. R. Rutland
2008 Scoresby Shepherd
2010 Mike Smith [47]
1965 R. V. Southcott
1961 R. L. Specht
1968 Reg Sprigg
1959 C.G. Stephens
1974 P. M. Thomas
1975 B. P. Thomson
1956 Norman Tindale
1977 Charles Rowland Twidale
1980 Michael J. Tyler
1955 Leonard Keith Ward
1993 G. F. Watson
2000 Tom White
2007 Martin Williams [48]
1988 William David (Bill) Williams [49]
1997 J. T. Wiskitch
1943 Herbert Womersley
1969 Hugh Bryan Spencer Womersley [50]
1944 Joseph Garnett Wood
1973 Helmut Wopfner [51]
1932 not awarded
1934 not awarded
1936–1937 not awarded
1939–1942 not awarded
1947–1954 not awarded
1958 not awarded
1964 not awarded
1984 not awarded
2006 not awarded
2016 not awarded

Notable members

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Notable members of the Royal Society of South Australia have included:

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "About the Society". Royal Society of South Australia. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  2. ^ "Coroner's Inquest". South Australian Register. Vol. XVII, no. 1973. South Australia. 11 January 1853. p. 3. Retrieved 4 July 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "Adelaide Philosophical Society". South Australian Register. Vol. XVII, no. 2187. South Australia. 19 September 1853. p. 3. Retrieved 7 September 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "The Late Mr. T. D. Smeaton". The Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929). Adelaide, SA: National Library of Australia. 19 February 1908. p. 5. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  5. ^ Wikipedia citation "Adelaide Philosophical Society". South Australian Register. Vol. XVIII, no. 2301. South Australia. 30 January 1854. p. 3. Retrieved 4 July 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ "Adelaide Philosophical Society". South Australian Register. Vol. XLV, no. 10, 577. South Australia. 7 October 1880. p. 2 (Supplement to the South Australian Register.). Retrieved 3 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ "Tuesday, October 12, 1880". The South Australian Advertiser. Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 12 October 1880. p. 4. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  8. ^ "Field Naturalist Society of South Australia carries its care for the environment from 1883". AdelaideAZ. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  9. ^ "Women in the World". The Dawn. Vol. 26, no. 5. Western Australia. 17 November 1943. p. 3. Retrieved 5 October 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ Membership Archived 24 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Royal Society of South Australia Inc.
  11. ^ a b Awards & Medals Archived 12 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Royal Society of South Australia Inc.
  12. ^ a b "Publications". Royal Society of South Australia. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  13. ^ Royal Society of South Australia; Royal Society of South Australia (1938), Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, Incorporated, Royal Society of South Australia, ISSN 0372-1426
  14. ^ Corvo, Shannon (1 July 2020). "Outback flamingos, giant penguins on new list of extinct Australian birds". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  15. ^ Flinders University (26 June 2020). "No leg to stand on for Australia's flamingos". Phys.org. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  16. ^ Worthy, Trevor H.; Nguyen, Jacqueline M. T. (2 January 2020). "An annotated checklist of the fossil birds of Australia". Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia. 144 (1). Informa UK Limited: 66–108. doi:10.1080/03721426.2020.1756560. ISSN 0372-1426.
  17. ^ List of Presidents Archived 4 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine, RSSA
  18. ^ Sally O'Neill, 'Mais, Henry Coathupe (1827–1916)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5, Melbourne University Press, 1974, pp 200-201
  19. ^ Blackburn, Thomas (1844–1912), Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
  20. ^ Joyce Gibberd, 'Rogers, Richard Sanders (1861–1942)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, Melbourne University Press, 1988, p. 443.
  21. ^ Neville Hicks, Helen McIntosh, 'Pulleine, Robert Henry (1869–1935)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, Melbourne University Press, 1988, pp 306-307.
  22. ^ Lynne Trethewey, 'Fenner, Charles Albert Edward (1884–1955)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 8, Melbourne University Press, 1981, pp 481-482.
  23. ^ Dorothea F. Sandars, 'Johnston, Thomas Harvey (1881–1951)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 9, Melbourne University Press, 1983, p. 501.
  24. ^ Tasman Brown, Ruth Rogers, 'Campbell, Thomas Draper (1893–1967)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 13, Melbourne University Press, 1993, pp 361-362.
  25. ^ Hale, Herbert Mathew (1895–1963), Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
  26. ^ Davidson, James (1885–1945), Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
  27. ^ T. O. Browning, 'Davidson, James (1885–1945)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 8, Melbourne University Press, 1981, pp 226-227.
  28. ^ Cooke, William Ternent (1877–1957), Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
    Margaret Macilwain, 'Cooke, Constance Mary Ternent (1882–1967)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Supplementary Volume, Melbourne University Press, 2005, pp 76-77.
  29. ^ Womersley, Herbert (1889–1962), Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
  30. ^ Piper, Clarence Sherwood (1903–1988), Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
  31. ^ Trumble, Hugh Christian (1903–), Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
  32. ^ Tindale, Norman Barnett (1900–1993), Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
  33. ^ Andrewartha, Herbert George (1907–1992), Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
    L. C. Birch and T. O. Browning, Herbert George Andrewartha 1907-1992 Archived 2 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Historical Records of Australian Science, vol.9, no.3, 1993.
  34. ^ Dr. Rob W. Fitzpatrick Archived 12 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine, CSIRO
  35. ^ Dr. Allan Pring, SA Museum. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  36. ^ Dr. John Jennings, University of Adelaide. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  37. ^ Award of the Sir Joseph Verco Medal 1929-1976[permanent dead link‍], TRSSA, Vol 100, p.208, www.samuseum.sa.gov.au
  38. ^ "The Board of South East Energy". Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 12 March 2011.
  39. ^ Frog research – more than skin deep Archived 16 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine, 16 December 2003, also at http://www.adelaide.edu.au/news/news635.html
  40. ^ newsdesk (11 October 2017). "Ecologist heads for top biology award". Flinders University. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  41. ^ "Alan Cooper". The Conversation. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  42. ^ Glaessner, Martin Fritz (1906–1989), www.eoas.info
  43. ^ Johnston, Thomas Harvey (1881–1951), www.eoas.info
  44. ^ Sly, David (16 October 2018). "Palaeontology expert wins top science medal". Flinders in Touch. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  45. ^ flindersblogs (9 October 2014). "Flinders scientist wins coveted science prize". Flinders University. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  46. ^ Piper, Clarence Sherwood (1903–1988), www.eoas.info
  47. ^ "Dr Mike Smith, National Museum of Australia". Archived from the original on 24 May 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  48. ^ Royal Society honours for two, Adelaidean, October 2007, www.adelaide.edu.au
  49. ^ Williams, William David (1936–), www.eoas.info
  50. ^ Womersley, Hugh Bryan Spencer (1922–), www.eoas.info
  51. ^ Dr Helmut Wopfner—Biography Archived 6 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine, PESA News, June/July 2010, p.56
  52. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cumming, D.A. and Moxham, G. They Built South Australia published by the authors February 1986 ISBN 0-9589111-0-X

Further reading

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