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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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Royal Society of South Australia building on North Terrace, behind the SA Museum.

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][18]

TermName
1853–1854Sir Henry Young
1855Benjamin Babbage
1856–1861Sir Richard MacDonnell
1862–1868Sir Dominick Daly
1869–1872James Ferguson
1877Sir William Jervois
1878–1879Ralph Tate
1880–1881Sir Samuel Way
1882Sir Charles Todd
1883H. T. Whittell
1884Sir Horace Lamb
1885Henry Mais [19]
1886–1889Edward Rennie
1889Sir Edward Stirling
1890–1891Thomas Blackburn [20]
1892–1894Ralph Tate (2nd term)
1895–1896Walter Howchin
1897–1899William Lennox Cleland
1900–1903Edward Rennie (2nd term)
1903–1921Sir Joseph Verco
1921Richard Sanders Rogers [21]
1922–1924Robert Henry Pulleine [22]
1925Sir Douglas Mawson
1926Theodore Osborn
1927Frederic Wood Jones
1927–1928Sir John Cleland
1929–1930Leonard Keith Ward
1931Charles Fenner [23]
1932Thomas Harvey Johnston [24]
1933James Arthur Prescott
1934John McConnell Black
1935Thomas Draper Campbell [25]
1936Cecil Madigan
1937Herbert Mathew Hale [26]
1938James Davidson [27][28]
1939Henry Fry
1940Ralph W. Segnit
1941Sir John Cleland (2nd term)
1942Joseph Garnett Wood
1943William Ternent Cooke [29]
1944Herbert Womersley [30]
1945Sir Douglas Mawson (2nd term)
1946Clarence Sherwood Piper [31]
1947Hugh Christian Trumble [32]
1948D. C. Swan
1949Norman Tindale [33]
1950A. W. Kleeman
1951Bernard Charles Cotton
1952H. G. Andrewartha [34]
1953S. B. Dickinson
1954J. K. Taylor
1955R. V. Southcott
1956C. G. Stephens
1957I. M. Thomas
1958Leslie Wedgwood (Lee) Parkin[35]
1959–1960T. R. N. Lothian
1961R. V. Southcott (2nd term)
1962Nelly Hooper Ludbrook
1963J. T. Hutton
1964Arthur Richard Alderman[36]
1965S.J. Edmonds
1966Brian Daily[37]
1967Hugh Bryan Spencer Womersley
1968K. R. Miles
1969F. J. Mitchell
1970C. B. Wells
1971W. Grant Inglis
1972Helmut Wopfner
1973K. E. Lee
1974G. F. Gross
1975J. W. Holmes
1976Charles Rowland Twidale
1977Bruce Phillip Webb[38]
1978J. J. H. Szent-Ivany
1979John Kynaston Ling[39]
1980Scoresby A. Shepherd
1981Warren Bonython
1982–1983D. W. P. Corbett
1984John S. Womersley[40]
1985–1986Mike Tyler
1987T. D. Scott
1988–1989G. M. E. Mayo
1990–1992N. A. Locket
1992–1994William David (Bill) Williams[41]
1994–1996Margaret M. Davies[42]
1996–1998T. C. R. White
1998–2000Martin Anthony Joseph Williams
2000–2002Neville F. Alley
2002–2004O. W. Wiebkin
2004–2006Rob W. Fitzpatrick [43]
2006–2008Allan Pring [44]
2008–2010John T. Jennings [45]
2010–2012Nicholas J. Souter
2012–2014Craig R. Williams
2014–2016C. Michael Bull
2016–2019John A. Long
2019–2024Sabine Dittmann
2024–PresentWayne Harvey[18]

Verco Medal

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The Sir Joseph Verco Medal, also known as the Verco Medal, was established in 1928, with the first medal awarded in 1929. The medal is named in honour of Joseph Verco, who was president from 1903 to 1920.[46]

"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]

Previous winners include:[46]

YearNameSource
1966Arthur Richard Alderman
2004Neville F. Alley[47]
1962Herbert Andrewartha
1996Mike Archer
2011A. Austin
2001R. V. Baudinette
1989Ian Beveridge
1991A.F. Bird
1930John McConnell Black
2003John Bowie[48]
2017Corey Bradshaw[49]
1994P.F. Brownell
2009M. Bull
1933John Burton Cleland
2013Alan Cooper[50]
2015D. Day
1992Patrick De Deckker
1982S. J. Edmonds
1960Hedley Herbert Finlayson
1999Rob Fitzpatrick
1970Martin Glaessner[51]
1979G. F. Gross
1946Herbert Mathew Hale
1978J. W. Holmes
1929Walter Howchin
1976J. T. Hutton
1986W. Grant Inglis
1987R. K. Johns
1935Thomas Harvey Johnston[52]
1990R. T. Lange
1985K. E. Lee
2018Mike Lee[53]
2014John A. Long[54]
1963Nelly Hooper Ludbrook
1945Cecil Madigan
1931Douglas Mawson
2012Brian McGowran
1971Charles P. Mountford
1983K. H. Northcote
1972Leslie Wedgwood (Lee) Parkin
1995P. A. Parsons
1957Clarence Sherwood Piper[55]
1998W. V. Preiss
1938James Arthur Prescott
2002J. R. Prescott
2005Allan Pring
1967L. D. Pryor
1981Rupert William Roye Rutland[56]
2008Scoresby A. Shepherd
2010Mike Smith[57]
1965R. V. Southcott
1961R. L. Specht
1968Reg Sprigg
1959C.G. Stephens
1974P. M. Thomas
1975B. P. Thomson
1956Norman Tindale
1977Charles Rowland Twidale
1980Michael J. Tyler
1955Leonard Keith Ward
1993G. F. Watson
2025Chris H.S. Watts[58][59]
2000Tom White
2007Martin Anthony Joseph Williams[60][61]
1988William David (Bill) Williams[62]
1997Joseph Tony Wiskitch[63]
1943Herbert Womersley
1969Hugh Bryan Spencer Womersley[64]
1944Joseph Garnett Wood
1973Helmut Wopfner[65]
1932not awarded
1934not awarded
1936–1937not awarded
1939–1942not awarded
1947–1954not awarded
1958not awarded
1964not awarded
1984not awarded
2006not awarded
2016not awarded
2019–2024not awarded
2025 Jim Gehling [66]

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. 1 2 3 4 "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. 1 2 Awards & Medals Archived 12 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Royal Society of South Australia Inc.
  12. 1 2 "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. 1 2 Royal Society of South Australia Presidents Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  19. ↑ Sally O'Neill, 'Mais, Henry Coathupe (1827–1916)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5, Melbourne University Press, 1974, pp 200-201
  20. ↑ Blackburn, Thomas (1844–1912), Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
  21. ↑ Joyce Gibberd, 'Rogers, Richard Sanders (1861–1942)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, Melbourne University Press, 1988, p. 443.
  22. ↑ Neville Hicks, Helen McIntosh, 'Pulleine, Robert Henry (1869–1935)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, Melbourne University Press, 1988, pp 306-307.
  23. ↑ Lynne Trethewey, 'Fenner, Charles Albert Edward (1884–1955)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 8, Melbourne University Press, 1981, pp 481-482.
  24. ↑ Dorothea F. Sandars, 'Johnston, Thomas Harvey (1881–1951)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 9, Melbourne University Press, 1983, p. 501.
  25. ↑ Tasman Brown, Ruth Rogers, 'Campbell, Thomas Draper (1893–1967)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 13, Melbourne University Press, 1993, pp 361-362.
  26. ↑ Hale, Herbert Mathew (1895–1963), Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
  27. ↑ Davidson, James (1885–1945), Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
  28. ↑ T. O. Browning, 'Davidson, James (1885–1945)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 8, Melbourne University Press, 1981, pp 226-227.
  29. ↑ 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.
  30. ↑ Womersley, Herbert (1889–1962), Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
  31. ↑ Piper, Clarence Sherwood (1903–1988), Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
  32. ↑ Trumble, Hugh Christian (1903–), Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
  33. ↑ Tindale, Norman Barnett (1900–1993), Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
  34. ↑ 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.
  35. ↑ Parkin, Leslie Wedgwood (Lee) (1916 - 2013), Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
  36. ↑ Professor The University of Adelaide. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  37. ↑ Daily, Brian, Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
  38. ↑ Webb, Bruce Phillip (1926 - 2000), Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
  39. ↑ Ling, John Kynaston (1931 - ), Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
  40. ↑ Womersley, John (1920 - 1985), Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
  41. ↑ Williams, William David (1936 - ), Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
  42. ↑ Davies, Margaret (1944 - ), Encyclopedia of Australian Science, www.eoas.info
  43. ↑ Dr. Rob W. Fitzpatrick Archived 12 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine, CSIRO
  44. ↑ Dr. Allan Pring, SA Museum. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  45. ↑ Dr. John Jennings, University of Adelaide. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  46. 1 2 Cohn, Helen (12 June 2019). "Sir Joseph Verco Medal". Swinburne University of Technology, Centre for Transformative Innovation. Retrieved 29 June 2025. 12 June 2019, Last modified: 19 July 2022
  47. ↑ "The Board of South East Energy". Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 12 March 2011.
  48. ↑ 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
  49. ↑ newsdesk (11 October 2017). "Ecologist heads for top biology award". Flinders University. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  50. ↑ "Alan Cooper". The Conversation. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  51. ↑ Glaessner, Martin Fritz (1906–1989), www.eoas.info
  52. ↑ Johnston, Thomas Harvey (1881–1951), www.eoas.info
  53. ↑ Sly, David (16 October 2018). "Palaeontology expert wins top science medal". Flinders in Touch. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  54. ↑ flindersblogs (9 October 2014). "Flinders scientist wins coveted science prize". Flinders University. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  55. ↑ Piper, Clarence Sherwood (1903–1988), www.eoas.info
  56. ↑ Professor The University of Adelaide. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  57. ↑ "Dr Mike Smith, National Museum of Australia". Archived from the original on 24 May 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  58. ↑ Royal Society of South Australia Retrieved 11 July 2025.
  59. ↑ Royal Society of South Australia, Bluesky. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
  60. ↑ Royal Society honours for two, Adelaidean, October 2007, www.adelaide.edu.au
  61. ↑ Professor The University of Adelaide. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  62. ↑ Williams, William David (1936–), www.eoas.info
  63. ↑ Professor The University of Adelaide. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  64. ↑ Womersley, Hugh Bryan Spencer (1922–), www.eoas.info
  65. ↑ Dr Helmut Wopfner—Biography Archived 6 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine, PESA News, June/July 2010, p.56
  66. ↑ "Deserved science medal following remarkable career | SA Museum - News". whatson.samuseum.sa.gov.au. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  67. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Cumming, D.A. and Moxham, G. They Built South Australia published by the authors February 1986 ISBN 0-9589111-0-X
  68. ↑ Death of Professor T.B. Robertson: World-Renowned Bio-Chemist, The (Adelaide) Chronicle, (Thursday, 23 January 1930), p. 19.

Further reading

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