Field Naturalists Society of South Australia

The Field Naturalists Society of South Australia Incorporated was founded in 1883 as a section of the Royal Society, and whose aims were to further the cause of the natural sciences in the colony. It was incorporated in 1959 and is still active. Membership is open to the public on application.

History

In 1880 Samuel Way, president of the Adelaide Philosophical Society, which had just recently been granted permission to use the title "Royal Society of South Australia", lamented the lack of a local equivalent of the recently formed Field Naturalists Club of Victoria for keen amateurs to further the cause of natural sciences.[1]

The Association was formed as the "Field Naturalists' Section of the Royal Society of South Australia" (note apostrophe) on 14 November 1883, rules adopted and officers elected, many or most being members of the Royal Society: Chairman: Professor Ralph Tate; Vice-chairmen: Dr. H. T. Whittell, and Rev. (later Professor) Walter Howchin FGS.; Hon. Secretary: W. E. Pickells.[2] The foundation committee consisted of Dr. W. L. Cleland, Dr. W. Haacke, J. G. O. Tepper, A. Molineux, W. H. Selway, jun., G. Collis, jun., H. Dean, and G. F. Hussey.[3] Another founding member of long standing was W. H. Baker.[4] The first outing was to the Government Farm, Belair, on 24 November 1883.[5]

Chairmen (or presidents) of the Society
  • Samuel Dixon 1890,1891
  • Stirling Smeaton (when?)[6]
  • Edwin Ashby 1899[7]
  • E. Angas Johnson 1902–1904
  • E. H. Lock 1904–1906. Lock was a foundation member of the Society.
  • James McConnell Black 1906 (author of The Naturalized Flora of South Australia)
  • W. H. Selway 1908–1910[8]
  • Dr. Robert Pulleine 1911
  • E. H. Lock 1912–1914
  • Capt S. A. White 1914 ornithologist
  • W. Ham 1922
  • J. B. Cleland 1924
  • Edwin Sawle Hughes 1925[9]
  • W. Champion Hackett 1926–1928
  • H. M. Hale 1928, 1929
  • Ernest H. Ising 1931–1933
  • Rev. H. A. Gunter 1935
  • Prof. J. B. Cleland 1936,1937
  • K. W. Dunstone 1944
  • George Pattison 1946
  • Frederic J. W. Swann 1947,1948
  • T. R. N. Lothian 1949–1951

The Society claims to have been instrumental in establishing

The Society claims to have been instrumental in establishing the following protected areas.[10]

Properties owned by the Society

The Society owns a number of Nature Reserves, covered by Heritage Agreements:

  • Manning Reserve, 45 ha of dense natural vegetation near McLaren Vale:
  • Forest Range Reserve, 15 ha of sclerophyll woodland of the higher Mount Lofty Ranges;
  • Nicholls reserve, 58 ha of coastal scrub at Carpenter Rocks in the South East;
  • Tookayerta Marsh, a section of natural swamp near Nangkita.

Publications
  • The South Australian Naturalist : the journal of the field naturalists' section of the Royal society of South Australia.[12]

References
  1. "Adelaide Philosophical Society". South Australian Register. XLV (10, 577). South Australia. 7 October 1880. p. 2 (Supplement to the South Australian Register.). Retrieved 3 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. William Edward Pickells was a Melbourne insurance man who died by self-inflicted gunshot wound on 28 October 1904
  3. "General News". The Express and Telegraph. XX (5, 958). South Australia. 14 November 1883. p. 2. Retrieved 3 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. "First Branch of Royal Society". The Observer (Adelaide). LXXXVI (4, 477). South Australia. 13 April 1929. p. 22. Retrieved 4 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. "Field Naturalists' Excursion". South Australian Register. XLVIII (11, 555). South Australia. 26 November 1883. p. 7. Retrieved 3 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "Death of Mr. Stirling Smeaton". The Express and Telegraph. XLVI (13, 653). South Australia. 12 March 1909. p. 1. Retrieved 4 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "Field Naturalists". The Express and Telegraph. XXXVI (10, 697). South Australia. 17 June 1899. p. 5. Retrieved 4 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. "Long Public Career". The News (Adelaide). IX (1, 382). South Australia. 19 December 1927. p. 11. Retrieved 19 July 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. "Obituary". The Observer (Adelaide). LXXXIII (7, 041). South Australia. 30 October 1926. p. 54. Retrieved 4 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. "The Field Naturalists Society of South Australia inc". Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  11. "Move for Outer Belt of Parks". The Advertiser (Adelaide). 91 (28089). South Australia. 16 October 1948. p. 3. Retrieved 4 October 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. Royal Society of South Australia. Field Naturalists' Section; Informit (1919), "South Australian naturalist : the journal of the field naturalists' section of the Royal society of South Australia", South Australian Naturalist, Felstead and Omsby, ISSN 0038-2965
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