Scientists and Colonists Bright Sparcs Exhibition Papers



Next Page Previous Page
CHAPTER 2


Reciprocal Benefits


The speeches given to the scientific societies of eastern Australia in the 1880s and 1890s reveal a group of scientific gentlemen seeing science fulfilling particular roles. They spoke of it as a great force: a force for progress. Science was the means by which the boundaries of human knowledge were to be pushed back. It was the motor of material progress. It was one of the means by which mental and moral progress could be achieved. It would help nations to advance and humankind to become unified.

Consistent with these views, the scientists identified three benefits to be derived from individuals becoming more involved in science. First, if more observers and collectors could be found, an understanding of the new Australian environment would be increased. This would advance science and the control that the colonists had over the continent's resources. Second, if colonists studied natural history and other higher things they would become less bound up in materialism and vice and more in tune with the purity and harmony of natural surroundings. Third, if colonists would exercise their minds on scientific questions (at school, in public lectures, exhibitions, museums, or in the field), they would raise their intellectual standard. Therefore, if people would learn about science and pursue science, the achievements of science would grow and the people and their country would prosper.

There was so much to explore in Australia, so much to discover. The plants, animals, minerals, geological formations, weather, and skies of Australia were all so different from what was familiar. Observations of these features promised to have great importance. They held much significance for the theories being discussed in Britain and Europe, where scientists, churchmen, and many members of the general community were re-evaluating how the Earth and its life forms developed.

Mustering all the facts on a subject was said to be necessary before moving on to form a theory to explain the characteristics and dynamics of that subject [1]. This was a complex, time-consuming process. The role of the experienced scientific worker was to synthesise doggedly and suggest possibilities after the facts had been collected.

The untrained colonist could be of use as the collector of those facts. Anyone who wished to be a scientific observer and collector could be of value; men of science did not just have a university science graduate in mind when they appealed to members of the public for assistance. Archibald Liversidge, for instance, pointed out that one of the benefits of the AAAS meetings was that the general public were given a chance to see that 'there is no great mystery either about scientific workers or their methods of work...'. He recognised that in some fields extensive training was needed; 'but', he said,

...a very great deal of a very useful kind can be done by those who have had no special training whatever, provided that they are of ordinary intelligence and use and cultivate their powers of observation, and work diligently upon some selected and definite question, the results usually depend more upon the willingness to take pains, than what is termed genius or brilliancy of intellect. [2]

Certainly, some scientists felt only lay people with some education could be of assistance. Baron F. von Mueller spoke of how grateful the active pursuers of science within the AAAS would be to have their plans and discussions receive the encouragement, the moral support 'which every educated and thoughtful layman' could give [3]. More common, however, were references to encouraging members of 'all classes' to participate.

This was not just empty rhetoric, aimed at sounding egalitarian. There are records of government, academic or Society scientists not just asking for, but using, information from those outside the scientific community. Surveys on Aboriginal ways of life were sent out by anthropologists and filled in by rural settlers and clergy [4]. Meteorological records were kept by post officers and 'private gentlemen' with equipment and log books sent from the colonial observatory [5]. Less formal assistance was also gleaned from the wider public. The inhabitants of an area had a useful knowledge of local features and phenomena. After a storm of meteorites or particularly heavy hail, scientists would interview local witnesses. Aborigines, with their intensive knowledge of natural phenomena, were asked by naturalists and geologists for information [6]. Geologists G. Officer and L. Balfour contacted Charles Brittlebank, a land owner with a keen interest in geology when they needed information regarding possible glaciation in his locality. Brittlebank showed the geologists the significant markings on the rock bed he had discovered, giving them 'much valuable aid' by locating what they said was the first evidence of the passage of a local glacier [7]. Society scientists requested people who had taught themselves a subject to become their collectors. Georgiana Molloy [8], Amalie Dietrich [9] and Louisa Atkinson [10] were just some of those who tirelessly collected specimens of Australian botany for established botanists.

The benefits that were to come from greater public participation were seen as advancing science itself. The men of science spoke of such involvement as assisting in the process of pushing back the 'boundaries' of human knowledge. Careful, patient observations of the natural world, meticulously recorded, were expected to allow people to gather enough facts about a subject to offer a judicious explanation for its characteristics and dynamics. Thus humanity would advance, step by step, to a complete understanding of the laws governing nature. Many spoke of the process as one of finding Truth [11]. Truth was referred to as a mass: a body that existed ultimately and simply needed to be found. Although by the end of the nineteenth century scientists in Britain and Europe were beginning to challenge the notion of an obtainable ultimate truth [12], colonial scientists held onto the idea.

Baron von Mueller spoke of an 'ever-accumulating science fortune', expanding the 'network of knowledge' and the reducing 'width of the meshes' [13]. Although expanding what was known raised further questions and made it clear how much more there was to know, 'the fabric as a whole' would, through scientific research, become more firm [14]. Professor Kernot, noting in 1887 that the scientific community was carrying out its work, maintained that 'the great temple of scientific truth' was growing 'ever higher and more complete.' [15]

From the advancement of science itself, said the Society scientists, material advancement inevitably flowed. Consequently, the scientists spoke of the material progress that would come from finding collectors across the country (and galvanising existing members of the Society into action). There was, Hamilton told the AAAS in 1892,

nothing of more importance to humanity at large than that we should increase our knowledge of Nature's laws and of their operation and application to our needs. [16]

Such statements were common. Science was seen by many as the means of materially advancing a colony, an empire, or even the whole of humanity. The members of the AAAS assembled for their first meeting were told:

the world has learned to recognise the fact that science is the great lever in the material advancement of the people; nay, more, that we cannot have material advancement without a previous advance in science. [17]

Colonial scientific societies, in environments so new and communities so needful of material assistance, placed special emphasis upon the practical importance of scientific findings [18]. People could harness nature once they understood its laws. Steam was made to drive an engine. Seams of minerals far beneath the surface were located by recognising related land forms. Greater knowledge of bacteria made it easier to maintain general health and control disease [19]. An excited charge usually seen in storm clouds was reproduced in a laboratory, understood, and put to use, making night streets safer and lighting homes and lecture halls. Still greater uses for electricity in industry, transport and communications were envisaged. Voices were transmitted across vast distances into the homes of others, with eerie clarity [20]. Achieving closer communication raised many hopes for achieving a greater unity of humankind [21].

Some nineteenth-century people - members of the British gentry especially - possessed little appreciation of the ability of untutored people to innovate, expecting artisans and labourers to use traditional technologies and methods until they were told otherwise [22]. Hence, scientists were seen to be the initiators of material advance. It was under the guiding hand of science, then, that distances were shrinking, making the unity of humankind conceivable. The boundless potentials of steam power, electricity and telephonics were the gifts of devoted scientific workers to humanity. Finding more workers could therefore expand human knowledge of Truth and bring greater material comfort and prosperity.

The benefits of securing wider community involvement in science went further. There was a preoccupation with uplifting the manners and minds of the colonists. Sounding to us more like clergymen or troubled parents than scientists, they spoke of their duty to improve the members of the colony and nation. They spoke of the ways in which colonists could become more refined, more respectable, more morally sound. They spoke of the need to improve the intellectual capacities of the colonists, and how these qualities could be achieved.

Henry Deane, for instance, was troubled by the state of the colonists' minds and characters. 'There is evidently', he said,

a much greater lack of the scientific spirit in Australia than in Great Britain, and Europe and America. Why is it? Is it that people are too physically vigorous? As soon as their work is done, and sometimes before, their whole attention seems to be taken up with out-door games and amusements. Is it the bright sunshine and attractions of the open air that leads to the cultivation of the physical and the neglect of the mental culture? [23]

The scientists even had reason to shake their heads over leaders of society. It was 'very much to be regretted', Deane said, that when 'men in high positions' make speeches at scientific meetings they:

affect to despise science or say that they know nothing about it, and pass off their ignorance with a laugh, as if it was not rather a matter to be deplored. [24]

Hamilton, too, expressed concern. He acknowledged, as a speaker at the first scientific society of Tasmania had done in 1842, that the educated settler in Australia was always in danger of degenerating intellectually. Removed from the flow of new ideas presented in books, periodicals, the lively conversaziones and fervent philosophical debates bustling about in Britain and Europe, the settler's mind was 'apt to become relaxed and lose its former tone and vigour...'. [25]

Furthermore, the moral tone of the colonists was not up to scratch. Despite the growing numbers of people who gave priority to high culture and learning, there was a large proportion of the population who did not. Too many colonists, Hamilton and his colleagues felt, were preoccupied with playing about, taking serious matters like spirituality too lightly, and indulging in a 'sordid passion for accumulating wealth.' [26]

A solution was at hand. The notion seems to have been that by studying noble topics, people would be diverted from revelling in vile materialism. It was possible, said Hamilton, to direct

...the public mind into higher channels than are occupied by the mere desire for the accumulation of wealth, by awakening it to objects of liberal and scientific enquiry... [27]

Hamilton quoted to the AAAS members from the writings of men in the early Tasmanian Society, assuring the audience that what had been said in 1842 still held true in 1892. It had been strongly recommended that the settler in Australia take up the study of Nature. This would have a 'salutary effect upon his character.' Taking 'an interest and pleasure in'

...the events and appearances of surrounding Nature, could not fail to be peculiarly beneficial. It would serve to alleviate the monotony and tediousness of his situation - to prevent the inactivity and consequent deterioration of his mental faculties - to counteract the powers of ungenerous and debasing passions, and add the dignity of a cultivated and well-informed mind to the simplicity of rural occupations and sequestered life. [28]

The antidote that Deane prescribed for people obsessed by sport and trivial outdoor amusements was the same: to study nature. He said:

If people generally could only be awakened to the delights of a study of nature, they could enjoy the open air while learning some of the mysteries of life around them, and still find time enough for healthy games and social amusements. Their own life would be enlarged to them, and there would be an additional pleasure in existence. [29]

J.H. Maiden, the Government Botanist of New South Wales, agreed, and felt that botany held particular value.

As intellectual discipline, the science of botany possesses merit of a high order, while it has the advantage of causing its votaries to wander in the fresh, pure air of the fields and woods, never without companions although apparently alone, and last, though surely not least, the refining effect of a love of plant-life must never be over-looked. [30]

Presumably, an affection for plants was a pure, righteous feeling; nature was innocent, balanced and unsullied. Although it was good to put nature to man's use, the men of science, so often working deep within forests or beside the sea, noted from time to time the beauty and perfection of untouched nature [31]. Some scientists found particular uplifting value in the organisation of nature in scientific arrangements. The plants in the Victorian botanic gardens had been arranged in careful Linnean order; Ellery spoke of the 'beauty and picturesque harmony' of the arrangement, one that enhanced the pleasure and information to be obtained there [32].

For many, the virtues of studying nature went further than just a noble study capable of displacing vice. Many people felt that studying the natural world was a deeply pious pursuit. Studying nature meant studying the works of the Creator. Nature was frequently referred to as 'God's second book'. There was, as J. Morrel and A. Thackray have pointed out, just as much controversy over the reading of His second book as His first [33]. Nevertheless, particularly in the first half of the century, people in both Britain and the colonies, within the church and without it, wrote fervently of the value of the study of nature for creating an appreciation of the wonders of the Creation. Provided such studies did not (as they could threaten to) challenge revealed religion, the student could grow closer to God through the wonder of the immensity, the minuteness, the intricate connections and beauty of His works.

British and colonial scientists acknowledged the religious significance that accompanied the pursuit of science. Many scientists were also clergymen - the two occupations were not mutually exclusive. Even those scientists who were less formally religious had been educated in natural theology at British or European universities [34]. When, during the last decades of the century, evolutionary theory was revolutionising perceptions within the British and European intellectual establishments, the majority of Australian intellectuals were still adopting an anti-evolutionist stance. The majority of Australian scientists did not begin to accept evolutionary theory until the turn of the century [35]. Most colonial naturalists, says Moyal, accepted throughout the nineteenth century, 'separate creation, fixity of species and the Genesis account of creation as crucial explanations of the origin of the natural world.' [36] In lectures to church groups they spoke of the relationships between science and religion; Frederick McCoy defending the Creationist interpretation of the natural world [37], Ferdinand von Mueller chronicling the assistance that churchmen had given to science over the ages [38].

Many of the well-known Australian scientists outside the Royal Societies saw science as valuable for developing religious understanding. Sir Redmond Barry, Chief Justice of Victoria, in the Inaugural Address to the Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science said that scientific workers should aim to learn the place of species in the

scheme of creation; and by exalting the understanding, waft it above the cheerless sophistry which chains the soul to an empty materialism, and warm the affection towards the great Author of Being. [39]

Were the presidents of scientific societies advocating that the colonists participate in science to make them more pious? The presidents of the Societies around mid-century and up to the late 1870s did speak of the pursuit of science as being beneficial to religious feeling. Ellery had said in 1879:

no occupation, not even that all-absorbing one of "making haste to be rich," which dwells among us here like a burning perennial fever, can confer such real and lasting pleasure as is experienced by earnest and devout students of nature and God's laws which govern it. [40]

Only two of the presidents by the 1880s and 1890s made these kinds of statements. Ferdinand von Mueller mentioned such things as the potential of science to eradicate atheism [41]. C.S.Wilkinson spoke of the 'laws of Nature, which are the laws of God' [42] and the progress of civilization under the guiding hand of Christianity, aided by science, art, literature and philosophy [43]. The other presidents did not mention the spiritually uplifting effects of studying science. They made occasional, vague, references to some force beyond human understanding. Such comments may indicate the existence of spiritual thoughts, but the majority of the presidents did not explicitly extend these thoughts into their recommendations for involving the public in science.

A final point in considering the effect of scientific pursuits on moral character: Hamilton pointed out that the pursuit of science should be encouraged because it was the pursuit of truth. 'The love of truth', he said, 'is the greatest force for moral elevation of the human race, and it is directly generated and fostered by the pursuit of science' [44]. The world was more full of misrepresentation and 'concealment of truth' than one realised, Hamilton said. He thought of a hard-to-imagine world in which 'falsehood and deceit were as rare as robbery or murder,' and in which conveying a wrong impression would be 'regarded as utterly base and criminal.' Apparently, 'a scientific training of the mind' worked towards achieving this,

for it is based on truth, and is incompatible with any connivance at or toleration of conscious misrepresentation in any shape or form. [45]

Science was a valuable pursuit indeed if it could bring such virtues to colonists.

Thus, the scientists felt that if individuals were to take up research of nature, they would improve the moral quality of their characters. There is a possibility that the men of science felt that scientific studies would make colonists more pious; but they certainly felt it would make them less materialistic, more respectable, and more truthful.

Further, studying science could improve the colonists' intellects. The scientists were particularly enthusiastic about the benefits that science could bring in this regard. The skills that could be developed by studying science were numerous. Sharp, straight thinking habits and focused application were the polar opposites of slovenliness, sensuality and mental laxity.

These skills could be inculcated through education. Education features in the addresses of the 1880s and 1890s as a strong thread of discussion. Science was at that stage only beginning to be taught in Australian schools. As in Britain, the curriculum centred first on the three R's and then on the arts: history and classical literature. Literature and history were all very well, the scientists thought, but they only supplied retrospective capacities [46]. With science, the student would be more appropriately skilled and competitive in the present (they would be able to find responsible positions in 'factories, mines, workshops and public offices'[47]), and be better equipped to 'make plans for the future.' [48]

Deane, Hamilton, Liversidge, and Wilkinson were among those who advocated teaching science to children. Wilkinson suggested teaching an immediately useful subject such as sanitary science. He suggested illustrating the growth of 'the dreaded organisms', germs, with enlarged diagrams, and explaining them 'with the aid of a microscope in a simple manner appropriate to the reason of a child' [49]. Such lessons would not be forgotten, and, Wilkinson said, had the possibility of awakening

more interest or wonder than that created by fairy tales (which I acknowledge has in itself a special value) and with the manifest advantage that the child afterwards realizes that his imagination has not been deceived, and that his reasoning powers have been strengthened for exercise in fields of usefulness for himself and his fellows. [50]

Deane and Hamilton both explained that it was a scientist's duty to advocate teaching science in schools, as it 'leads to habits of observation and sharpening of the mental faculties' [51]. Sir James Hector at the 1891 AAAS congress could not speak highly enough of the advantages of being trained in 'accuracy of observation' and teaching the 'lay classes' not to just acquire scientific knowledge, but to learn the scientific method [52]. Hamilton quoted, in agreement, from the 1861 British Royal Commission on Education:

Science quickens and cultivates directly the faculty of observation which, in very many persons, lies dormant through life; the power of accurate and rapid generalisation, and the mental habit of method and arrangement; it accustoms young persons to trace the sequences of cause and effect; it familiarises them with the kind of reasoning which interests them, and which they can promptly comprehend; and it is, perhaps, the best corrective for that indolence which is the vice of half awakened minds, and which shrinks from any exertion that is not like an effort of memory purely mechanical. [53]

The scientists advocated technical education for manual labourers. They explained the value of scientific knowledge for the workman in making him more skilled in his work and thus more competitive and successful [54]. Mechanics' Institutes or Schools of Arts in each colony gave classes and evening lectures in technical subjects and the sciences. They provided libraries, reading rooms, chemical and engineering laboratories and sometimes a museum of natural history. Deane spoke on improving university courses [55] and Hamilton referred to the need for establishing more 'advanced classes' in every colonial centre.

Education via popular lectures, museums and exhibitions was also advocated. The educational benefits of colonial exhibitions were eagerly reported [56]. A keen interest was taken in any event or establishment that promoted learning [57].

Indeed, much was done by the scientific workers to put such recommendations into practice. Lectures were given. Many books and articles for periodicals and newspapers were written for the lay reader. For instance J.H. Maiden supplied 'A Chat About Wattles; An Object Lesson for New South Wales Children' [58], and published dissertations on wattles [59], grasses [60] and many other forms of vegetation for pastoralists, 'farmers, tanners, and merchants' as well as for the botanist [61]. The geologist Julian Tenison Woods wrote a book on geology intended to provide readers with the terms and concepts they needed to make geological observations for themselves [62]. Contemporaries said the book had achieved 'so wide an influence...among all classes', that his name was a household word [63]. Many mathematics textbooks had been published in the colonies [64]. General science books were published for schools in Australia [65] and New Zealand [66].

The quantity of science material for public consumption must have been substantial, for it was possible for Sir James Hector to speak of there being almost too much material; it was becoming too easy for people to think themselves highly knowledgeable in scientific matters after reading the daily newspaper and the local magazine. People were not applying themselves to diligent, thorough study [67].

Still more ways of presenting science to the wider populace were offered by the scientists. Directors of botanical gardens organised plants into orders to make it easier to learn botanical classification. Labels for each species were written by the staff - a job that took over a year - so the untrained visitor might recognise the plants [68].

From the 1870s curators worked, as many museum curators around the world were working, in the 'new museum' movement, to make their collections accessible not just to naturalists but to the public as well [69]. The Victorian curators arranged a selection of specimens: one of each species, rather than the entire collection, in glass cases, while the walls and pillars were 'covered with copious instructive notes to assist the visitor in his studies' [70]. The AAAS established a committee to investigate the ways in which museums could be improved for the public [71]. Careful thought was put into illustrating the lectures with specimens, microscopes and lantern-views [72]. The Royal Societies held conversaziones, exhibiting scientific experiments, natural history collections, and related curiosities to the public [73].

The presidents of the 1880s and 1890s were usually able to report a year of high attendance at the Societies' various public institutions and events. Public lectures were nearly always 'well attended'. The conversaziones attracted many hundreds to the Societies' rooms or host University. Museums were opened on Sundays [74] - thus allowing people who worked during the week to attend - despite opposition from some Christian groups concerned about the Sabbath being spent in activities other than church-going and Bible-reading [75]. The Tasmanian Royal Society was able to report in 1878 that throughout the year not only had the Sunday visitors behaved themselves admirably, but numbers on that one day had exceeded the total of week-day visitors [76].

Encouraging the scientific education of the populace was seen by many of the presidents to be of value not just for the individual but the nation he or she belonged to [77]. The skills the student learnt would 'add to the aggregate of knowledge' [78], and thus ultimately assist in advancing conditions within the country. In 1899 G.H. Knibbs spoke urgently of the need for the colonies, 'just quickening with the first impulses of national feeling', to advance. He saw intellectual quality as a central requirement for progress. On the one hand, resources needed to be developed with the 'powerful assistance' of intelligence, education and science, so as not to be left behind by other nations.

...on the spiritual side [the nation's advance] is determined by our character, by a high appreciation of the dignity of intellectual effort and intellectual achievement, and an earnest purpose to take our part in the higher progress of the world. [79]

By training colonists to pursue science, the next generation would bring to the country and humanity at large all the fruits of science. Either by actively going out into the natural world and collecting data, or by pursuing an education in science, the people of a colony would improve the prosperity of the colony, their characters and their intellects. As Hamilton said: 'On all grounds, therefore - material, mental, and moral - the study of science should be encouraged to the utmost of our power.' [80]

Previous PageNext Page


Footnotes

[1] For example, Russell said 'Every worker knows how necessary it is to have all the facts in clear and orderly arrangement, as a preliminary and necessary step to any safe advance.', 'Inaugural Address', Report First Meeting AAAS', Sydney, 1888, p.11.
[2] Liversidge, Journ. and Proc. Royal Soc. NSW, 1890, p.33.
[3] von Mueller, Report of the Second Meeting of the AAAS, Melbourne, 1890, p.3.
[4] A committee appointed by the Legislative Council of NSW in 1845 to report on the condition of the Aborigines distributed a questionnaire to clergymen. Lieutenant-Governor C. LaTrobe wrote a questionnaire in 1853 to gather data on Aborigines and distributed them to Victorian pioneers; he received 'more than fifty written responses.' Anthropologist A.W. Howitt wanted to send copies of his questionnaire to all the men on the newly-opened telegraph line. D.J. Mulvaney, 'Patron and Client: The Web of Intellectual Kinship in Australian Anthropology', in N. Reingold and M. Rothenberg (eds), Scientific Colonialism; A Cross-Cultural Comparison, Papers from a Conference at Melbourne, Australia 25-30 May 1981 , Washington D.C., 1987, pp.55-77; pp.58-9, 62.
[5] 'Nearly every telegraph station has a rain-gauge, and a number of private gentlemen have also accorded me their co-operation...' Extract from C.Todd's Report on the Adelaide Observatory, 24 September 1875, Legislative Assembly of South Australia, Votes and Proceedings, 1875-76, in Mozley Moyal, Scientists in Nineteenth Century Australia, p.162.
[6] 'The Natives', said one collector, ' bring me in a good many things, and to-day have brought me three very interesting species of fresh water Fish, which I have preserved.' John Gilbert to John Gould, Port Essington, 19 September 1840, Gilbert Letters, G.M. Matthews Collection, National Library of Australia, in Mozley Moyal, Scientists in Nineteenth Century Australia, p. 66-7. E.J. Stratham, in reporting an instance when the opinion of an aboriginal elder on the the formation of shell-heaps appeared to be mistaken, urged caution to those scientists who commonly relied on 'that great authority, the "oldest inhabitant"' , E.J. Statham, Assoc. Inst. C.E., 'Observations on Shell-Heaps and Shell-Beds; Significance and Importance of the Record They Afford', in Journ. and Proc. Royal Soc. NSW, 1892, pp. 304f., p.305.
[7] These explorations became the basis for a debate among Victorian geologists for some time afterwards. G. Officer (B.Sc.) and L. Balfour, Melbourne University, 'Preliminary Account of the Glacial Deposits of Bacchus Marsh', p.45-67, Trans. and Proc. Royal Soc. Vic., 1893, p.48.
[8] There have been several studies of the substantial contribution of women to Australian science; see Moyal, 'Collectors and Illustrators: Women Botanists of the Nineteenth Century', and S. De Vries-Evans Pioneer Women, Pioneer Land: Yesterday's Tall Poppies, Sydney, 1987. Regarding Georgina Molloy (1805-43), see Moyal, pp.334-338.
[9] Amalie Dietrich (1821-1891) was a German botanical collector employed by a museum owner to collect for him in Australia. See Moyal, ibid., pp.338-342 and C. Sumner, Amalie Dietrich in Australia, Ph.D. thesis, University of Queensland, 1986.
[10] Australian-born Louisa Atkinson (1834-72) studied botany and wrote articles on botany for newspapers. She collected for Ferdinand von Mueller. Her work was absorbed - unacknowledged - into von Mueller's seven-volume Flora Australiensis. Moyal, ibid., pp.342-346.
[11] For example, C.S. Wilkinson, F.G.S., said that 'Science is the revealing of Truth in all its aspects.' 'Anniversary Address', Journ. and Proc.Royal Soc. NSW, 1888,pp.1-43, p42.
[12] Knight, The Age of Science, p.206-7.
[13] von Mueller, Report Second Meeting AAAS, Melbourne, 1890, p.5.
[14] Ibid., p.5.
[15] Kernot, 'President's Address', Trans. and Proc. Royal Soc. Vic., 1887, p. xxii.
[16] Hamilton, 'Inaugural Address', Report Fourth Meeting AAAS, Hobart, 1892, p.28.
[17]Russell, 'Inaugural Address', Report Fourth Meeting AAAS, Sydney, 1888, p. 13.
[18] One of the official objects of the Royal Society of New South Wales was to promote scientific work which would 'tend to develop the natural resources of Australia, and to illustrate its Natural History and Productions.' This was proclaimed on one of the initial pages of each volume.
[19] Ellery, 'President's Address; Disease germs', Trans. and Proc. Royal Soc. Vic., 1884, p.xxiv-xxv.
[20] For instance, Baron F. von Mueller said that 'it is startling to hear the human voice now with telephonic celerity across a whole country, and hardly impaired in intensity.' 'Inaugural Address', Report Second Meeting AAAS, Melbourne, 1890, p.7
[21] 'The day is coming ...when all men shall be brothers, when information, sympathy, and assistance in time of calamity shall flow to the farthest ends of the earth; and in bringing about this great and glorious consummation, the electric telegraph will have been one of the most potent agents.' Kernot, 'Presidential Address', Trans. and Proc. Royal Society Vic., 1887, p.xiii.
[22] Sir Lyon Playfair, letter, quoted by Hamilton in Report Fourth Meeting AAAS, Hobart, 1892, pp.22-24, p.23.
[23] Deane, 'Anniversary Address', Journ. and Proc. Royal Soc. NSW, 1898, p.47.
[24] Ibid., p.48.
[25] The editors of the Journ. of the Tasmanian Society, 1842, quoted by Hamilton, 'Inaugural Address', Report Fourth Meeting AAAS, Hobart, 1892, p.10.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Hamilton, Report Fourth Meeting AAAS, Hobart, 1892, p.7.
[28] Ibid.,p.10
[29] Deane, 'Anniversary Address', Journ. and Proc. Royal Soc. NSW, 1898, p.47.
[30] J.H. Maiden, 'Anniversary Address', Journ.and Proc Royal Soc. NSW, 1897, p.61.
[31] Henry Deane, when writing to Dr. Wallace about Paramatta River, said: 'This same district now is cut up, built upon and trampled over - I am always glad I saw it in its pristine beauty.' H. Deane to Dr. Wallace, 30 November, 1909, Deane Family Papers, National Library of Australia, MS 610/17/364. Later that year he spoke of Gladesville and Ryde, saying how fortunate he was to have seen the area in its 'primeval beauty.' H. Deane to Dr. Wallace, Hunters Hill NSW, 26 December 1909, Deane Family Papers, National Library of Australia, MS 610/17/358.
[32] Ellery, 'President's Address', Trans. and Proc.Royal Soc. Vic.,1881, p.xvii.
[33] J. Morrell and A. Thackray, Gentlemen of Science; Early Years of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Oxford, 1981, p.225.
[34] Moyal, Scientists in Nineteenth Century Australia, p.187.
[35] A. Mozley, 'Evolution and the Climate of Opinion in Australia, 1840-76', Victorian Studies, Vol.X, No. 4, 1967, pp.411-30, p.430.
[36] Moyal, Scientists in Nineteenth Century Australia, p.187.
[37] F. McCoy, 'The Order and Plan of Creation; the Substance of two Lectures Delivered in Connection with the Early Closing Association', Melbourne, 1869.
[38] Baron F. von Mueller, On the Advancement of the Natural Sciences through Ministers of the Christian Church, A Lecture delivered at the Presbyterian Church at West Melbourne, on the 6th August 1877, Melbourne, 1877.
[39] Mr. Justice R. Barry (1813-1880), Inaugural Address to the Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science, 22 September, 1854, Proc. of Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science, 1854-5, Vol. 1, 1-14, in Moyal, pp. 115-6, p.116.
[40] Ellery, 'President's Address', Trans. and Proc. Royal Society Vic., 1879, p. xxvi.
[41] von Mueller, 'Inaugural Address', Report Fourth Meeting AAAS, 1890, p.24.
[42] Wilkinson, 'Anniversary Address', Journ. and Proc. Royal Soc. NSW 1888, .17.
[43] Wilkinson, ibid., p.42. H.C. Russell, in his obituary of Wilkinson, says that Wilkinson in his later years 'had a class of working men to whom he regularly lectured on every available Sunday afternoon upon geology in its bearing upon religion.' 'Anniversary Address', Journ. and Proc.Royal Soc. NSW, 1892, p.8.
[44] Hamilton, 'Inaugural Address',Report Fourth Meeting AAAS, Hobart, 1892, p.29.
[45]Ibid.
[46] Deane, 'Anniversary Address', Journ. and Proc. Royal Soc. NSW, 1898, p.48.
[47] Ellery, 'President's Address', Trans. and Proc. Royal Soc. Vic., 1882, p.xv.
[48] Deane, 'Anniversary Address', Journ. and Proc. Royal Soc. NSW, 1898, p.48.
[49] Wilkinson, 'Anniversary Address', Journ. and Proc. Royal Soc. NSW, 1888, p.12.
[50] Ibid.
[51] Deane, 'Anniversary Address', Journ. and Proc. Royal Soc. NSW, 1898, p.48.
[52] Hector, 'Inaugural Address', Report Third Meeting AAAS, 1891, pp. xxix-xxx.
[53] British Royal Commission on Education, 1861, quoted by Hamilton, 'Inaugural Address',Report Fourth Meeting AAAS, 1892, p. 29.
[54] See for instance, Deane, 'Anniversary Address', Journ. and Proc. Royal Soc. NSW, 1898, pp. 48-54, and W.A. Dixon, F.I.C., F.C.S., 'Technical Education; Outlines of a Practical Scheme to Carry Out a System of Technical Education Through the Schools of Art of New South Wales...', Sydney, 1881.
[55] Deane,'Anniversary Address', Journ. and Proc. Royal Soc. NSW, 1898, p. 50-51.
[56] For instance, Hamilton said that the Exhibition at Launceston 'must have had a great effect in opening and enlarging the minds of the many thousands' of Tasmanian visitors. 'President's Address', Papers and Proc. Royal Soc. Tas. , 1892, p. xxiv.
[57] The Royal Society of Victoria, said Ellery, was 'keenly interested in the educational result' that the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880 would have on the people of the colony. He explained that the exhibition would illustrate 'the progress of science and art', 'in a far more forcible manner' than would otherwise be possible. Ellery hoped that season tickets and low admission days would be made available via a subsidy from the Exhibition Council so that 'the full instructing effect upon the mechanics, artisans, and the youth of our country may remain among us as a kind of compound interest on the cost.' Ellery, 'President's Address', Trans.and Proc. Royal Soc. Vic., 1880, p.xxiv.
[58] J.H. Maiden, in Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, Sydney, October 1898, pp.1-3.
[59] J.H. Maiden, Wattles and Wattle-Barks; Being Hints on the Conservation and Cultivation of Wattles Together with Particulars of their Value, Sydney, first edition 1890, third edition 1906.
[60] J.H. Maiden, A Manual of the Grasses of New South Wales, Sydney, 1898.
[61] See the first lines of the preface of both publications.
[62] A. Player, Julian Tenison Woods 1832-1889; The Interaction of Science and Religion, M.A. thesis, ANU, 1990, p.13. The book Woods wrote was called Geological Observations in South Australia and was published in London in 1862.
[63] Wilkinson, 'Anniversary Address' Journ. and Proc. Royal Soc. NSW, 1888, p.9.
[64] A. McAulay, 'Address by the President: On Some Popular Misconceptions of the Nature of Mathematical Thought', Section A, Astronomy, Mathematics, and Physics, Report of the Sixth Meeting of the AAAS, Brisbane, 1895, p.24.
[65] For instance, T.J. Parker and W.A. Haswell, A Manual of Zoology, (Macmillan Manuals for Students) [probably published in either London or New York, but apparently for an Australian audience: Haswell was a Professor of Biology at the University of Sydney.], 1899.
[66] For instance, J. Curnow, B.A., LLB Melb. and W.E.W. Morrison, B.A. Oxon., Science Manual; Elementary Science Arranged for the Use of Primary Schools in New Zealand, Melbourne, 1879, and A. Gray, Aids to Experimental Science for Teachers and Students: more especially those preparing for the class 'D' examinations of the New Zealand Education Department, revised edition, Dunedin, 1898.
[67] Hector, 'Inaugural Address',Report Third Meeting AAAS, 1891, p. xxix-xxx.
[68] Roy. Soc. of Tas., 'Report', in Papers and Proc. Royal Soc. Tas., 1882, p.16, also T. Stevens, 'On the Question of Establishing in the Royal Society's Gardens a Class-Ground, or Systematic Arrangement Illustrating the Classification of Plants According to the Natural Orders', Papers and Proc . Royal Soc. Tas., 1881, pp.36f.; and Ellery, 'President's Address',Trans. and Proc. Royal Soc. Vic., 1881, p.xvii.
[69] S. Sheets-Phyenson, 'Civilizing by Nature's Example: The Development of Colonial Museums of Natural History, 1850-1900', in Reingold and Rothenberg, Scientific Colonialism, pp.351-377.
[70] Ellery, 'President's Address', Trans. and Proc. Royal Soc. Vic., 1877, p.xxi.
[71] Their 'Report of the Committee Appointed to Consider and Report Upon the Improvement of Museums as a Means of Popular Education', was presented at the Christchurch Meeting of the AAAS in 1891; pp. 538-39.
[72] Such illustrative aids were mentioned often in the presidential addresses during the last quarter of the century. For instance, A. Leibius, Ph.D. M.A., F.C.S, said that a lecture regarding an Antarctic Expedition had been illustrated with lime-light views. 'Anniversary Address', Journ. and Trans. Royal Soc. NSW, 1891, pp. 1-45, p.19.
[73] The presidential addresses of the Royal Societies for most years during the later decades of the century describe these annual gatherings. The displays ranged from the performance of chemical and electrical experiments to ethnographic and artistic artifacts. After the displays and discussions, there were dances and refreshments. See for instance, Liversidge, 'Anniversary Address', Journ. and Trans. Royal Soc. NSW, p.274-275.
[74] The Tasmanian Museum and the Australian Museum in Sydney opened on Sundays in 1878. The South Australian Institute's Museum followed in 1879, the Queensland Museum in 1881. S. Gregory Kohlstedt, 'Australian Museums of Natural History: Public Priorities and Scientific Initiatives in the 19th Century', pp.1-29, HRAS, Vol. 5, No. 4, 1983, footnote 151, p.27.
[75] Debate had also raged in Britain over opening the British Museum on Sundays, but the opposition came from a different quarter. The curators were afraid that the working class people who would thus be able to attend would steal or wreck the collections.Barber, The Heyday of Natural History, p.165-167. There was some hint of the same nervousness by Australian curators; Kohlstedt, 'Australian Museums', p11. Nevertheless, the supporters of diffusing scientific education won out and Sunday opening was made the rule in British and Australian museums.
[76] Royal Soc. of Tas., 'Proceedings; Monthly Returns', in Papers and Proc Royal Soc. Tas., March 1878, p.18, and October 1878,p.15.
[77] See, for example, Wilkinson, 'Anniversary Address', Journ. and Proc. Royal Soc. NSW,1888, p.11, and Deane, 'Anniversary Address', Journ. and Proc. Royal Soc. NSW , 1989, p 49.
[78] Ibid., p.52.
[79] G.H. Knibbs, F.R.A.S., 'Anniversary Address', Journ. and Proc. Royal Soc. NSW, 1899, pp.1-44, p.38-39.
[80] Hamilton, 'Inaugural Address', Report Fourth Meeting AAAS, Hobart, 1892, p.30.

Previous PageNext Page


Honours Thesis submitted by Jenny Newell, Australian National University, June 1992.
Published with permission by the Australian Science Archives Project on ASAPWeb, 5 January 1998
Comments or corrections to: Bright Sparcs (bsparcs@asap.unimelb.edu.au)
Updated by: Elissa Tenkate
Date modified: 19 February 1998

Top | Front Page | Bright Sparcs Exhibition Papers | Bright Sparcs | ASAPWeb