Biographical entry
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Bright Sparcs
Biographical entry
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Diggles, Silvester (1817 - 1880) |
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| Naturalist, Artist and Musician | |||
| Born: 24 January 1817 Liverpool, England. Died: 21 March 1880 Kangaroo Point, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. | |||
| Sylvester Diggles was a musician, artist and naturalist who actively progressed the cultural and scientific development of Queensland in the 1850's. He was founder of the Brisbane Choral Society, the Brisbane Philharmonic Society and co-founder of the Queensland Philoscientific Society. Diggles and this society established the Queensland Museum in 1862. |
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One year after arriving in Australia (Sydney), Sylvester Diggles moved his family to Queensland (1854). There he worked as a music and drawing teacher and musical instrument repairer. He founded the Brisbane Choral and Brisbane Philharmonic Societies and was dubbed ‘the father of music in Brisbane’. Diggles was a very religious man and joined, then lead, the New Jerusalem Church. He was also interested in science, especially ornithology and entomology. He helped establish Queensland’s first scientific institute, the Queensland Philoscientific Society, which lead to the development of the Queensland Museum. Sylvester Diggles wrote many publications, but his most applauded work was the 21 part The Ornothology of Australia. He also drew 325 lithographed hand-coloured plates (many of which were used in the book) and developed a fine entomology collection (particularly moths, butterflies and beetles). Chronology
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Published by The University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre on ASAPWeb, 1994 - 2007 Originally published 1994-1999 by Australian Science Archives Project, 1999-2006 by the Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre Disclaimer, Copyright and Privacy Policy Submit any comments, questions, corrections and additions Prepared by: Acknowledgements Updated: 26 February 2007 http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/biogs/P000367b.htm |