"In the year 1821 a Company of gentlemen, consisting of
Alexander Berry, Esq.,
Henry Grattan Douglas, Esq., M.D.,
Barron Field, Esq., Judge of the Supreme Court,
Major Goulburn, Colonial Secretary,
Patrick Hill, Esq., Colonial Surgeon,
Captain Irwin, XI Bengal N.I,
Captain P. P. King, R.N.,
John Oxley, Esq., Surveyor-General,
Charles Stargard Rumker, Esq., Astronomer; and
Edward Wolstonecraft, Esq.,
formed themselves into the Philosophical Society of Australasia, under the presidency of His Excellency Sir Thomas Brisbane, K.C.B., F.R.S.L.&E.
* * * * * This early union appears to have partaken rather of the character of a Mutual Friendly Association, than of that of a more formal body. It was, in other words, a Scientific Club. At that time there were no public libraries and scarcely a bookseller's shop in the Colony; but the members possessed books of their own; these were catalogued and lent by one to another, so that the use of them was reciprocal. The business of the Society was transacted at the dwelling-houses of the members in succession, where memoirs, prepared on an alternative of a fine of ten pounds sterling, were read and discussed, the only refreshment allowed being a cup of coffee and a biscuit, an arrangement still in vogue, I believe, in England, and which was followed here in later times at the meetings of our Society in 1855–56.

I have not been able to discover more than four of the papers read by members, and these were preserved as a portion only of the Society's Transactions, and edited by Judge Field in his "Geographical Memoirs of New South Wales by various hands," published by John Murray, of Albemarle Street, in the year 1825. These papers were the following:—

1. "On the Aborigines of New Holland and Van Dieman's Land," by Barron Field, Esq., read 2nd January, 1822.


2. "On the Geology of part of the Coast of New South Wales," (from the River Hunter to the Clyde), read in the same year by Alexander Berry, Esq.


3. "On the Astronomy of the Southern Hemisphere," by Dr. Rumker, read on the 13th March, 1822; and


4. "On the Maritime Geography of Australia," by Captain Philip Parker King, R.N., read 2nd October, 1822.

In Mr. Field's book there are also papers by Mr. Oxley, and meteorological notices by Major Goulburn and Sir Thomas Brisbane. We have evidence, therefore, that at least seven of the twelve were working members.

Mr. Allan Cunningham, the Botanist, (whose death I recollect at the Botanical Gardens shortly after my arrival in 1839), also contributed two papers, the one describing his traverse from Bathurst to Liverpool Plains in 1823; the other "On the Botany of the Blue Mountains" as observed in November and December, 1822.

As these last papers do not appear to have been read Wore the Society, it is probable that Mr. Cunningham was not a member of it. But. without doubt, the, actual members did good service to the Colony. Of only one of these memoirs do I venture to form an opinion, and that is one which I expressed in 1860 in my book on the Southern Gold Fields, in the following words: -"In the year 1822 my respected friend, Alexander Berry, Esq., read a very interesting paper on the geology of the Clyde River before the Philosophical Society of Australasia. At that early period Mr. Berry had successfully made out all the prominent features of the district, as well as along the coast, and has pointed out the vertical strata of schist, the quartz, the trap, and the sandstone, with their order of succession. It gives me great satisfaction to mention this, (p.45.) * * * * *

The Philosophical Society, which thus commenced with flattering promises of future usefulness, was destined to only a brief period of service. A question arose between the Government and some of the members which led to estrangement. The friendly meetings became fewer, and the fictitious[6] variable value assigned to the dollar (the coin then current) was the cause of breaking up the little band who cultivated science for the love of it.

Judge Field thus speaks of that mishap, in connection with the seven memoirs before mentioned;— "Such of them (i.e., of the several documents in his book) as are parts of the Transactions of the Philosophical Society of Australasia are printed by permission of their respective authors; for I am sorry to add, that the infant society soon expired in the baneful atmosphere of distracted politics which unhappily clouded the short administration of its President, the present (i.e. the then) Governor of New South Wales."

Bureau of Meteorology