About the records

Administrative Information

The records of The Royal Society of Victoria (selected holdings from 1854 to 1982, MS 11663) were transferred to the La Trobe Australian Manuscripts Collection, State Library of Victoria between 1981 and 1988. A guide to these holdings was produced. Conversion of this guide into an online publication was made possible through the project, Science and the Making of Victoria, supported by the Victorian Government through the Centenary of Federation and the Community Support Fund, and was undertaken in April 2001. Dimensions of the holdings were not given in the original guide, and have not been obtained as part of the conversion project.

Scope and Content

The Royal Society of Victoria had its origin in two independent societies, the Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science and the Philosophical Society of Victoria, which were founded in 1854 and united in the following year as the Philosophical Institute of Victoria. The name was changed to The Royal Society of Victoria in 1859. Its aim is to contribute to the advancement of science and, through science, to the good of the Victorian community. The Society has played an important part in:

• forming government policy on science;
• surveying the natural resources of Victoria;
• organising symposia dealing with the regions of Victoria;
• establishing the Museum and National Parks;
• convening the first Australian Antarctic Exploration Committee in 1885;
• organising the Burke and Wills expedition;
• establishing the Victorian Institute of Marine Sciences.