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Science and the making of Victoria |
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Royal Society of Victoria 1854-1959 Introduction Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science Philosophical Society of Victoria Philosophical Institute of Victoria Royal Society of Victoria Acknowledgements Index Search Help Contact us |
Royal Society of Victoria (continued) In 1888 it was decided that the Transactions of the Royal Society of Victoria should be published in the same form, with the same shape and size of plates, as the Transactions of the Royal Society of London, and be kept separate from the Proceedings. In these, original work of members of the Society would be published. To Professor Baldwin Spencer was given the honour of filling the first volume with his monumental work on Megascolides australis, the giant earthworm of Gippsland. Two other matters of considerable scientific importance also were formulated in this yearfirstly, the necessity for a detailed biological survey of the waters of Port Phillip Bay, and secondly, the desirability of the preservation of Wilson's Promontory as a national park. In both of these projects there was active co-operation with the Field Naturalists Club, both in committee and field work. The Port Phillip Biological Survey Committee is worthy of some attention, as it was one of the most important of the research projects with which the Society had an active interest. Formed towards the middle of 1887, it consisted of seven members (Messrs W. M. Bale, A. W. Cresswell, A. H. S. Lucas, P. N. McGillivray, Baldwin Spencer, C. A. Topp, and J. Bracebridge Wilson), all authorities in some field of the proposed survey. The aims of the committee were many, the chief being:
It was intended pro tem. that the specimens obtained should be kept at the University under the care of Professor Baldwin Spencer. The council approved an annual grant of £50 to this committee to help defray expenses, and arranged for a display of specimens obtained from the first year's operations at the annual conversazione.
Organisations in Australian Science at Work - University of Melbourne People in Bright Sparcs - Lucas, Arthur Henry Shakespeare; MacGillivray, Paul Howard; Spencer, Walter Baldwin; Topp, Charles Alfred; Wilson, John Bracebridge
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