The suggestion, emanating from the Field Naturalists Club, that an annual award should be made in Australia to the person who does the most for the elucidation of the Australian flora and fauna, was strongly supported by the Royal Society. This resulted in 1939 in the gift of the Natural History Medallion by Mr J. K. Moir, of Melbourne, to be awarded annually on the terms mentioned above. The president of the Royal Society became ex officio a member of the award committee. In the years that followed, a number of distinguished members of the Royal Society were to receive this coveted award.

In 1940, the Society approved the principle of controlling the export of specimens of natural history, and presented to the Commonwealth Government a recommendation which had been agreed upon unanimously by the Royal Societies of all States and by the Linnean Society of New South Wales. Specific reference was made to the need to preserve Australia type specimens within Australia. As a result, appropriate regulations were made under Commonwealth law to prevent such trafficking without the permission of the museum of the State from which the material was being exported.

The advent of World War II led to difficulties in the forwarding of the Proceedings to overseas recipients. It became necessary to inform overseas societies that, in future, copies would only be forwarded on request, and then at the recipient's risk, with little or no chance of replacement.

The war also caused other problems to the Society, such as war insurance of the building and contents, A.R.P. measures, and the obtaining of permits for the supply of paper for printing the Proceedings. The taking over of the Society's hall by the Royal Australian Air Force for lectures in meteorology considerably inconvenienced the Society, but this was partly offset by the receipt of a rental of £100 per annum for its use, dating from 1 July 1942. A month or so later, a further sum of £52 per annum for the use of a downstairs room was received from the same source.

Royal Society of Victoria