The Royal Society of Tasmania

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Identifying the Source with Forensic Science


The Royal Society of Tasmania, Northern Branch, invites you to a public lecture at 1.30 pm on Sunday 26 June 2022 by Dr Charles Connor, in the Meeting Room of QVMAG (Inveresk). Full COVID vaccination and the wearing of face masks are highly desirable for anyone attending in person.

Admission is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania. The charge is $4 for students, QVMAG Friends, TMAG Friends, and members of Launceston Historical Society. For all others, admission is $6.

Dr Charles Connor

You may if you wish view the lecture remotely via ZOOM. In this case you must register in advance to ensure that you receive an email containing instructions for joining the webinar on the day of the talk. Click here to register for ZOOM.

Click here to view the latest flyer for the event and print if necessary.

DNA profiling is currently considered the gold standard in human identification. But just how reliable is DNA profiling, and Forensic Science in general, and should the public have any reason for concern about what is presented in Tasmanian courts? What techniques are used in criminal and coronial cases here in Tasmania? Is it just like what we see on television?

Dr Connor is a senior Forensic Scientist at Forensic Science Service Tasmania, specialising in the examination of crime scenes, biological testing and DNA profiling, and is an Advanced Bloodstain Pattern Analyst. His duties include examining items pertaining to criminal and coronial matters in order to give evidence in Tasmanian courts.

Dr Connor is the immediate past President (and current Vice-President) of the Tasmanian branch of the Australian and New Zealand Forensic Science Society.


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Little bird of lutruwita: Saving Tasmania’s forty-spotted pardalote


Dr Sally Bryant

The Royal Society of Tasmania invites all members and supporters to a lecture on Sunday 19 June 2022, at 3 pm by Dr Sally Bryant. The lecture will be presented at the Royal Society of Tasmania Lecture Room in TMAG (entrance off Dunn Place, Hobart) and as a Zoom webinar.

If you wish to attend in person: Register using Eventbrite before 4 pm Saturday 18 June using this link.

Attendance is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania. Non-members are welcome to attend and donations are appreciated at the door or through our website . Suggested donation $6; $4 for students and Friends of TMAG.

If you wish to attend via ZOOM: Follow this link to register for the Zoom webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.


Once found on King Island and the eastern half of Tasmania, the forty-spotted pardalote is one of only ten Australian bird species now extinct from over 90% of its former range. Listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List and Federal and State legislation, this tiny woodland specialist is intrinsically linked to one eucalypt type, making it highly vulnerable and often out-competed as more aggressive species continue to spread.

Forty-spotted pardalote.
Image: Nomdeploom at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons.

Described as one of the world’s most unique birds by being able to stimulate its own food resource, survival of the forty-spotted pardalote in a rapidly changing climate has never been more precarious.

After graduating from UTAS in 1989, Dr Sally Bryant worked for 18 years as a wildlife scientist for the Tasmanian Government, seven as Manager of the Threatened Species Section. In 2009 she joined the Tasmanian Land Conservancy to develop their science and monitoring program and build their network of private reserves which now span over 30,000 ha.

Sally has travelled widely researching island species especially threatened birds and has authored and co-authored several books, chapters and numerous scientific papers and technical reports on wildlife conservation. In 2020 she became an Honorary Research Fellow with the TLC, Editor of the Journal Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania and is perhaps best known through her popular ABC Radio wildlife talkback program delivered fortnightly since 1999. She is a passionate advocate for Tasmania’s wildlife and Chair of the Forty-spotted Pardalote National Recovery Team.

A Brave New Plant Biosecurity System


The Royal Society of Tasmania, Northern Branch, invites you to a public lecture at 1.30 pm on Sunday 22 May 2022 by Andrew Bishop, in the Meeting Room of QVMAG (Inveresk). Full COVID vaccination and the wearing of face masks are highly desirable for anyone attending in person. Admission is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania. The charge is $4 for students, QVMAG Friends, TMAG Friends, and members of Launceston Historical Society. For all others, admission is $6.

Andrew Bishop

You may if you wish view the lecture remotely via ZOOM. In this case you must register in advance to ensure that you receive an email containing instructions for joining the webinar on the day of the talk. Click here to register for ZOOM.

Click here to view the latest flyer for the event and print if necessary.

Technology and innovation are revolutionizing how we manage the rapidly increasing threats from exotic pests and diseases to our agriculture, environment, and amenity. This ranges from powerful data gathering and big data analysis that generates advance warnings of impending threats, through to molecular and GPS based tracking systems and electronically connected smart surveillance systems.

Andrew is Tasmania’s Chief Plant Protection Officer with Biosecurity Tasmania, having responsibility for decision making in the development and maintenance of the Tasmanian plant biosecurity system, including emergency responses and responsibility for representation (state and national). He has 33 years’ experience working in government in Tasmania and Victoria..


Generously supported by  

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Geology, landscape and European settlement: small things meant a lot


A Joint lecture of the Royal Society of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Division of the Geological Society of Australia

The Royal Society of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Division of the Geological Society of Australia, invite all members and supporters to a lecture on Sunday 15 May 2022, at 3 pm by Dr Tony Webster.

Dr Tony Webster

NOTE THE CHANGE OF VENUE. The lecture will be presented at the Geology Lecture Theatre (Geo.211.LT), Earth Sciences – Geography Planning and Spatial Sciences Building, University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay (entrance off Earl Street, Hobart) and as a Zoom webinar.

If you wish to attend in person: Register using Eventbrite before 4 pm Saturday 14 May using this link . The password is RST.

Attendance at this joint event is free.

If you wish to attend via ZOOM: Follow this link  to register for the Zoom webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Historical accounts of the first European responses to Australian landscapes rarely mention the ways that their decisions were influenced by the terrain. This talk is about the role that geology and landscape played in the places chosen for permanent European settlements in Australia, and in the earliest land-use choices made as they adapted to their new environments. The most historically significant sites of first European settlement are now occupied by the modern central business districts of Australia’s largest cities and are now intensely urbanised and modified landscapes. Using examples from Hobart, Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth, it will be shown that despite the intensity of two centuries of urban development and landscape modification, the geology and pre-European landscapes of these places had a profound influence on their early development. It will also be shown that the effects of the original landforms remain deeply embedded in the modern urban landscapes.

Dawes Point (Sydney) facing Sydney Harbour Bridge 2022

Dr Anthony (Tony) Webster

Tony is a Hobart-based consulting geologist working with GeoDiscovery Group Ltd. He has spent over 30 years in the mining industry, academia and government, working in and around several historically significant base metal and gold mines, including Broken Hill and Kalgoorlie, Zeehan, Mount Farrell, and Rosebery (Hercules). Tony started his career as an underground mine geologist on the Golden Mile (Fimiston) but has since worked in a variety of roles, including mining heritage, environmental regulation and research roles in Tasmania and Queensland. Tony has particular skills in structural geology, historic data compilation and analysis, and the geological interpretation of complex mineralised systems.

Tony is currently Vice President of the Royal Society of Tasmania. He is also an Honorary Senior Fellow of both the University of Tasmania and the University of Queensland. He was formerly Chair of the Queensland Division, Geological Society of Australia and an Associate Editor of the Australian Journal of Earth Sciences.


View the recording of the lecture by Prof Kate Warner and David Owen – March 2022


The lecture “Government House Tasmania — A Remarkable Story” is now available on the RST YouTube channel.

This lecture highlights content from Professor Warner and David Owen’s two-volume book, relating to the history of Government House, covering architecture, art, gardening and landscape ideals, pioneering scientific endeavour, colonial administration, vice-regal families and staff, and the evolving use of the House and Grounds. The story is supported by historical paintings and drawings, maps, plans and early photographs.

Professor Kate Warner AC is a barrister and solicitor whose career began as an Associate to the Chief Justice of Tasmania. Professor Warner then took an academic position at the University of Tasmania where she was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Law, Head of the School of Law and Director of the Tasmania Law Reform Institute. In 2014, she became Governor of Tasmania, and held that position until 2019.

David Owen is the Official Secretary, Office of the Governor, Government House, in Hobart. He has wide responsibilities relating to events that involve the Governor and particularly those events held at Government House. David is also a much published writer of fiction and non-fiction, including the highly successful “Pufferfish” detective fiction series set in Tasmania.

The Lost Thylacines


The Royal Society of Tasmania, Northern Branch, invites you to a public lecture on Sunday 24 April 2022 at 1.30 pm, by Kathryn Medlock, in the Meeting Room of QVMAG (Inveresk). Full COVID vaccination and the wearing of face masks are highly desirable for anyone attending in person. Admission is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania. The charge is $4 for students, QVMAG Friends, TMAG Friends, and members of Launceston Historical Society. For all others, admission is $6.

Kathryn Medlock

You may if you wish view the lecture remotely via ZOOM. In this case you must register in advance to ensure that you receive an email containing instructions for joining the webinar on the day of the talk. Click here to register for ZOOM.

Click here to view the latest flyer for the event and print if necessary.

The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery has a large and significant collection of thylacine specimens, however many more came into the museum than currently exist in the collection. This presentation will explain the fate of some of the ‘missing’ specimens and review the display history of thylacines at TMAG.

Patrick Hall 1998 (TMAG exhibition poster)

Kathryn Medlock worked in vertebrate zoology at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery for 35 years. Her many tasks included specimen preparation, collection management, research, education and exhibition curation. An exhibition on the thylacine in 1998 sparked her interest in the multiple facets of museum thylacine specimens and how the specimens themselves can reveal aspects of human culture, history and science.


Generously supported by  

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Jellyfish Blooms and the Future of the Ocean


The Royal Society of Tasmania invites all members and supporters to a lecture at 3 pm on 3 April 2022 by Dr Lisa Gershwin. The lecture will be presented in person at the RST Lecture Room in TMAG (Hobart) and as a Zoom webinar. This lecture is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania.  Non-members are welcome to attend and donations are appreciated through our website or at the door. Suggested donation is $6; $4 for students and Friends of TMAG.

Attendance in person: Please register for the in-person lecture using this link. The password is RST. Eventbrite registrations close at 4 pm on Saturday 2 April.

Attendance via ZOOM: Follow this link to register for the Zoom webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Our oceans are becoming increasingly inhospitable to life—growing toxicity and rising temperatures coupled with overfishing have led many marine species to the brink of collapse. And yet there is one creature that is thriving in this seasick environment: the beautiful, dangerous, and now incredibly numerous jellyfish. The jellyfish population bloom is highly indicative of the tragic state of the world’s ocean waters, while also revealing the incredible tenacity of these remarkable creatures.

Lisa Gershwin is a marine ecologist and scientific communicator. Her research skills include nearly all aspects of pelagic invertebrates with particular focus on gelatinous species, including jellyfish bloom dynamics, taxonomy, stinger management, toxinology, paleontology, evolutionary biology, and field guide construction. She communicates via local, national, and international media, high profile feature stories and documentaries, blogs, social media, a science show on the radio, and authorship of the best-selling books “Stung! On Jellyfish Blooms and the Future of the Ocean” and “Jellyfish: A Natural History”. She has more than 70 peer reviewed papers published, a half million dollars in competitive research funding, a Fulbright Fellowship, and more than 200 new jellyfish species and one dolphin discovered.

Doctor Lisa Gershwin

The peril of naming things: taxonomy, nosology and the identification of style


Her Excellency the Honourable Barbara Baker AC, Governor of Tasmania, and Emeritus Professor Don Chalmers AO invite RST members to a Medal Presentation, Lecture and Reception at Government House on Wednesday 30 March 2022 commencing at 6 pm. Dr Eric Ratcliff, winner of the 2021 Royal Society of Tasmania Medal, will speak on “the Peril of Naming Things”.

PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT IS FOR RST MEMBERS ONLY.

Registration in advance is required. Detailed instructions for registration are given here. Please observe COVID-19 requirements for attendees at Government House. Attendees must wear masks and adhere to physical distancing provisions.

Bookings for this event will close at 9.00 p.m. on Thursday 24th March 2022.

Government House, Hobart

About this lecture

Taxonomy is broadly understood to refer to the science of classification of organisms, both living and extinct, whereas nosology is a branch of medical science that deals with the classification of diseases. Classification in general can be perilous because the process requires decisions about what is in and what is not in any particular class. In this lecture, Dr Ratcliff will explore the perils and pitfalls of naming and classifying.


About Dr Eric Ratcliff

The Royal Society of Tasmania Medal is reserved for a distinguished scholar who is also an active member of the Royal Society of Tasmania. Dr Eric Ratcliff fully satisfies, and indeed exceeds, the selection criteria for this medal. Dr Ratcliff has been a leading figure in the Psychiatric profession in Tasmania and nationally over some 55 years. Over six decades Dr Ratcliff has taught, lectured, written and published on psychiatry and medical history, and has taught, lectured, written, published, illustrated, exhibited and designed on architecture, building conservation, art and history. During the same period, he has been an active member of the Royal Society of Tasmania Northern Branch, a Member of the Northern Branch Management Committee for 13 years, President of the Northern Branch on four separate occasions, and a member of the Royal Society of Tasmania Foundation from 2015 to 2020.

Royal Society of Tasmania medal

Understanding Early Earth Environments


The Royal Society of Tasmania, Northern Branch, invites you to a public lecture on Sunday 27 March 2022 by Doctor Indrani Mukherjee. The lecture will commence at 1.30 pm following the Annual General Meeting which will commence at 1.15 p.m.

Doctor Indrani Mukherjee

You may, if you wish, attend the lecture in person ​at the Meeting Room, QVMAG at Inveresk. For those attending in person, full COVID vaccination is highly desirable and the wearing of face masks is mandatory.

Admission is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania. The charge is $4 for students, QVMAG Friends, TMAG Friends, and members of the Launceston Historical Society. For all others, admission is $6.

Alternatively, you may view the lecture remotely via ZOOM. In this case you must register in advance to ensure that you receive an email containing instructions for joining the webinar on the day of the talk. Click here to register for ZOOM.

Click here to view the latest flyer for the event and print if necessary.

The transition of a simple cell into a complex one, billions of years ago, is the reason we share the planet with millions of species today. Indrani Mukherjee’s research focuses on “what drove that biological transition?” The approach involves a nuanced understanding of ancient marine environments, via novel and cutting-edge geochemical techniques.

Indrani earned her BSc Honours and Masters in Geology at the University of Delhi where she was also awarded the university gold medal for securing the highest marks in MSc. She completed her PhD at UTas in 2018 where she is a lecturer and postdoctoral researcher in Earth Sciences, and was awarded the 2021 Vice-Chancellor’s Early Career Award.


Generously supported by  

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View recording of the lecture by Professor Greg Woods – November 2021


The lecture entitled “A Double Devil Dilemma” (28 November 2021), by Emeritus Professor Greg Woods, is now available on the RST YouTube channel. Read more about the lecture here.

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Last modified: April 1, 2022. Copyright © 2022 The Royal Society of Tasmania ABN 65 889 598 100