Vale Distinguished Professor James Barrie Kirkpatrick AM (12 Oct. 1946 – 21 Oct. 2024)

It is with great sadness we acknowledge the death of Distinguished Professor James Kirkpatrick AM on 21 October 2024. Professor Kirkpatrick was one of our most prestigious members and a significant contributor to the Royal Society. In 2019 he was awarded the Clive Lord Medal in recognition of his research on Tasmania’s natural environment, including conservation planning, forest conservation and world heritage assessment. He was presented with the medal at Government House on 16 March 2021 by the Governor Her Excellency the Honourable Kate Warner AC and his Clive Lord Lecture ‘Cyclic dynamics in Tasmanian high mountain treeless vegetation’ was delivered online (due to Covid restrictions) and can be viewed on the RST YouTube channel.

Professor Kirkpatrick was employed as a lecturer in the Geography Department at the University of Tasmania, in the early 1970s. In 1988 he was appointed Professor and served as Head of various academic units in the now Geography, Planning, and Spatial Sciences Department, where he remained for his entire UTAS tenure. He soon became the life-changing mentor and supervisor for so many students privileged to work with him and quickly spearheaded the scientific and academic charge for the recognition and protection of Tasmania’s unique biodiversity, ecosystems and geo-heritage. In 1997 he was awarded the National Eureka Prize for his outstanding 25-year contribution to knowledge and research on the ecology of endangered species and ecosystems. In 2003, Jamie was made a Member of the Order of Australia and in 2006, was awarded the Doctor of Science by the University, marking his distinguished original contribution to scientific knowledge and authoritative standing in conservation ecology. He was appointed a Distinguished Professor in 2009.

Professor Kirkpatrick was recognised internationally for his pioneering work on reservation planning methods but his research loves were alpine, alkaline pans, grassy and coastal ecosystems which kept him very much a field-based ecologist. His staggering academic output of over 500 research papers span a hugely diverse range of flora and fauna species, threatened communities, landscapes, policy and legislation, world heritage area, habitat loss, urbanisation, climate change, invasive pests, roadkill, and so much more. Professor Kirkpatrick had his first paper published in the Journal of Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, ‘Natural History of Curtis Island, Bass Strait’, in 1973, which began a publishing tradition he maintained almost annually for 50 years making him the Society’s most prolific and esteemed academic contributor. His final paper ‘Predicting Spatial Variation in the Upper Limit of Trees on the Alpine Mountains of lutruwita/Tasmania’ will be published in this coming Journal Volume 158 in December.

Professor Kirkpatrick served on numerous high-profile Boards, Councils and Committees while equally contributing scientific support to protest campaigns to protect Tasmania’s natural environment. He published a remarkable range of introspective nature books, the last three were launched at a special event held recently on the Hobart Domain on 12 October to coincide with his 78^th birthday. Jamie loved the Hobart Domain and conducted numerous conservation assessments and long-term research studies to guide its management and protection. During the launch, attended by over 150 guests, former Senator Christine Milne so aptly described Jamie as a towering figure in Tasmania, an anchor in academia and a fellow activist on the front line of nature conservation in Tasmania for the past half century. Though physically frail, Jamie responded with his trademark wit and candour touching all who were privileged to be there. Jamie was one of a kind. His legacy to nature conservation will live on in his landmark publications, the students he mentored across the ages and the enormous network of friends and colleagues who stand in awe and admiration at his contribution to nature conservation in Tasmania.

We extend our sincerest condolences to Professor Kirkpatrick’s wife Christina and his children and grandchildren.

Dr Sally Bryant AM
24 October 2024

Professor David Green died on 6 September 2024 in Hobart. He was a long-term member of the RST and was awarded the RM Johnston Memorial Medal in 2016. Professor Green’s career in geology (igneous petrology) was truly remarkable for the breadth and significance of his research and achievements, especially his contributions to understanding the formation of magmas deep in the Earth through a radically innovative experimental approach.

Professor Green was born on 29 February 1936 (a leap year), in Launceston and awarded BSc Hons (1957) and MSc (1960) degrees by the University of Tasmania (UTAS), followed by a PhD at Cambridge University (1962). For the next fifteen years, he pursued an academic research career at The Australian National University (ANU), returning to the University of Tasmania in 1977 as Professor and Head of Geology. In 1994, he was appointed Director of the Research School of Earth Sciences at ANU, a position he held until retiring in 2001. Professor Green remained actively involved in research for another two decades in his Honorary capacity at both UTAS and ANU.

Professor Green’s achievements have been recognised by numerous national and international awards, including the most competitive and prestigious awards available to geologists: Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (AAS, 1967), FL Stillwell Medal of the Geological Society of Australia (1977), Mawson Medal of the AAS (1982), Honorary Foreign Fellow of the European Union of Geosciences (1985), Honorary Foreign Fellow of the Geological Society of America (1986), Jaeger Medal of the AAS (1990), Fellow of The Royal Society London (1991), Murchison Medal of the Geological Society of London (2000), Humboldt Research Prize of the Humboldt Foundation Germany (2001), Honorary Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of London (2001), Honorary Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (2001), Member of the Order of Australia (2006), and the International Gold Medal of the Geological Society of Japan (2007).

Professor Green served on numerous professional and government committees and advisory bodies, including the Australian Research Council, Australian Science and Technology Council, and the Geological Society of Australia. He held the position of Chief Science Adviser for the Federal Government and was the Chair of the National Greenhouse Scientific Advisory Committee.

In addition to a vast network of local, national and international professional colleagues and friends, Professor Green and his wife Helen Green had six children, seventeen grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Professor Green’s scholarship, wisdom, curiosity and patience will be missed by all who had the privilege of knowing him.

Jocelyn McPhie
2 October 2024

Congratulations to our RST member Lynne Uptin OAM who was awarded the 2024 Best Botanical Art Exhibit Award and a Gold Medal award for 2024 for her suite of works.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) in London is staging its annual Botanical Art and Photography Show from 14 June to 7 July 2024. The exhibition hosts exquisite botanical art and photography featuring a rich variety of subjects from medicinal desert flowers to ornamental bananas, and from images of forest slime moulds to urban street plants.

It showcases the work of 23 leading global botanical artists and 18 photographers, representing countries including the UK, Italy, Portugal, Romania, USA, South Africa, Taiwan, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Japan and Australia. The exhibition is held at the Saatchi Gallery in London. Lynne’s works occupy the end wall of Gallery One and are the first works seen as you enter the exhibition.

All entries are reviewed by an expert judging panel during the pre-selection process, prior to the show opening in June, and are assessed on aesthetic appeal, scientific accuracy and technical skill. The judges noted that this exhibition contains the best quality of artworks ever received.

The Show contributes to a long legacy of botanical art collecting and display by the RHS, and complements the work of the RHS Lindley Collections, which holds more than 30,000 botanical paintings and heritage photographs. This prestigious exhibition is open only by invitation, sent to a select few of the best botanical artists in the world.

Lynne was Director of Arts Tasmania, the State’s arts funding body, for 20 years and was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in 2010 for services to arts administration, particularly in assisting Aboriginal culture.

Hear Lynne speaking about the award with ABC’s Ryk Goddard here.

Note 1: The image for this post is a detail from the artwork, The Genus Richea: A Relic of Gondwana, for which Lynne received the Best Botanical Art Exhibit Award.