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Dinosaur Symposium Abstracts
Symposium: Dinosaurs and Evolution of Life.
UTAS, Hobart, Tasmania
Over the weekend of 23-24th March 2019, participants at the symposium heard keynote talks by distinguished scientists in their field.
Click below to download all the lecture abstracts from the recent Dinosaur Symposium
DINOSAUR SYMPOSIUM ABSTRACTS
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The conference was organized by The Royal Society of Tasmania as part of our 175thAnniversary celebrations, with support from the Tasmanian Division of the Geological Society of Australia and the University of Tasmania. It was run in parallel with an exhibition at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery called “Dinosaur rEvolution; Secrets of Survival” created by Gondwana Studios of Launceston, Tasmania.
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Themes of the Symposium
Recent research on dinosaurs
Evolution of dinosaurs and birds
Proterozoic evolution of life
Phanerozoic evolution of life
Mass extinction events
New Honorary Editor and Council Member
The Royal Society of Tasmania is pleased to welcome Dr John Volkman as the new Honorary Editor to the Society. He will take over from Dr Margaret Davies OAM who undertook the role for the past sixteen years.
Dr Volkman has a long history of scientific research carried out in Tasmania and internationally. He is currently Co-Editor in Chief of the international journal Organic Geochemistry. John is a former Chief Research Scientist and Program Leader of the multidisciplinary Marine Biogeochemistry program at CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere in Hobart. He continues at CSIRO as an Honorary Fellow. Previously, he was Chair of the Tasmania Science and Technology industry Council and Aquafin CRC Environment program leader examining the environmental effects of salmonid and tuna aquaculture. He is internationally recognized for the discovery and application of lipid biomarkers in organic geochemistry, environmental studies, petroleum geochemistry, palaeoclimatology and the evolution of lipid biosynthetic pathways. Dr Volkman is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and the Royal Australian Chemical Institute.
We would also like to welcome Roxanne Steenbergen as a new member of the Royal Society of Tasmania Council
Roxanne has thirty-five years of experience in primary teaching across a range schools. For over fifteen of those years Roxanne taught gifted and talented students online through the Department of Education’s Centre for Extended Learning (now the Gifted Online program). Through this program Roxanne engaged with students across Tasmania. In 2007, Roxanne and a colleague jointly won the Microsoft 2007 Innovative Teacher Awardfor their “Cool Chemistry” project. The project involved the creation of a virtual classroom connecting two schools, two teachers and a practising chemist. Within this environment, children used a range of software to share and compare their inquiries. Roxanne also has a keen interest in literacy through childhood reading and believes every student should have books in their hands whenever they want one – whether they are classics like Journey to the Centre of the Earth or the more modern stories of the 13-storey treehouse series.She won the Scholastic Literacy Champion Awardin 2013. Roxanne retired from teaching in June 2018, but retains a strong interest in making Science teaching accessible to everyone.
Passing the torch
Dr Margaret Davies OAM
AT the Royal Society of Tasmania meeting on 2 April, Dr Elizabeth Robinson presented a compelling lecture on educating young people in Tasmania today.
The Royal Society took the opportunity to thank Dr Margaret Davies OAM for her many years of service as Honorary Editor to the Society.
Margaret was educated at the University of Tasmania, the Australian National University and the University of Adelaide, from where she retired in 2002 after an academic career at that institution of 30 years. Her research focused on the taxonomy and systematics of the Australopapuan frog fauna with an interest in osteology. She has discovered and named 34 species of frog during that research career and has published 118 papers, books and edited works.
An Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of South Australia, she served as Secretary, Editor, Vice-President, President and Minutes Secretary before returning to Tasmania where she became Honorary Editor of the Royal Society of Tasmania, a position she filled with distinction for sixteen years. Under her leadership the Papers and Proceedings thrived, and the annual calendar was much anticipated. Dr Davies also oversaw the publication of a number of excellent books and other quality publications.
The torch has been passed to Dr John Volkman who has been appointed the new Honorary Editor to the Society. Welcome aboard, John!
Presenter Dr. Elizabeth Robinson and RST Councill member, Dr. Taryn Noble
Ian and Liz Nicolson
Royal Society members, Noel Beswick and Dr. Deborah Beswick
de Wesselow exhibition of watercolours
An exhibition of the Tasmanian watercolour works of
Francis Guillemard Simpkinson de Wesselow (1819–1906)
21 March – 11 June 2019 at TMAG 
Dr Anita Hansen of the Royal Society will be giving a talk about the exhibition on
30 April 2019
at 10.30 am
in the Royal Society rooms, TMAG, Hobart
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All are welcome. Click HERE for registration.
Francis Guillemard Simpkinson de Wesselow, naval officer and artist, was born in London the son of Sir John Augustus Francis Simpkinson. His mother, Mary Griffin, was the sister of Lady Jane Franklin. Upon joining the navy in 1832 he served with his uncle, Sir John Franklin. He arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in September 1844 to take up his appointment to the Rossbank Magnetic Observatory in Hobart Town.
Simpkinson was an accomplished artist and recorded a great many landscapes around Van Diemen’s Land. He was often accompanied on his painting excursions around the colony, and even to Port Philip, by the artist John Skinner Prout.
When Lieutenant Simpkinson returned to England in December 1848, he took his collection of some 200 drawings and watercolours with him. In 1869 he added de Wesselow to his name by deed poll. Responding to a request from the Royal Society of Tasmania, Simpkinson de Wesselow gifted his colonial collection of paintings and drawings to the Society when he was aged 81.
On 10 July 1900 he wrote to the Bishop of Tasmania, Henry Hutchinson Montgomery, who co-jointly with Professor William Brown established the historical and geographical section of the Royal Society of Tasmania in 1899….
I happen to have several volumes of drawings and sketches made during the years I passed there – 1844 to 1849 – which have been lying packed away almost ever since my return. I am exceedingly glad there is now a chance of their being of some use or interest, & I forward them to you with much pleasure.
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This stunning Royal Society collection is housed by the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.
Australia Day Honours 2019
Distinguished Professor Emeritus Ross Large, President of The Royal Society of Tasmania, has been honoured as an AO – Officer of the Order of Australia – “For distinguished service to education, and to scientific research, in the field of economic geology, and to professional societies.”
The Royal Society extends warmest congratulations to Ross on this acknowledgement of his outstanding work.
Christmas Dinner and Lecture
The Royal Society of Tasmania’s 2018 Christmas dinner was held in the CSIRO dinning room at Battery Point on Tuesday 4th of December.
The lecture and dinner were attended by Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Kate Warner AC, the Governor of Tasmania and Mr Richard Warner. The Governor is patron of the Royal Society of Tasmania and the Society has been really spoilt this year by the Governor’s support in both hosting and attending our events.
The Christmas lecture was delivered by Professor Rufus Black.
Rufus Black is the Vice Chancellor and President at the University of Tasmania. Previously, he was Master of Melbourne University’s Ormond College and an Enterprise Professor in the Department of Management and Marketing and a Principal Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Melbourne. Rufus’ private sector experience includes nine years as a partner at McKinsey and Company, serving clients in Australia and Asia, and as a Director for national law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth. His educational and social sector experience includes being the President of Museums Victoria, the Deputy Chancellor of Victoria University, the founding Chair of the Board of the Teach for Australia Board, a Director of the New York based Teach for All and a Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.
Rufus worked extensively for government at Federal and State levels. He was a Board Member of Innovation Science Australia, conducted the Black Review into the Department of Defence and the Prime Minister’s Independent Review of the Australian Intelligence Community and was the Strategic Advisor to the Secretary of Education in Victoria. Rufus holds degrees in law, politics, economics, ethics and theology from the University of Melbourne and Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.
Massive Dinosaur Picnic
Saturday 10 November. In the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens the Royal Society of Tasmania put on a dinosaur party, the likes of which have not been seen for about sixty-five million years. The crowds came from far and wide for this Jurassic celebration.
Thanks to everyone who made this great event a great event.
Photography by David Wilson
Book Launch – Poles Apart
Official Launch by the Governor of Tasmania on 6 November at TMAG
Poles Apart: Fascination, Fame and Folly, edited by Dr Anita Hansen and Dr Brita Hansen, was launched by Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Kate Warner AC at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. This is the second book created as part of the 175th Anniversary celebrations of The Royal Society of Tasmania.
The publication was produced using images from The Royal Society of Tasmania’s Rare Book collection and features articles composed by 19 international, interstate and Tasmanian scientists and historians. The book investigates and enlightens the reader as to the mysteries, deprivations, endurance and achievements of the heroes who took on the challenges of Arctic and Antarctic exploration.
Poles Apart can be ordered online
or via email to royal.society@tmag.tas.gov.au.
Dinosaur Picnic
Dinosaur Picnic in the Botanical Gardens, Saturday 10th November 2018, 11.00am to 2.00pm.
A free event for the whole family sponsored by the Royal Society of Tasmania and the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens.