Bookings are now closed.

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Royal Society of Tasmania members and supporters are invited to attend ‘An Evening with Louisa’, a fundraising reception for The Royal Society of Tasmania Art Collection at Government House, Hobart on Thursday 28 September 2023 commencing at 6:00 pm.

Louisa Anne Meredith was one of Australia’s leading 19^th century artists and a highly respected member of the Royal Society of Tasmania. The RST Art Collection (940 artworks) contains the largest and most significant group of works by Louisa: 252 works. All proceeds from the evening will go to the conservation and exhibition of artworks in the RST Collection.

The evening will include entertainment, refreshments, and the auction of an original framed watercolour painting of Tasmanian waratah donated by noted botanical artist and RST member Lynne Uptin OAM. Hospitality is provided courtesy of the Office of the Governor.

Tickets are $85 per person, and the ticket price is a direct contribution to the Royal Society of Tasmania Art Fund.

Please RSVP by 5.00 pm on 14 September 2023 by filling out the form included in the invitation  and emailing or posting it to the Royal Society of Tasmania.

Your Government House TryBooking entry ticket will then be emailed/posted to you. Please present the TryBooking ticket at the door to gain entry on the night.

Numbers are limited, and an early RSVP is recommended.

The Royal Society of Tasmania invites secondary school students to apply for bursaries

• Open to Tasmanian secondary and senior secondary students who have been selected through a competitive process to represent Australia at an international event, including those held in Australia.
• Bursaries may also be awarded for national events held interstate.
• Offered in the fields of science, mathematics, engineering, as well as the arts, humanities and social sciences.
• No closing date for applications.
• Students selected for Youth ANZAAS are eligible to apply.

Events attended by previous recipients include:

• Science Summer Experience in London.
• Physics Challenge in Beijing.
• Science Challenge at NASA, Cape Kennedy USA.
• RoboCup International Competition in Sydney.

To apply, students should send a written application, including:

• Name and contact details of the applicant, the name of the school attended by the applicant, and the name of the event.
• A brief description of the summer school or event they have been selected to attend, including location, dates and costs.
• A copy of the recommendation from the Australian selectors for the event or activity they were chosen to attend.
• A concise statement (<200 words), written by the student, about their goals and aspirations, and a short CV (maximum 2 pages).
• A signed statement endorsing the application by a senior staff member of their school, including their contact details (email and phone).

Send applications to: Professor Jocelyn McPhie, Acting Chair, RST Bursaries Committee, j.mcphie@utas.edu.au

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At the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre’s flag-raising event on Monday 3 July, the first day of NAIDOC Week 2023, Rodney Gibbins was named Tasmanian Aborigine of the Year. This award is intended to recognise Aboriginal individuals who make outstanding contributions to improving the lives of members of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community.

Rodney Gibbins was recognised for his selfless and unwavering dedication to advance the negotiations for Treaty by means of an Aboriginal-led process. At the same time, Rodney has been advocating for Truth Telling as the essential context for achieving Aboriginal rights and recognition.

Rodney has generously given his time and experience to support these causes, both within and outside the Aboriginal community. He is also committed to developing the understanding of younger members of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community so they can reach their full potential and gain confidence in their own abilities and skills.

Rodney’s connection with the RST began in February 2021 when, together with Michael Mansell, he spoke on behalf of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community at the paired RST-TMAG Apology to Tasmanian Aboriginal people.

The text of Rodney’s speech was published in the Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmanian December 2022 issue (Volume 156).

Rodney delivered an RST lecture in December 2022 entitled “Truth-telling and treaty as it relates to Tasmania now” (click here to view).

Congratulations Rodney!

Congratulations to RST member, Dr Keith Corbett on being awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the King’s Birthday Honours announced on 12 June.

Keith’s passion for geology, conservation and wild Tasmanian places has lasted a lifetime, during which he has contributed relentlessly to promoting and caring for Tasmania’s natural environment. Keith’s wife, Elizabeth Bothwell Corbett, was also awarded an OAM for service to conservation and the environment.

Knowing our past: truth telling in science

Science Meets Parliament (SMP) is an annual Australian event connecting STEM experts, policymakers and federal parliamentarians. In 2023 SMP took place in Canberra from 7-23 March and involved 528 delegates, 68 speakers and 64 meetings with scientists and parliamentarians. There was a strong online component, and the Royal Society of Tasmania was invited to take part in the session ‘Knowing our past: truth telling in science’.

As our President was scheduled to be working overseas in a remote area, I was asked to represent the Society in this panel discussion. The panel was chaired by Yawuru epidemiologist Dr Kalinda Griffiths, with other speakers Quandamooka mathematician Prof Chris Matthews and Mr Mike Flattley, CEO of the Royal Society of Victoria. The aim of the session was to share reflections on how to approach truth telling about the history of science’s relationship with Indigenous peoples, and why it’s important to know our past and be able to talk about it with clarity and honesty.

An official round-up was circulated each day of SMP, and this is how the panel discussion was summarised:

‘… then it was into a powerful discussion on truth-telling in science.

STA board member and Quandamooka mathematician Professor Chris Matthews said this work was deeply intertwined with “undoing the damage of the original doctrine of terra nullius – which did not see Aboriginal people as people”. 

Session chair Dr Kalinda Griffiths reminded us to remember the vast load on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people – and urged non-Indigenous people to step into the space and carry the work with a deep awareness of that load.

Royal Society of Tasmania immediate past President Mary Koolhof reminded us a truth-telling was a process of humbling ourselves, deep listening and understanding – and of building trust. “That listening provides the platform for change.”

… Royal Society of Victoria CEO Mike Flattley: “What truth telling means to me is facing the past … that can evoke shame sorrow and anger, but settlers need to understand the past so we can atone for the wrongs and understand those legacies in the present.”’

There was considerable interest in the work of the RST in truth telling, and a great deal of respect for the process undertaken. One of the most important steps in this process was the delivery of the Apology to Tasmanian Aboriginal People in 2021: https://rst.org.au/apology-to-tasmanian-aboriginal-people-2021/. Newer members of the Society may be interested to know that one of the first steps in the Society’s journey towards truth telling took place in 2003 with the sponsoring of research into the work of the Royal Society of Tasmania in relation to Tasmanian Aboriginal people in the nineteenth century.

It was a privilege to represent the Society at this event and to develop deeper understanding of the process of truth telling and its importance.

More information about Science Meets Parliament can be found at
https://scienceandtechnologyaustralia.org.au/what-we-do/science-meets-parliament/

Mary Koolhof
Past President
The Royal Society of Tasmania

Congratulations to Royal Society of Tasmania member, Mrs Joyce Mackey, on being awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the 2023 Australia Day Awards, for service to community history preservation.

Joyce is an Honorary Costume Curator for TMAG at Narryna, an 1830s merchant’s house and collection that tells the story of early colonial life in Hobart. In 2016 Narryna received a National Library of Australia Community Heritage Grant to undertake a significance and preservation-needs assessment of its nationally-significant costume collection. Over the Winter of 2018, Joyce led volunteers in upgrading the cataloguing and photographic documentation of the collection as it was rehoused, using archival materials provided for by a second successful grant application.

Joyce now curates both the textiles and costumes collections at Narryna, arranging their exhibition at events such as the “Ashes to Ashes” exhibition held as Narryna’s contribution to the Dark MOFO program of 2015.

Joyce is also a highly accomplished lace maker. In 2017, Joyce designed and made a mixed bobbin lace pattern placemat of Tasmania’s floral emblem of blue-gum leaves and flowers against a lattice fence, which was presented as part of an Australian official anniversary gift to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of Queen Margrethe II and Crown Prince Henrik of Denmark.

A beautiful lace bonnet, created in 2016 by Joyce to commemorate the memory of 1790’s convict Mary Reibey, is now on permanent exhibition at Entally House in Hadspen.

Congratulations to the Royal Society of Tasmania’s Honorary Editor, Council member, and renowned Wildlife Scientist and Conservationist Dr Sally Bryant, on being made a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2023 Australia Day Awards, for “significant service to wildlife and land conservation in Tasmania”.

Sally has worked in many of Australia and New Zealand’s wildest places focusing on threatened fauna mainly birds. Her conservation assessments of Tasmania’s shorebirds, eastern ground parrot and forty-spotted pardalote have been foundational for three decades. In Tasmania she has surveyed many of the remote offshore islands including Macquarie Island and was instrumental in establishing the Hamish Saunders Memorial Island Survey Program. At the Tasmanian Land Conservancy Sally was instrumental in protecting 11 permanent nature reserves and establishing long term monitoring across 15,000 hectares. Two reserves had World Heritage Status and one reserve in the heart of Kingborough protected a critical colony of forty-spotted pardalotes.

In 1991, Sally authored the Forty-Spotted Pardalote National Recovery Plan for the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries and Water, which aimed to secure major colonies of the forty-spotted pardalote on private land, maintain or increase the amount of potential habitat available to the species and maintain or increase the populations at or above those recorded in 1991.

Sally has authored and co-authored numerous books, chapters, journal papers, technical reports and popular articles on conservation issues, including those for the Royal Society of Tasmania. She is an Adjunct Lecturer at UTas, on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Ecological Management & Restoration, and has recently lectured for the Society of the plight of the Forty-Spotted Pardalote.

Sally is probably best known for her popular ABC Radio wildlife talkback programs, which have been running since 1999.

The RST Doctoral Award is intended to recognise recent PhD graduates who have made significant advances in the course of their doctoral research. The value of the award is $1,000 (AUD).

Dr Zhen Zhou has been selected as the winner of the 2022 RST Doctoral Award. Dr Zhou is a medical scientist and completed her PhD at the Menzies Institute of Medical Research, University of Tasmania in 2021. The focus of her PhD research was primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and the use of lipid-lowering medications (known as statins) for elderly people.

Cardiovascular disease is the top killer at the state, national and global levels. Tasmania has scored poorly in heart health, and the risk factors for developing heart problems are among the highest in Australia.

Dr Zhou’s PhD results supported widespread use of statins for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in older adults, given that this treatment is relatively safe and widely tolerated. However, statin use does not have a mortality benefit and many questions remain. Large, randomised trials over several years are required to fully understand the role of statins. In the meantime, Dr Zhou’s research will inform clinicians making judgments on the appropriateness of prescribing statins to their older patients.

Since graduating, Dr Zhou has taken up a National Heart Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Menzies Institute of Medical Research.