The research for “Gardeners, Plant Collectors, Friends”

Friends of TMAG have kindly invited members of the Royal Society of Tasmania to attend a talk by Ann Cripps, in conversation with Kate Warner, at 5.30pm, on Thursday 25 May 2023. The talk will be held in the Central Gallery, TMAG. RST members will be able to attend at the same admission price as Friends of TMAG members.

Admission Price: Members $20, Non-members $30. Includes refreshments.

Information on how to book for this event may be found here.

Ann will talk about the research for her recent book, Gardeners, Plant Collectors, Friends: Hobart Town and Beyond. Not only did early colonists bring European species to the colony of Van Diemen’s Land, they also sent endemic Tasmanian plants to collectors overseas. As you follow Ann’s research you will meet Quakers, botanists, doctors, horticulturalists and nurserymen who were instrumental in bringing Tasmania’s flora to the wider world.

*Gardeners, Plant Collectors, Friends: Hobart Town and Beyond* book cover.

While Ann’s research took her far afield, many of her discoveries came from detailed studies of documents in the Royal Society of Tasmania’s Special Collections, housed at UTAS, and from items in the TMAG collection.

Illustration details from *Gardeners, Plant Collectors, Friends: Hobart Town and Beyond* book cover. Credit: Pelargoniums from Frederick Mackie’s 1870s sketchbook (Private collection)

As a special treat, you will be able to view the exquisite table cover embroidered with Tasmanian plants created by early settler Catherine Mitchell. Catherine is just one of the many creative women whose works feature in Ann’s book. Our thanks to Peter Hughes, TMAG’s Senior Curator of Decorative Arts, for a rare opportunity to see this beautiful and fragile work.

Speaker

Ann Cripps is a garden lover and historian who has lectured and written for many years on all aspects of Tasmanian garden history. As a consultant she has advised on the restoration of some of Tasmania’s significant gardens. In her research for this book, Ann visited libraries and other institutions in the United Kingdom as well as in Australia, uncovering a fascinating network of gardeners, plant collectors, their families and some of the most important botanical collections in the world.

Royal Society of Tasmania’s contribution to annual “Science Meets Parliament” event, 7-23 March 2023.

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’.

*Science Meets Parliament 2023* media photo, showing RST panel representative, Past President Mary Koolhof, at upper left.

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

Liver disease: the good, the bad, the ugly

The Northern Branch of the Royal Society of Tasmania invites you to a public lecture at 1.30 pm on Sunday 23 April 2023 by Professor Nicholas Shackel in the Meeting Room of QVMAG (Inveresk).

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. Full Covid vaccination and the wearing of face masks are highly desirable.

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

Recent advances in the treatment of liver disease have seen previously incurable conditions effectively treated. However, the number of cases of fatty liver disease, hepatitis and liver cancer are increasing and predicted to do so for decades. Despite recent breakthroughs in diagnosis and treatment we are seeing increasingly more Australians die from liver disease especially in disadvantaged groups.

Professor Nicholas Shackel

Nick Shackel is a specialized hepatologist managing all aspects of adult liver disease. He has both a medical degree and a PhD with a track record in both basic and applied research, having trained at both the Australian National Liver Transplant Unit and Duke University in the USA. Prof Shackel has interests in the diagnosis and management of liver cancer, importance of nutrition in cirrhosis and the noninvasive assessment of liver disease severity.

Generously supported by

Call for nominations for 2023 RST Office bearers and Council members

Nominations for positions on The Royal Society of Tasmania Council are now open for election at the Annual General Meeting.

The following positions are open for nomination:

Three Council members (for 1 & 3 year terms to be determined by ballot at the first Council meeting after the AGM)
Honorary Secretary (1 year; may be re-elected)
Honorary Treasurer (1 year; may be re-elected)
President (1 year; may be re-elected for 2 years maximum)
Vice President (1 year; may be re-elected for 2 years maximum)
Student Councillor (3 years)

Nominations must be received by the Returning Officer, Mrs Mary Koolhof by Sunday 26 February, 2023.

The nomination form can be printed/downloaded from here. Copies may also be obtained from the RST Office open Thursdays 9.00 am to 12 noon.

The completed and signed form may be returned by mail to:

The Returning Officer
C/- The Royal Society of Tasmania
GPO Box 1166
Hobart TAS 7001

OR delivered to the RST office at 19 Davey Street

OR a signed and scanned copy may be emailed to admin@rst.org.au

For further information, please contact the Honorary Secretary at secretary@rst.org.au

Notice of a Change to the RST Rules

Any change to the Rules of the RST requires approval at an Annual General Meeting.

A small change is recommended for the second paragraph of Rule 64 ACCOUNTS AND AUDIT. This change will be presented for approval at the AGM. The change is intended to ensure that the Society will remain compliant through future changes in the relevant government bodies and the legislation.

The current version of the second paragraph of Rule 64 is:

ACCOUNTS AND AUDIT
64. …..
The Society will register with the Australian Charities and Not for Profit Commission (ACNC) or its successors in law, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), the Australian Business Registry (ABR), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), any similar Tasmanian Government body where that registration will benefit the Society, or is required by law. All material issued by the Society will comply with all rules and regulations created under the legislation created by each of the above bodies.

Changes to this paragraph have been proposed, as follows:

ACCOUNTS AND AUDIT
64. …
The Society will register with the Australian Charities and Not for Profit Commission (ACNC) or its successors in law, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), the Australian Business Registry (ABR), and any similar Tasmanian or Federal Government body where that registration is required by law or will benefit the Society. All material issued by the Society will comply with all rules and regulations created under the legislation created by each of the above bodies.

Jocelyn McPhie
President

RST member, Mrs Joyce Mackey, awarded an OAM in the 2023 Australia Day Awards

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.

Narryna mourning costumes as arranged by Joyce Mackey for “Ashes to Ashes” exhibition.

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.

Exquisite lace bonnet created to honour the memory of convict Mary Reibey by Joyce Mackey, Costume Curator at Narryna Heritage Museum.

Complex Volcanic Eruptions

The Northern Branch of the Royal Society of Tasmania invites you to a public lecture by Professor Jocelyn McPhie at 1.15pm on Sunday 26 March 2023. The lecture will be held in the Meeting Room, QVMAG, Inveresk, Launceston.

This lecture will be recorded but not live-streamed.

Admission is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania. General admission – $6. Students, QVMAG or TMAG Friends, and members of the Launceston Historical Society – $4. Full Covid vaccination and the wearing of face masks are highly desirable.

Abstract

The 2007 eruption of Piton de la Fournaise on Reunion Island was one of the largest for the past two centuries and remarkably complex, involving multiple events at different locations and contrasting eruption styles. Nevertheless, analysis of the eruption records and the products has revealed spatial and temporal connections among the different events and styles that were fundamentally controlled by the magma supply

Professor Jocelyn McPhie

Jocelyn McPhie is a volcanologist and for most of her career (1990 to 2015), she held an academic position at the University of Tasmania. Since retiring from the university, she has been consulting to the minerals industry, providing technical advice and professional training in volcanology. She maintains an adjunct position with the University of Tasmania, continuing to supervise PhD students and to participate in research projects. She became a member of the Royal Society of Tasmania in 2020 and President in 2022.

Assessing the risks of eliminating malaria with gene drives

The Royal Society of Tasmania invites you to a lecture by Dr Keith Hayes at 3 pm on Sunday 2 April 2023. The lecture will be held at the Geology Lecture Theatre (Geo.211.LT), Earth Sciences, Geography Planning and Spatial Sciences Building, UTas, Clark Road, Sandy Bay.

Please register using this link. Eventbrite registrations close at 2 pm on Saturday 1 April. The lecture will be recorded, but not live-streamed.

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

Abstract

Synthetic gene drives cause significant deviations from Mendel’s Law of Equal Segregation, enabling specific genes to increase in prevalence in populations of sexually reproducing organisms, even if these genes incur a fitness cost. In the laboratory, gene drives have suppressed caged populations of human malaria vector mosquitoes in less than 12 generations (about 3 months) raising the prospect of a powerful new genetic method for eliminating malaria from regions such as Africa where the disease kills more than half a million people each year, 80% of which are children under five. In this presentation, Dr. Keith Hayes describes the methods used by his team to assess the environmental and human health risks associated with a strategy of staged releases of genetically modified mosquitoes in Burkina Faso, designed to culminate in the first field trials of gene-drive-modified mosquitoes to eliminate malaria vector populations at a continent-wide scale.

Our speaker

Dr Keith Hayes is a senior research scientist at CSIRO Data61, and leads the Data61 Ecological and Environmental Risk Assessment team in the Hobart laboratories. The team conducts probabilistic risk assessments, and supporting studies, typically for challenging problems across large spatio-temporal scales. Recent applications include:

Dr Hayes recently assisted the Australian federal government to design a Monitoring Evaluation Reporting and Improvement framework for Australia’s Marine Parks and is now leading a subsequent project to implement this framework.

RST Honorary Editor and Council member, Dr Sally Bryant awarded an AM in the 2023 Australia Day Awards

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.

Forty-spotted pardalote.
Source: Barry Baker.

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 peril of naming things

The Northern Branch of Royal Society of Tasmania invites you to a public lecture by Dr Eric Ratcliff OAM at 1.30 pm on Sunday 26 February 2023 in the Meeting Room, QVMAG, Launceston, or via Zoom webinar.

Admission is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania. General admission – $6, Students, QVMAG and TMAG Friends, and members of the Launceston Historical Society – $4. Full COVID vaccination and the wearing of face masks are highly desirable.

Please register for the Zoom webinar using this link.

Naming things, an ancient human activity that enables us to make sense of our surroundings, carries a risk of distorting our perceptions of them. The success of the Linnaean system influenced attempts to label other phenomena, both natural and man-made. Some effects of this are illustrated through the speaker’s interests in nosology and architectural history.

Dr Ratcliff is a senior consultant psychiatrist and a recognised authority on the social and stylistic history of architecture in Tasmania during the extended nineteenth century. He first delivered this lecture at Government House in 2022 after being presented with the Royal Society Medal by Her Excellency the Honourable Barbara Baker AC, Governor of Tasmania.