The Royal Society of Tasmania

The advancement of knowledge

.

Texting: Spoiling our spelling or enhancing communication? – 7th August 2012

Presentation by Dr Nenagh Kemp

Clarence Senior Citizens Centre 17 Alma St Bellerive.

Tuesday, 7th August 2012 Commencing 8.00 pm until 10.00 pm

Please note change of venue due to building works at the Museum

 

About the Speaker

Dr Nenagh Kemp is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Tasmania. Her research centres on child and adult spelling, literacy and the nature of Australian English, but has also expanded to investigate the links between text-messaging and literacy skills.

 

Brief Abstract of the Talk

Text-messaging is a ubiquitous form of communication, especially among young people. However, media panic about the potential effects of “textese”-style spelling on literacy skills has not been borne out by research. This lecture discusses the nature of “textese”, its links with literacy, and its future in communication.

WINTER SERIES-Saving Tasmania’s Unique Animals – 17th July 2012

Presentation by Various. See detail below

Sir Stanley Burbury Theatre, University of Tasmania.

Tuesday, 17th July 2012 Commencing 7.30 pm until 9.30 pm

Chaired by Professor Peter Rathjen, Vice-Chancellor, University of Tasmania

 

About the Speaker

1. Professor Elissa Cameron, School of Zoology, University of Tasmania. “Sex and social behaviour im mammalian conservation”. 2. Dr Menna Jones, School of Zoology, University of Tasmania. “Will Tasmanian devils follow Tasmanian tigers to extinction?” 3. Mr Mick Mooney, Richmond, Tasmania. “A Tasmania without devils: environmental impacts and implications for feral species”.

 

Sir Raymond Priestley and his Antarctic adventures – 3rd July 2012

Presentation by Tony Fleming

Clarence Senior Citizens Centre 17 Alma St Bellerive.

Tuesday, 3rd July 2012 Commencing 8.00 pm until 9.30 pm

Please note change of venue due to building works at the Museum

 

About the Speaker

Tony Fleming has recently been appointed the Director of the Australian Government’s Antarctic Division, with responsibility for Australia’s Antarctic program. Previously, Tony was the National Operations Manager for the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC). AWC is a non-Government organisation that acquires land, and works with other landholders, to establish sanctuaries for the conservation of threatened wildlife and ecosystems. AWC currently has 22 sanctuaries covering more than 2.5 million hectares throughout Australia. Prior to joining AWC, Tony had spent 9 years with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. For the first five years he was Director of the Southern Branch, then spent the last four years as Head of the Service. In that role Tony was also a member of the NSW Marine Parks Authority and Chair of the Lord Howe Island Board. Tony has previously worked in the Federal Environment Department, where he led the development of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. He has also worked as a senior policy adviser to three Federal Environment ministers; Senator Graham Richardson, Ros Kelly and Senator John Faulkner.

 

Brief Abstract of the Talk

Tony will speak about his Grandfather Sir Raymond Priestley and his Antarctic adventures, focussing on Scott’s Northern Party 1911-13.

Siltation in the Tamar – 1st July 2012

Presentation by Special Forum

QVMAG – Inveresk meeting room

Sunday, 1st July 2012 Commencing 2.30 pm until 4.30

Moderated by Dr Owen Ingles

 

About the Speaker

Amanda Locatelli – The Tamar Estuary and Esk Rivers (TEER) Program. Andrew Fullard – Launceston Flood Authority. Robin Frith – Tamar Lake Proposal

WINTER SERIES Saving Tasmania’s Unique Animals – 19th June 2012

Presentation by Various. See detail below

Sir Stanley Burbury Theatre, University of Tasmania.

Tuesday, 19th June 2012 Commencing 7.30 pm until 9.30 pm

Chaired by His Excellency, The Honourable Peter Underwood AC, Governor of Tasmania

 

About the Speaker

1. Professor Chris Johnson, School of Zoology, University of Tasmania. “Mammalian extinctions: lessons for Tasmania”. 2. Associate Professor Greg Woods, Menzies Research Institute, University of Tasmania. ” The nature of the Tasmanian devil facial tumor disease”. 3. Mr Andrew Sharman, Manager, Save the Tasmanian Devil Program, DPIPWE. “Managing devils for species survival”.

Click to hear the talk

 

The ‘String of Beads’ (Horodyskia) in Proterozoic slate – 5th June 2012

Presentation by Clive Calver

Clarence Seniors’ and Citizens’ Centre

Tuesday, 5th June 2012 Commencing 8.00 pm until 10.00 pm

Please note change of venue 17 Alma St Bellerive

 

About the Speaker

Dr Clive Calver is a geologist with Mineral Resources Tasmania. He has a particular interest in the paleobiology, sedimentology and correlation of Proterozoic sequences, stemming from many years mapping these rocks in Tasmania and elsewhere.

Click to view Power Point Presentation of the talk

Studies on a broad cross-section of aquatic invertebrates in Lake Pedder – 6th May 2012

Presentation by Dr Andrew Osborn

QVMAG – Inveresk

Sunday, 6th May 2012 Commencing 2.30 pm until 4.30 pm

 

About the Speaker

Dr Osborn gained his PhD at the UNSW in zoology and entomology. He worked for CSR, and later became head of Biology and Chairman of the School of Science at Capricornia CAE. He was Science Liaison Officer in the Research Department of the Reserve Bank. He came to Tasmania to become Head of School of Applied Science in the TCAE/TSIT where he later also became Head of Department of Aquaculture, the establishment of which led to very important developments in aquaculture in this State. Dr Osborn is currently Emeritus Professor, University of Tasmania and Honorary Research Associate, QVMAG.

 

Brief Abstract of the Talk

The talk will describe research initiatives to date on Lake Pedder by Prof. Nigel Forteath and Dr Osborn in conjunction with several other researchers. These studies span more than twenty years. Two genera and seven species of invertebrates will be discussed, all of which are new to science. The crucial importance of maintaining relatively stable water levels in the lake on populations of many invertebrate species will be discussed. The biology of a lacewing, Sisyra pedderensis, with aquatic larvae is to be elaborated upon. In addition the talk will focus on the fates of a number of invertebrates that have not been seen since the expansion of Lake Pedder in the 1970s or have been seen only once. A preliminary long-term ecological study will demonstrate how essential it is for a regular sampling programme to be undertaken as opposed to infrequent snapshots for a species.

History of Steam Driven Cars – 1st May 2012

Presentation by Wally Mounster

Clarence Senior Citizens Centre 17 Alma St Bellerive.

Tuesday, 1st May 2012 Commencing 8.00 pm until 10.00 pm

Please note change of venue due to building works at the Museum

 

About the Speaker

 

Brief Abstract of the Talk

My talk will describe the development of steam cars from the very early days when a motorist had a choice between steam and internal combustion engined cars. I will then describe the features of the more popular and successful designs up until commercial manufacture finished in the 1930’s. I will also have a little to say about the development work which was done in the 1970’s to built a car whose exhaust emissions were non polluting. In conclusion I will describe a 2009 attempt at a world record speed for steam cars.

Evolutionary landscapes of lizards – the accidental story of a climate change biologist – 3rd April 2012

Presentation by Erik Wapstra

Clarence Senior Citizens Centre 17 Alma St Bellerive.

Tuesday, 3rd April 2012 Commencing 8.00 pm until 10.00 pm

Erik Wapstra is the M R Banks Medal recipient for 2011

 

About the Speaker

Dr Wapstra is one of the leading Australian scientists in the field of evolutionary ecology. His work is interdisciplinary in nature, using a variety of model systems combined with field work and experimental approaches. His specific work, gaining international recognition, has included climate effects in reptiles; maternal effects and developmental plasticity; and sex allocation and sex determination. His research is of fundamental biological importance because it shows the mechanisms by which selection in nature produces evolutionary change. Erik has achieved significant contribution in publishing.

 

Brief Abstract of the Talk

I will be exploring evolutionary and ecological processes that affect reptiles in Tasmania from the evolution of live birth from egg-laying, the evolution of temperature dependent sex determination from ancestral genetic-dependent sex determination and how climate affects all these processes historically and currently and into the future.

Musquito: Translating the Language of Black Resistance. – 1st April 2012

Presentation by Dr Michael Powell

QVMAG – Inveresk

Sunday, 1st April 2012 Commencing 2.30 pm until 4.30 pm

FULL TITLE : Musquito: Black warrior on the Hawkesbury and catalyst for the

 

About the Speaker

Dr Michael Powell is a lecturer at the University of Tasmania in Launceston and has taught in World History, Australian and Colonial history, South Asian and Southeast Asian Colonial history and Aboriginal Studies. He is the author of several books including FL Woodward, a Buddhist Scholar in Ceylon and Tasmania which again looks at the complex story of colonial intrusion and people caught in cultural transition.

 

Brief Abstract of the Talk

Musquito first led Aboriginal resistance on the NSW Hawkesbury frontier before capture and exile to Norfolk Island. After further exile in Van Diemens Land he first colluded with white occupation then turned again to resistance along side the Tasmanian Aborigines in a surprising pan-Aboriginal alliance, launching a tirade of attacks on settler occupation. His infamy led to a price on his head similar to that placed on Howe and after his capture and execution he passed into the fabric of vandemonian folklore as a potent symbol of savagery and fear, repeatedly blamed as a catalyst for the Black War. Beyond the character constantly re-invented by writers from that time to the present, who was this person and what were his motives? A complex character of the “people in-between” culture, his is a personal struggle for identity. He was no simple savage, two-dimensional heroic warrior or base wanton criminal but a man straining for meaning in a collapsing world. Translating that action into a language fathomable to the present is the task of this paper. It is not the story of particular Aboriginal exceptionality but one within the common stream of human response.