Annual Reports

The original version of this article appeared in issue 165 of History, published by the Royal Australian Historical Society (RAHS) in September 2025. It has been made available on this website with permission from the author and the RAHS.

A painting from the Royal Society of Tasmania Art Collection travelled to the United States of America in 1941 as part of an exhibition intended to showcase 150 years of Australian art. The exhibition, curated by Professor Theodore Sizer, featured 144 major artworks sourced from leading Australian art galleries, museums and private collections including the […]

Climate change threatens obligate alpine plants with restricted distributions, especially where mountain peaks are not far above the climatic treeline (henceforth ‘treeline’), as in Lutruwita/Tasmania where there are at least ten plant species that are only known to occur above the treeline and many more that only occur in alpine vegetation above and below the […]

In St John’s Church in Launceston, Tasmania, there are remarkably accomplished representations of Tasmanian native plants, formed in masonry, all but one decorating capitals consisting of coloured concrete. They were designed by the architect Alexander North, and, with the exception of one carved in sandstone, were executed by Gordon Cumming in 1938–1939. Possible influences on […]

Crushed agricultural limestone and dolomite are used primarily to increase soil pH (pHw) with its consequent effects on plant nutrient availability and successful introduction of Rhizobium spp. to ensure effective nodulation and nitrogen fixation by pasture and crop legumes. They have also been shown to correct calcium deficiency and, in the case of dolomite, magnesium […]

Two paintings from the Royal Society of Tasmania (RST) Art Collection were selected for an exhibition held in 1951 to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia. The Jubilee Exhibition of Australian Art comprised 156 works chosen to represent the best of Australian art from Aboriginal art through early colonial […]

The Tyndall Range, approximately 15 km north of Queenstown and part of the larger West Coast Range, has been chosen as the site for Tasmania’s next ‘Iconic Walk’, due to open in 2029. The range is composed of siliceous conglomerates and sandstones of Late Cambrian age, within which four formations are recognised. The area was […]

A new species of freshwater crayfish, Engaeus excavator, is described from locations near Latrobe in central northern Tasmania. The species is identified by the elongate fingers of the propodus and carpus of the chelae, and a fringing row of tufts of long flexible setae along the ventral margin of the propodal finger in both large […]

Tasmania’s Athrotaxis-dominated woodlands represent a distinctive habitat for lichens and support numerous remarkable species, many of which are endemic to Tasmania and confined to this host tree. In this paper, four further species known only from Tasmania are described as new to science: Amandinea athrotaxiphila Elix & Kantvilas, Catinaria macrospora Kantvilas, Pertusaria comminuta Kantvilas and […]

We report the rediscovery of an attractive geometrid moth, the brown-caped carpet moth, not recorded in Tasmania for more than a century and presumed extinct. Originally described by the French lepidopterist Achille Guenée as Coremia excentrata from a specimen collected near Hobart in 1839 during the French expedition led by Dumont d’Urville, it was only […]

This paper is from a lecture presented by Heather Sculthorpe to the Royal Society of Tasmania on 4 August 2024. The address was delivered on Aboriginal land at Piyura Kitina/Risdon Cove and attended by a large audience of RST members and the public. This paper has been published with the author’s permission.   Keywords:

The concept of continental drift started with the Ancient Greeks. Translation of part of Strabo’s Ancient Greek manuscript based on Eratosthenes’ mapping of sub-continental scale, geographic and geologic units which he named ‘sealstones’, led to the discovery that he had employed a successful, rectangular co-ordinate, mapping method. As early as c.240–220 BCE the detail of […]

As President, I am profoundly honoured to uphold the legacy of the distinguished line of Council Presidents, members, volunteers, advisers, and scholars who have steadfastly dedicated themselves to ensuring The Royal Society of Tasmania remains well-resourced, pertinent, and ready to shape the prosperous future of our State. The Society’s illustrious heritage, spanning over 180 years, […]

The mission of the Royal Society of Tasmania is theadvancement of knowledge. The RST strives to collect, preserve, promote, and make accessible rare,archival and/or primary source materials that advances historical, scientific, cultural, andtechnological knowledge for the benefit of Tasmanians. The RST’s Library and Art Collections werebuilt upon the original foundations of the Society. The Society […]

PRESIDENT’S REPORT In addition to core business, major preoccupations for the Society during 2023 were the RST ArtCollection, a new RST medal, engagement of the Society with the Tasmanian Aboriginal community, and areview of the RST Library Collections at UTAS.There has been significant progress in management of the RST Art Collection. Using a Cultural Heritage […]

The Royal Society of Tasmania (RST) adheres to the Australian Government’s National Privacy Principles, valuing the privacy of its members and website visitors. Personal information—such as name, address, email, and phone number—is collected only when individuals take out a membership or make a booking. This information is stored securely, accessible only to authorised RST personnel, […]

When Louisa Anne Meredith first arrived in colonial Australia she was already an accomplished author and during the remainder of her life here her talents as a gifted painter and illustrator would receive equally high acclaim. At the heart of her work was her love of nature and through her prolific writings and social commentary, […]

Old field succession is the process of vegetation recolonisation of abandoned sites in a passive method of restoration. Slope aspect could be expected to affect the nature of succession after clearance. We investigated variation in paired cleared and uncleared plots between three aspects in grassy woodland in northeastern Tasmania. PERMANOVA was used to assess relationship […]

This paper builds on our existing knowledge of fluorescence in Tasmanian mammals and birds, with 25 new and updated observations comprising two species not previously reported to fluoresce, 12 species previously only reported from museum specimens, and updated information on 11 species, plus two colour-morphs not previously reported. In most cases, the coverage, intensity and […]

Production and sources of agricultural limestone and dolomite in Tasmania are considered in the context of their geology, the acidity of their surface soils, transport and current patterns of use. The Tasmanian Government paid a rail freight subsidy between 1940 and 1980 to encourage on-farm use of ground lime products. Regulations and registration were adopted […]

The organised acclimatisation of animals from one geographical region to another was a widespread movement from the mid-nineteenth century and was common in the Australasian colonies. Previous studies have underplayed or ignored Tas- mania’s acclimatisation experience as shown by the activities of the Tasmanian Acclimatisation Society, formed in 1862 by a small band of enthusiasts […]

Norman Laird was a pioneering Tasmanian advocate for nature conservation through documentary filmmaking and writing in an era before environmental activism was well known, yet his achievements have since been overlooked. Through the camera and pen, Laird was a seminal influence on public discourse about Tasmanian nature in the mid-twentieth century, and, being in the […]

The nomenclature and typifications of Spyridium parvifolium (Hook.) F.Muell. and S. obcordatum (Hook.f.) W.M.Curtis are reviewed. Spyridium parvifolium var. molle (Hook.f.) Benth., so far recognised as a separate taxon in Tasmania, is not accepted, following a recent molecular analysis of the species complex. Lectotypes are chosen for Cryptandra obcordata Hook.f. (basionym of Spyridium obcordatum) and […]

How we got here, and what we might expect after the referendum Thank you for inviting me to speak about an issue that is topical today. And thank you to the audience, both here in person and those listening in, for your interest. I am not the first of my family to stand before the […]

The Royal Society of Tasmania Foundation was created by the Council of The Royal Society ofTasmania. The Foundation is responsible to the Council of The Royal Society of Tasmania and throughit is governed by the Rules and By Laws of the Society.

In 1979 the National Aboriginal Conference (a national body of elected aboriginal people) called for a treaty. The Prime Minister at the time, Mr Malcolm Fraser, indicated he was happy to discuss a treaty with the NAC and although these discussions did not eventuate, at least the topic was raised. In 1996 Sir William Deane, […]

For over 60,000 years the Palawa people practised their sovereignty across this land of lutruwita. All of this changed with the arrival of the white man. The invasion radically changed us in a very short amount of time. Our culture was interrupted; our language, freedoms and country were taken from us, by force. Since British […]

In February 2021, The Royal Society of Tasmania offered a formal Apology to Tasmanian Aboriginal people (Palawa) and committed to building a respectful and supportive relationship. As part of honouring that commitment, the Society has invited Tasmanian Aboriginal scholars and leaders to present lectures in the RST lecture program. The three lecture transcripts published in […]

A resplendence of poets could not conceive of something so exquisite as the kaleidoscope of nature’s nocturnal glow. For the first time, this paper presents an overview of Tasmania’s luminous phenomena: the Aurora Australis, or Southern Lights; Sea Sparkles, or marine bioluminescence Noctiluca scintillans; Glow-worms Arachnocampa tasmaniensis; Ghost Mushrooms Omphalotus nidiformis and other fungi; fluorescent […]