Person

Allan, Catherine Mabel Joyce (1896 - 1966)

Born
8 April 1896
Balmain, New South Wales, Australia
Died
31 August 1966
Mosman, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation
Conchologist, Museum curator and Zoological artist
Alternative Names
  • Allan, Joyce K.

Summary

Joyce Allan was Australia's first female conchologist. She wrote extensively on shells and created accurate illustrations of shells for both her own and other people's publications. Her illustrations were signed Joyce K. Allen. She joined the Australian Museum in 1917 as assistant to the Museum's conchologist, Charles Hedley. On is retirement in 1924 Joyce was briefly in charge of the Conchology Department until her erstwhile assistant, Tom Iredale, was appointed Curator in 1925. It was only on his retirement in 1944 that Joyce became Curator. In her research Joyce focussed especially on gastropod molluscs formerly known as Ophisthobranchia (sea slugs), including sea butterflies and many of the nudibranchs. Her papers were published in scientific journals such as the Australian zoologist and those published by the Museum, as well as newspapers and popular magazines. Her books included Australian shells, with related animals living in the sea, freshwater and on the land (1950), a highly regarded work and the first to include most of Australia's known molluscs. In 1943, Joyce became the first woman to be elected a fellow of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales.

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Details

Chronology

1916 - 1924
Career position - Assistant (temporary, later permanent), Conchology Department, Australian Museum
1924 - 1925
Career position - Curator, Conchology Department, Australian Museum
1925 - 1944
Career position - Assistant, Conchology Department, Australian Museum
1942 - 1944
Career position - Assistant to the Superintendent of Air Raid Precautions training, National Emergency Services
1943 - 1966
Award - Fellow, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales
1944 - 1956
Career position - Curator of Molluscs, Australian Museum
1956
Career event - Retired
1956 - 1962
Career position - Honorary Zoologist, Australian Museum
1956 - 1966
Career position - Patron, Malacological Society of Victoria

Related Corporate Bodies

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

  • McCarthy, Gavan; Morgan, Helen; Smith, Ailie; van den Bosch, Alan, Where are the Women in Australian Science?, Exhibition of the Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, First published 2003 with lists updated regulary edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, 2003, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/wisa/wisa.html. Details

Books

  • Allan, Joyce, Australian shells, with related animals living in the sea, freshwater and on the land (Melbourne: Georgian House, 1950), 470 pp. Details
  • Allan, Joyce, Cowry shells of world seas (Melbourne: Georgian House, 1956), 170 pp. Details
  • Gabriel, Charles J.: illustrations by Joyce K. Allan, Victorian sea shells: a handbook for collectors and students (Melbourne: Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, 1936), 67 pp. Details
  • Whitley, Gilbert; and Allan, Joyce, The sea-horse and its relatives (Melbourne: Georgian House, 1958), 84 pp. Details

Book Sections

  • McMichael, D. F., 'Allan, Catherine Mabel Joyce (1896-1976), conchologist and museum director' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 13: 1940 - 1980 A-De, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1993), pp. 25-26. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A130030b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

  • Allen, Joyce K., 'Shells in the Waterhouse collection', Australian Museum magazine, 5 (2) (1933), 29-43. Details
  • Whitley, Gilbert, 'Joyce Allan (1896 - 1966): obituary, bibliography and index of her new scientific names', Journal of the Malacological Society of Australia, 1 (11) (1968), 50-8. https://doi.org/10.1080/00852988.1968.106738122. Details

Resources

Resource Sections

See also

  • Beechey, D. L., 'Sydney's Molluscs: from Gentlemen to Malacologists' in The Natural History of Sydney, Lunney, Daniel, Hutchings, Pat A. and Hochuli, Dieter, eds (Mosman, N.S.W.: Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, 2010), pp. 107-24. Details
  • Prince, J. H., The first one hundred years of the Royal Zoological Society of N.S.W. 1879 - 1979 (Sydney: Royal Zoolgical Society of New South Wales, 1979), 81 pp. Details

Rebecca Rigby and Helen Cohn

Created: 25 October 2011, Last modified: 17 February 2022

EOAS ID: biogs/P004901b.htm

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