Bartholomai, Alan (1938 - 2015)

Summary

Alan Bartholomai was Director of the Queensland Museum for 30 years and a palaeontologist renowned particularly as an authority on Cretaceous fish. As Director he oversaw the relocation of Museum, the re-establishment of the Museum's Board (in abeyance since 1907), and the creation of regional branches. He fostered research programs that significantly expanded the recording and understanding Queensland's biodiversity, palaeontological record and cultural heritage. Bartholomai's wider role in Australia's museums included serving on such bodies as the Advisory Committee on Illegal Movement of Cultural Property and the committee for establishing the National Maritime Museum of Australia. In his palaeontological research Bartholomai worked with colleagues on Cenozoic marsupials, fossil turtles, and Triassic vertebrates from Western Australia. With Ralph Molnar he described the Australian dinosaur Muttaburrasaurus. In retirement he returned to his research on the fish faunas of the Great Australian Basin. Many of the groups for which he produced major reviews had not previously been recorded from the southern hemisphere and hence provided insights into the palaeogeography of Cretaceous fish faunas.

Details

Chronology

1960

Education - BSc, University of Queensland

1960 - 1966

Career position - Curator of Geology, Queensland Museum Curator of Geology, Queensland Museum

1966 - 1968

Career position - Research Curator (Geology), Queensland Museum

1969

Education - MSc, University of Queensland

1969 - 1999

Career position - Member, Council of Australian Museum Directors

1969 - 1999

Career position - Director, Queensland Museum

1970

Career position - President, Royal Society of Queensland

1973

Education - PhD, University of Queensland

1985 - 1987

Career position - Chairman, Council of Australian Museum Directors

1994 - 1999

Career position - Member of the Board, CRC for Tropical Rainforest and Ecology and Management

1999 - 2015

Career position - Emeritus Director, Queensland Museum

2000

Award - Queensland Museum Medal

2012

Award - Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to the advancement of science, particularly through administrative roles with the Queensland Museum

Related entries

Published resources

Journal Articles

• 'Congratulations: Australia Day honours', TAG: the Australian geologist, 162 (2012), 40. Details
• Anon, 'Obituary of Dr Alan Bartholomai 1938 - 2015', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, 122 (2017), 113. Details
• Rozefelds, Andrew C. F., 'In memoriam Alan Bartholomai (1938 - 2015)', Memoirs of the Queensland Museum: Nature, 60 (2017), 119-31. Details

Resources

• 'Bartholomai, Alan (19381217-20151217)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1715783. Details