Person
Dixon, Joan Maureen (1937 - 2019)
- Born
- 4 May 1937
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia - Died
- 24 June 2019
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - Occupation
- Mammalogist, Museum curator and Zoologist
Summary
Joan Dixon was a highly-respected expert on Australia's mammal species. For over 35 years she was Curator of the vertebrate, and particularly the mammal collections, at the National Museum of Victoria (later Museum Victoria). Her principal research was into cetaceans and smaller marsupials, but extended to galaxiid fish and stingrays, and extinct mammalian species. As Curator she had oversight of the collections of Baldwin Spencer, and the zoological specimens of Donald Thomson. She produced reports on the vertebrate fauna and sites of zoological significance in various parts of Victoria, some for the Land Conservation Council. Other publications included providing updated notes for modern reproductions of the works of John Gould. Dixon was an active member of the Australian mammal Society and served a term as President.
Details
Chronology
- 1959
- Education - BSc (hons), University of Tasmania
- 1960
- Career position - Demonstrator in zoology, University of Queensland
- 1961 - 1963
- Career position - Senior Teaching Fellow, Department of Zoology and Comparative Physiology, Monash University
- 1963
- Career event - Joined the staff of the National Museum of Victoria
- 1966 - 1978
- Career position - Curator of Vertebrates, National Museum of Victoria
- 1975 - 1979
- Career position - Member of Council, Australian Mammal Society
- 1978 - 1983
- Career position - Curator of Mammals, National Museum of Victoria
- 1982 -
- Career position - Associate (later Fellow), Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Melbourne
- 1983 - 1994
- Career position - Curator of Mammals, Museum of Victoria
- 1994 - 1998
- Career position - Senior Curator, Mammalogy, Museum of Victoria
- 1998 - 2001
- Career position - Senior Curator, Mammalogy, Museum Victoria
Related entries
Published resources
Books
- Dixon, Joan M.; and Frigo, Lina, The cetacean collection of the Museum of Victoria: an annotated catalogue (Croydon, Vic.: Australian Deer Research Foundation, 1994), 38 pp. Details
- Gould, John, Kangaroos, with modern commentary by Joan M. Dixon (South Melbourne: Macmillan, 1973), 152 pp. Details
- Gould, John, A Monograph of the Macropodidae, or Family of Kangaroos (Melbourne: Lansdowne Editions, 1981), [63], 13 pp. Details
- Gould, John, The mammals of Australia, with modern notes by Joan M. Dixon (South Melbourne: Macmillan, 1983), 416 pp. Details
Book Sections
- Dixon, Joan M., 'Historical Aspects of Collection Conservation in Australia' in Mammal Collection Management, Hugh L. Genoways; Clyde Jones and Olga L. Rossolimo, eds (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 1987), pp. 157-172. Details
Edited Books
- Dixon, Joan M.; and Huxley, Linda eds, Donald Thomson's mammals and fishes of northern Australia (Melbourne: Thomas Nelson, 1985), 210 pp. Details
Journal Articles
- Paddle, R. N., 'Obituary: Joan Dixon 1937 - 2019', Australian zoologist, 41 (4) (2021), 806-7. https://doi.org/10.7882/AZ.2021.018. Details
Helen Cohn
Created: 19 April 2022