Advisory Council of Science and Industry (1916 - 1920)

Summary

In 1916 the Australian Government established the Advisory Council of Science and Industry with an aim to bring a national position to scientific research. Four years later, in 1920, the Council was replaced by the Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry. The Council comprised an Executive Committee that included as ex officio members the Chairmen of the State Committees. The goal of the Advisory Council to the Commonwealth Government was the establishment of a permanent "Institute of Science and Industry". Although this body was established via the "Institute of Science and Industry Act 1920", it was not until the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research was created in 1926 that this goal was realised.

Details

From the 1918 Annual Report page 7 - with regard to membership of committees:
"The members of the State Committees are also members of the Advisory Council, while the Chairmen of the State Committees are ex officio members of the Executive Committee. Arrangements were made when the State Committees were originally constituted whereby they could be strengthened by the appointment of Associate Members representative of particular branches of science or industry. The Associate Members of the State Committees are not members of the Advisory Council."

Chronology

1915 - 1916

Business event - Staff; ?; Vote: £ 0; Expenditure: £541

1916 - 1917

Business event - Staff: ?; Vote: £ 6,700; Expenditure: £4,018

1917 - 1918

Business event - Staff; ?; Vote: £ 10,500; Expenditure: £7,437

1918 - 1919

Business event - Staff; ?; Vote: £ 20,000; Expenditure: £11,655

1919 - 1920

Business event - Staff; ?; Vote: £ 14,000; Expenditure: £13,109

Related entries

Timeline

 1916 - 1920 Advisory Council of Science and Industry
       1920 - 1926 Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry
             1926 - 1949 Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
                   1949 - Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation - Records, 1916 - 1918, MS 038; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• Smith, Ailie, Adolph Basser Library Manuscript Collection, eScholarship Research Centre, 2012, http://www.eoas.info/basser_browse.html. Details

Books

• Currie, George; Graham, John, The Origins of CSIRO: Science and the Commonwealth Government, 1901-1926 (Melbourne: CSIRO, 1966), 203 pp, https://ebooks.publish.csiro.au/content/origins-csiro. Pages 43 - 105. Details
• Schedvin, C. C., Shaping Science and Industry: a History of Australia's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1987), 400 pp. Pages 13 - 17. Details

Journal Articles

• Schedvin, C. B., 'Environment, Economy and Australian Biology 1890-1939', Historical Studies, 21 (1984), 11-28. Details

Parliamentary Acts

• 'Institute of Science and Industry Act 1920', in Federal Register of Legislation, Australian Government, Canberra, ACT (online), 1920. https://www.legislation.gov.au/C1920A00022/asmade/text. Details

Reports

• Advisory Council of Science and Industry, Resolutions passed by the Advisory Council, July 1917, together with, Report and recommendations on the organization and work of the proposed permanent Institute of Science and Industry (Melbourne: Government of Australia, 1917), 10 pp. Details
• Advisory Council of Science and Industry, Report of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Advisory Council of Science and Industry: covering the period from the date of the appointment of the Executive Committee (14th April, 1916) to the 30th June 1917 (Melbourne: Commonwealth Government Printer, 1917). https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2788471586. Details
• Advisory Council of Science and Industry, Report of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Advisory Council of Science and Industry: for the year ended 30th June 1918 (Melbourne: Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, 1918), 64 pp. http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2004795988. Details
• Knibbs, George H., Institute of Science and Industry, First Annual Report of the Director: for the period from the date of his appointment (18th March, 1921) to the 30th June, 1922 (Melbourne: Commonwealth Government Printer, 1922). https://csiropedia.csiro.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Institute-of-Science-and-Industry-First-Annual-Report-1921-to-1922.pdf. Details
• Lightfoot, Gerald, Memorandum on the organization of scientific research institutions in the United States of America (Melbourne: Government of Australia, 1916), 42 pp. https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2611917477. Details

Resources

• Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-626309. Details

Resource Sections

• 'Primary description of agency CA 492; Advisory Council of Science and Industry. Registration of entity: 22 September 1976', in RecordSearch, National Archives of Australia, 2000, https://RecordSearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/AutoSearch.asp?Number=CA%20492. Details

See also

• Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Technology in Australia 1788-1988, Online edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, 3 May 2000, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/index_a.html. Details