Philosophical Society of Australasia (1821 - 1822)

Summary

The Philosophical Society of Australasia was founded in June 1821, with the object of investigating various branches of science (including mineralogy and geology) relating to Australia and adjacent regions. The exchange of books and formation of a museum were also stated intentions. This was the first attempt to create such a society in Australia. It survived for a little over one year. Those who attended the first meeting in June 1821 were: James Bowman, Henry Douglass, Barron Field, Frederick Goulburn, Francis Irvine and Edward Wollstonecraft. Incoming Governor Thomas Brisbane became President in November 1821. Other members included: John Oxley (joined at the second meeting), Partick Hill, William Howe, Alexander Berry, Donald Macleod, Christian Rümker and Phillip Parker King. The Society had an ambitious program of weekly meetings, held in rotation at member's homes, research papers to be presented monthly. Some of these papers were included by Field in his Geographical memoirs of New South Wales (1825). No minutes of the Society seem to exist after August 1822. The demise of the Society was apparently caused by political dissentions, prompting some members to found the Agricultural Society of New South Wales

Details

Extract from letter from Michael van Leeuwen to Gavan McCarthy 26 May 2004:

"The Philosophical Society was established in June 1821, with just seven members:
They were:

Judge Barron Field (1786-1846)
Dr Henry Grattan Douglas (1790-1865)
Frederick Goulburn (1788-1837)
John Oxley (1785-1828)
Edward Woolstonecraft (1783-1832)
Captain John Irvine
John Bowman

Governor Brisbane later accepted the position of patron of the Society.

A central initiative of the society was the establishment of a Museum of Natural History. Created in July 1821, it collected examples of the novel geological and animal specimens located in the Colony. Several donations were made by the Rev John Youl (1773-1827) of Port Dalrymple in Tasmania including 'a variety of fossils, petrifactions, etc.'* He also donated a case of minerals. Society members agreed that copies of all scientific papers given by society Members should be deposited in the Museum, which was located in the Colonial Secretary's office. Unfortunately, the infant Museum was to share in the fate of its parent organisation, which collapsed in disinterest and mutual acrimony little more than a year after its inception."

* Philosophical Society of Australasia Minute Book, (29 June 1821 - 14 August 1822), (ML), Minutes reproduced in Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, LV 1921, p.xciv [Note: these pages are at the end of the volume not the front). The minutes record their actual donation at the next meeting in April 1822 ibid., xcviii.

Related entries

Published resources

Journal Articles

• Branagan, D. F., 'Words, actions, people: 150 years of the scientific societies in Australia', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 104 (1972), 123-41. Details
• Cambage, R.H., 'Biographical Sketches of Some of the Members of the Philosophical Society of Australasia', Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, lv (1921), xxxiii-xlii. Details
• Maiden, J. H., 'A Contribution to a History of the Royal Society of New South Wales, with Information in Regard to Other New South Wales Societies', Journal and Proceedings of The Royal Society of New South Wales, lii (1918), 215-361. Details
• Russell, H.C., 'Astronomical and Meteorological Workers in New South Wales, 1778-1860', Report of the first meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 1 (1888), 45-94, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15813133. Describes the Society and its work from 1821 until its demise in 1825. See pp.56-7. Details
• Tyler, Peter J., 'Science for Gentlemen: the Royal Society of New South Wales in the Nineteenth Century', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 143 (1/2) (2010), 29-43. Details
• Tyler, Peter J., 'Sir Thomas Brisbane - Patron of Colonial Science', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 145 (2012), 128-35. Details

Resources

• Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-544157. Details

See also

• Berry, Alexander, 'On the geology of the coast of New South Wales' in Geographical memoirs on New South Wales, Barron Field, ed. (London: John Murray, 1825), pp. 231-54. Details
• Elkin, A. P., 'Centenary oration: the challenge to science, 1866; the challenge of science, 1966, part 1', Journal and Proceedings of The Royal Society of New South Wales, 100 (3/4) (1966), 105-18. Details
• Field, Barron ed., Geographical memoirs on New South Wales (London: John Murray, 1825), 504 pp. Details
• Field, Barron, 'On the Aborigines of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land' in Geographical memoirs on New South Wales, Barron Field, ed. (London: John Murray, 1825), pp. 193-229. Details
• King, Philip Parker, 'On the maritime geography of Australia' in Geographical memoirs on New South Wales, Barron Field, ed. (London: John Murray, 1825), pp. 269-96. Details
• Rumker, Charles Stargard, 'On the astronomy of the southern hemisphere' in Geographical memoirs on New South Wales, Barron Field, ed. (London: John Murray, 1825), pp. 255-68. Details