Person

Jackson, Sidney William (1873 - 1946)

Born
12 June 1873
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Died
30 September 1946
Neutral Bay, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation
Bird observer, Naturalist and Oologist

Summary

Sid Jackson was renowned as an ornithologist and oologist. An egg collector from the age of ten, he was equally interested in observing birds and in terrestrial molluscs and plants. He made very detailed observations, sketched well, wrote neatly and excelled at photography and taxidermy. With his brother Frank he developed techniques for climbing trees, involving the use of leg-spikes and rope-ladders. For some years Jackson was curator of the bird collections of Henry L. White at Belltrees near Scone in New South Wales. In 1908 Jackson made a collecting trip to Queensland, the first of a number of such expeditions made on behalf of White. The publication of Jackson's book Egg collecting and bird life of Australia (1907) was supported by White. In 1906 Jackson sold his specimens of bird's eggs to White: they now form significant part of the H.L. White Collection in the National Museum of Victoria. Jackson's shell collections also went to the museum. In 1927 Jackson moved to Sydney. Under the nom-de-plume of 'Ajax'., he wrote popular articles on natural history for newspapers and magazines.

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Details

Chronology

1908
Career event - Collecting trip to North Queensland
1913
Taxonomy event - Eucalyptus jacksonii Maiden was named in his honour. Jackson collected the type

Related Corporate Bodies

Related People

Archival resources

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

  • Sidney William Jackson - Records, 1895 - 1939, MS 466; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

Books

  • Jackson, S., Egg collecting and bird life of Australia: catalogue and data of the "Jacksonian Oological Collection", vol. 171 (Sydney: F. W. White, 1907). Details
  • Jackson, Sidney Wm, Diary of the successful Oological Expedition carried out by Sidney Wm Jackson (on behalf of Mr H.L.White) out of the Cherra Chelbo camp, Barron River, during October 1908 to January 1909 (Brisbane: Donald Ian Marshall, 2020), 128 pp, https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2854632661/view. Details

Book Sections

  • Gresford, Guy B., 'Jackson, Sidney William (1873-1946), naturalist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 9: 1891 - 1939 Gil-Las, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1983), pp. 459-460. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090449b.htm. Details

Edited Books

  • White, Judy ed., Sidney William Jackson: bush photographer 1873-1946 (Scone, N.S.W.: Seven Press, 1991), 135 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • Chisholm, A. H., 'The Diaries of S. W. Jackson', Emu, 58 (1958), 75-76. Details
  • Jackson, S., 'In the Barron River Valley, North Queensland', Emu, 8 (5) (1909), 233-83, https://doi.org/10.1071/MU908233. Details
  • McGregor, Russell, 'An oologist at Tinaroo: Sid Jackson's 1908 expedition to north Queensland', North Queensland naturalist, 52 (2022), 19-33. Details

Resources

See also

  • Hall, Norman, Botanists of the Eucalypts: short biographies of people who have named eucalypts, whose names have been given to species or who have collected type material (Melbourne: CSIRO, 1978), 101 pp. Details
  • Mason, Ian J.; and Pfitzner, Gilbert H., Passions in ornithology: a century of Australian egg collectors (Canberra: Ian J. Mason, 2020), 572 pp. Details
  • Robin, Libby, The Flight of the Emu: a Hundred Years of Australian Ornithology 1901-2001 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2001), 492 pp. Details
  • Slater, P., Masterpieces of Australian bird photography (Adelaide: Rigby, 1980), 190 pp. Details

Rosanne Walker and Helen Cohn

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 31 January 2025

EOAS ID: biogs/P000517b.htm

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