Person

Rainbow, William Joseph (1856 - 1919)

Born
1856
Yorkshire, England
Died
21 November 1919
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation
Arachnologist and Entomologist

Summary

William Rainbow was Entomologist to the Australian Museum from 1895 to 1919. Much of his research at the Museum was on arachnids: he described about 200 species and was regarded as the leading Australian authority on spiders of Australia and the Pacific region. His A guide to the study of Australian butterflies (1907) remained the standard popular text for the next 25 years. Before joining the Museum he worked as a journalist in Sydney (1883-1895) and before that with the Wanganui Herald in New Zealand (c.1873 - 1883). Rainbow was founder and President of the Naturalist Society of New South Wales.

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Details

Chronology

1873
Life event - Migrated with his family to New Zealand
1883
Life event - Migrated to New South Wales
1895 - 1919
Career position - Entomologist, Australian Museum

Related Corporate Bodies

Archival resources

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

  • William Joseph Rainbow - Records, 1905 - 1907; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

Published resources

Books

  • Musgrave, A., Bibliography of Australian entomology, 1775-1930: with biographical notes on authors and collectors (Sydney: Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, 1932), 380 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • Musgrave, A., 'William Joseph Rainbow, entomologist, 1895 to 1919 Records of the Australian Museum', Records of the Australian Museum, 13 (3) (1920), 87-92. Details

Resources

See also

  • Basedow, Herbert, Narrative of an expedition of exploration in north-western Australia (Adelaide: W.K. Thomas & Co., Printers, 1918), 295 pp. Details

Gavan McCarthy [P004098] and Helen Cohn

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 6 October 2023

EOAS ID: biogs/P000729b.htm

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Published by Swinburne University of Technology.
This Edition: 2024 November (Ballambar - Gariwerd calendar - early summer - season of butterflies)
Reference: http://www.bom.gov.au/iwk/calendars/gariwerd.shtml#ballambar
For earlier editions see the Internet Archive at: https://web.archive.org/web/*/www.eoas.info

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Cite this page: https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P000729b.htm

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