Person

Dunn, Edward John (1844 - 1937)

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    Dunn, Edward John Portrait
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Born
1 November 1844
Bedminster, Somerset, England
Died
20 April 1937
Kew, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Geologist

Summary

Edward Dunn was Victorian Government Geologist from 1904 to 1912. He qualified as a geologist while working for the Survey in the 1860s, but after it was abolished he spent most of the next 15 years working in South Africa. He became Geologist to the Cape town Administration. Much of his work was concerned with gold, coal and diamond deposits, glaciated landscapes and geological mapping. In 1886 Dunn returned to Australia and was in practice as a geological consultant, working with Broken Hill and Mount Morgan, and investigating the Gippsland coalfields and Bendigo goldfield. As Government Geologist he published a series of significant reports on Victorian geology and gold deposits, established a geological museum and mining laboratory, and discovered the Powlett coalfields. After retiring from the Survey Dunn returned to private consulting and writing. He was President of the Royal Society of Victoria in 1906. The National Museum of Victoria acquired his collections of minerals, diamonds and gold (by donation and purchase) in 1948.

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Details

Chronology

1849
Life event - Migrated to Australia with his family
c. 1860 - 1864
Career position - Employed at Land Survey Office, Beechworth, Victoria
1864 - 1869
Career position - Member of the survey team, Victorian Geological Survey
1869
Education - Passed examinations as mining surveyor
1871 - 1886
Career position - Geologist in South Africa
1873
Education - Certificate of Assaying, School of Mines, Jermyn St, London
1884
Award - Fellow, Geological Society of London
1886
Career position - In private practice in Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania and Northern Territory
1904 - 1912
Career position - Government Geologist Victoria
1905
Award - Murchison Medal, Geological Society of London
1906
Career position - President, Royal Society of Victoria
1912
Life event - Retired

Related Corporate Bodies

Archival resources

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

  • Edward John Dunn - Records, 1886 - 1937, ML MSS 1458; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

Published resources

Books

  • Anon, In memory of Edward John Dunn (1.XI.1844 - 20,IV.1937) geologist: a short biography and outline of his participation in the geographical research of South Africa and Australia (Melbourne: Stuart Taylor Pty Ltd, 1937), 15 pp. Details

Book Sections

  • Beasley, A. W., 'Dunn, Edward John (1844-1937)' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 8: 1891 - 1939 Cl-Gib, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1981), pp. 272-273. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080398b.htm. Details
  • Birch, Bill, 'E.. J. Dunn and his rock and mineral collection' in A Museum for the people: a History of Museum Victoria and its predecessor institutions, 1854-2000, Rasmussen. Carolyn, ed. (Carlton North, Vic.: Scribe Publications, 2001), pp. 138-40. Details

Journal Articles

  • Andrews, E.C., 'The Heroic Period of Geological Work in Australia.', Journal and Proceedings of The Royal Society of New South Wales, lxxvi (1942), 96-128. Details
  • Dunn, E. J.; and Mahony, D. J., 'Biographical Sketch of the Founders of the Geological Survey of Victoria', Bulletins of The Geological Survey of Victoria, 23 (1910), 48. Details
  • K., A. S., 'Edward John Dunn F.G.S.', The Victorian naturalist, 54 (2) (1937), 20-2. Details

Resources

See also

  • Johns, R.K. ed., History and role of government geological surveys in Australia (Adelaide: South Australian Government Printer, 1976), 111 pp. Details
  • Pescott, R. T. M., Collections of a century: the history of the first hundred years of the National Museum of Victoria, Melbourne (Melbourne: National Museum of Victoria, 1954), 186 pp. Details
  • Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details

Digital resources

Title
Dunn, Edward John Portrait
Type
Image

Details

Gavan McCarthy [P004098] and Helen Cohn

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 11 June 2024

EOAS ID: biogs/P001070b.htm

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