Darragh, Thomas Alwynne (Tom) (1940 - )

Summary

Tom Darragh is an invertebrate palaeontologist whose field of expertise is Australian Tertiary marine molluscs. He has published key papers on fossil molluscs from across Australia. This research led him to study, and publish widely on, the history of Victorian naturalists, geology and geologists; the printing, engraving and lithographic industries in nineteenth-century Victoria particularly in relation to geological maps; and early German migration to Victoria and the contributions of German scientists to science in Victoria. His skill in reading and translating nineteenth-century German Gothic script has proved invaluable. In recent years he has made major contributions to the study of the work of Ludwig Leichhardt. Darragh joined the National Museum of Victoria (later Museum Victoria) in 1965, serving terms as Head of Geology and Deputy Director, retiring in 2001. In retirement he has continued his research on many fronts as Curator Emeritus at the Museum. He has been an active contributor to and associate editor for the Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller project since its inception in 1987. Darragh is a long-standing member of the Malacological Society of Australasia, the Geological Society of Australia, the Australasian Association of Palaeontologists, and the International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences (INHIGEO).

Details

Chronology

1962

Education - BSc, University of Melbourne

1963

Education - DipEd, University of Melbourne

1963 - 1964

Career position - Demonstrator, Geology Department, University of Melbourne

1965 - 1973

Career position - Curator of Fossils, National Museum of Victoria

1970

Education - MSc, University of Melbourne

1971 -

Career position - Member, Malacological Society of Australia

1973 - 1983

Career position - Deputy Director, National Museum of Victoria

1978 - 1979

Career position - Acting Director, National Museum of Victoria

1979 - 1996

Career position - Honorary Secretary, Royal Society of Victoria

1982

Education - PhD, University of Melbourne

1983 - 1999

Career position - Head of Geology, Museum of Victoria

1987 -

Career position - Honorary Associate, National Herbarium of Victoria

1987 -

Career position - Contributor and Associate Editor, Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller Project

1997 - 1998

Career position - Senior Curator, Museum of Victoria

1998 - 2001

Career position - Senior Curator, Museum Victoria

2001 -

Career position - Curator Emeritus, Museum Victoria

2016

Award - Tom Vallance Medal, Earth Sciences History Group, Geological Society of Australia

Related entries

Archival resources

State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection

• Thomas Darragh - Records, 1850 - 1900, MS 10000; State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection. Details

Published resources

Books

• Darragh, Thomas A., The establishment and development of engraving and lithography in Melbourne to the time of the gold rush ( Willow Bend, Thumb Creek, Australia: Garravembi, 1990), 57 pp. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., Printer and newspaper registration in Victoria, 1838 - 1924 (Wellington, N.S.W.: Elibank Press, 1997), 428 pp. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., Engravers and lithographers in colonial Victoria: a directory (Melbourne: Ancora Press, 2023), 321 pp. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A.; and Pullin, Ruth, Lieber Freund! Letters from Eugen von Guerard to Julius von Haast (Ballarat: Art Gallery of Ballarat, 2018), 81 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Darragh, T. A., 'Blandowski, Johann Wilhelm Theodor Ludwig (William)' in The dictionary of Australian artists, painters, sketchers, photographers and engravers to 1870, Kerr, J., ed. (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1992), pp. 71-2. Details
• Darragh, T. A.; Branagan, D. F., 'History' in Geology of Victoria, William D. Birch, ed. (Sydney: Geological Society of Australia (Victoria Division), 2003), pp. 671-685. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'Hall, Thomas Sergeant (1858 -1915), scientist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 9: 1891 - 1939 Gil-Las, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1983), pp. 166-167. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090159b.htm. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'Mahony, Daniel James (1878-1944), scientist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 10: 1891 - 1939 Lat-Ner, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1986), pp. 380-381, http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100373b.htm. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'Skeats, Earnest Willington (1875-1953), geologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 11: 1891 - 1939 Nes-Smi, Geoffrey Serle, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1988), pp. 621-622. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110635b.htm. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'Pritchard, George Baxter (1869-1956), geologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 11: 1891 - 1939 Nes-Smi, Geoffrey Serle, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1988), pp. 300-301. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A110308b.htm. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'Keble, Alexander Robert (1884-1963), Geologist and Palaeontologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 14: 1940 - 1980 Di-Kel, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1996), pp. 605-606. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A140691b.htm. Details

Conference Papers

• Darragh, Thomas A., 'Ludwig Becker as a Geologist', in Useful and Curious Geological Enquiries Beyond the World: Pacific-Asia Historical Themes: The 19th International INHIGEO Symposium, Sydney, Australia, 4-8 July, 1994 edited by D. F. Branagan and G. H. McNally (Sydney: International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences, 1994), pp. 192-199.. Details
• Darragh, Tom, 'Robert Brough Smyth: a Mystery Solved', in The History of Geology in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century; the Story in Australia, and in Victoria, from Selwyn and McCoy to Gregory - 1853 to 1903 edited by Pierson, R. R. (Melbourne: Earth Sciences History Group, GSA Inc., 2007), pp. 26-9.. Details

Journal Articles

• Beu, A. G. and Darragh, Thomas A., 'Revision of southern Australian Cenozoic fossil Pectinidae (Mollusca, Bivalvia)', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 113 (1) (2001), 1-205. Details
• Beu, Alan G.; Nolden, Sascha; and Darragh, Thomas A., 'A Revision of New Zealand Cenozoic Fossil Mollusca Described by Zittel (1865) Based on Hochstetter's Collections from the Novara Expedition', Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 43 (2012), 1-71. Details
• Birch, William D.; and Darragh, Thomas A., 'George Henry Frederick Ulrich (1830 - 1900): pioneer mineralogist and geologist in Victoria', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 127 (1) (2015), 17-38, https://doi.org/10.1071/RS15002. Details
• Darragh, T. A., 'The first geological maps of the continent of Australia', Journal of the Geological Society of Australia, 24 (5) (1977), 279-305. Details
• Darragh, T. A., 'Ferdinand Mueller and Charles La Trobe', La Trobeana: the newsletter of the La Trobe Society of Australia, 2 (2) (2004), 1-5. Details
• Darragh, Thomas, 'Ferdinand Hochstetter's Notes from a Visit to Australia and a Tour of the Victorian Goldfields in 1859', Historical Records of Australian Science, 13 (2) (2001), 383-437. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR0011340383. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'History of geology in Victoria', Special Publications of the Geological Society of Australia, 5 (1976), 1-9. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'Molluscan biogeography and biostratigraphy of the Tertiary of southeastern Australia', Alcheringa, 9 (2) (1985), 83-116. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'The Geological Survey of Victoria Under Alfred Selwyn, 1852-1868', Historical Records of Australian Science, 7 (1) (1987), 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9870710001. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'Charles Sturtevant Wood, Analyst, his Work and his Correspondence with James Hector', Historical Records of Australian Science, 7 (3) (1988), 231-271. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9880730231. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'A revision of the Tertiary Volutidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of South-eastern Australia', Memoirs of the Museum of Victoria, 49 (2) (1989), 195-307. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'Frederick Proeschel, Colonial Map Maker', Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand Bulletin, 15 (3/4) (1991), 105-176. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'Frederick McCoy', The Fossil Collector Bulletin, 36 (1992), 15-22. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'Brief history of the palaeontological collection in the Museum of Victoria', The Fossil Collector Bulletin, 40 (1993), 7-12. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'Mueller and Personal Names in Zoology and Palaeontology', The Victorian naturalist, 113 (1996), 195-197. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'Ludwig Becker, a Scientific Dilettante: His Correspondence with J.J. Kaup and Others'', Historical Records of Australian Science, 11 (4) (1997), 501-522. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9971140501. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'Gastropoda, Scaphopoda, Cephalopoda, and new Bivalvia of the Paleocene Pebble Point Formation, Victoria, Australia', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 109 (1997), 57-108. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'Robert Brough Smyth: His Early Years as Revealed by his Correspondence with Adam Sedgwick', Historical Records of Australian Science, 13 (1) (2000), 19-42. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR0001310019. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'Bishop Goold and Ferdinand von Mueller: a 30 Year Acquaintance', Footprints: Journal of the Melbourne Diocesan Historical Commission, June (2003), 3-9. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'William Blandowski: a Frustrated Life', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 121 (2009), 11-60. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'Hermann Deutsch, Pioneer Ballarat Engraver and Lithographer', Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal, 20 (2010), 131-46. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'The death of William Blandowski', Transactions of the Royal Society of Victoria, 124 (2012), 234-5. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'Leichhardt as a Geologist', Memoirs of the Queensland Museum: Culture, 7 (2) (2013), 575-97. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'Hermann Beckler: contributions on Australia made in Germany', Historical Records of Australian Science, 28 (2) (2017), 140-5, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR17013. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'Further mollusca from the late Eocene Pallinup Formation, Eucla Basin, Western Australia', Records of the Western Australian Museum, 32 (1) (2017), 29-100. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'Ludwig Leichhardt: four previously unknown letters to John Nicholson and the involvement of Ferdinand von Mueller in publishing Leichhardt's letters', Historical Records of Australian Science, 29 (2) (2018), 153-61. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR18006. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'Lothar Becker: a German naturalist in Victoria, 1849-52, 1855-65', Historical Records of Australian Science, 30 (2) (2019), 119-29, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR18020. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'George Ulrich's contributions in German in Victorian geology, mining amd mineralogy (1859 - 1864)', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 134 (1) (2022), 7-44, https://doi.org/10.1071/RS22001. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A. and Pullin, Ruth, 'Eugene von Guérard and the Ethnological Museum in Berlin: correspondence 1878 - 1880', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 135 (1/2) (2003), 102-26. https://www.publish.csiro.au/RS/pdf/RS23017. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A.; and Fensham, R. J., 'The Leichhardt Diaries: Early Travels in Australia During 1842-1844', Memoirs of the Queensland Museum: Culture, 7 (1) (2013), 1-540. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A.; and Lucas, A. M., 'Two states of fascicle 1 of Mueller's Fragmenta phytographiae australiae', Archives of Natural History, 39 (2) (2015), 301-7. Details
• Darragh, Tom, 'Ferdinand Mueller and Charles La Trobe: 'So many signs of benevolence and favour'', La Trobeana, 11 (3) (2012), 25-9. Details
• Darragh, Tom; Ponder, Winston; Kendrick, Allan; and Kabat, Alan, 'George W. Kendrick June 1929 - November 2014', Western Australian naturalist, 32 (4) (2021), 197-205. Details
• Grosser, Michelle; and Joyce, Bernie, 'Vallance Medal [awarded to Tom Darragh]', TAG: the Australian geologist, 180 (2016), 16. Details
• Lucas, A.M.; Lucas, Paula, Darragh, T. A.; and Maroske, S., 'Colonial pride and metropolitan expectations: the British Museum and Melbourne's meteorites', British Journal for the History of Science, 27 (1994), 65-87. Details
• Maroske, Sara and Darragh, Thomas A., 'F. Mueller, "The Murray-scrub, sketched botanically", 1850: a Humboldtian description of Mallee vegetation', Historical Records of Australian Science, 27 (1) (2016), 41-6, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR16012. Details
• May, Tom W.; and Darragh, Thomas A., 'The significance of mycological contributions by Lothar Becker', Historical Records of Australian Science, 30 (2) (2019), 130-7, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR19005. Details
• Nolden, Sascha; and Darragh, Thomas, 'Ferdinand Hochstetter's Australian 'Novara' expedition diary and voyage to New Zealand, 6 November ‒ 22 December 1858', Journal of the Historical Studies Group, Geoscience Society of New Zealand, 73 (2023), 7-48. Details
• Pullin, V. Ruth and Darragh, Thomas A., 'The artist-collector: Eugene von Guérard and the Berlin Ethnological Museum', Australian historical studies, 54 (4) (2023), 690-717. https://doi.org/10.1080/1031461X.2023.2256350. Details
• Wilhelmi, Carl, 'My Journeys in South Australia: Lecture by Carl Wilhelmi, 14 September 1857 (translated and introduced by Thomas A. Darragh)', Journal of Friends of Lutheran Archives, 13 (2003), 5-24. Details
• Wood, Beverley and Darragh, Thomas A., 'In his own words: Dr Hermann Beckler's writings about his journeys between the Darling River and Bulloo, 1860-1', Historical Records of Australian Science, 27 (1) (2016), 28-40, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR16012. Details

Newspaper Articles

• Darragh, Thomas A., 'A revision of the family Columbariidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda)', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 83 (1) (1069), 63-119. Details

Resources

• 'Darragh, Thomas Alwynne', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-625824. Details
• Rice, Tom, 'Darragh, Thomas Alwynne (Tom) (1940 - )', Shellers from the past and the present, Conchology Inc., Mactan Island, Philippines, 2023, https://www.conchology.be/?t=9001&id=16726. Details

Reviews

• Leake, B. E., The Life and Work of Professor J. W. Gregory FRS (1864-1932): Geologist, Writer and Explorer (2011)
  Darragh, Thomas A., Historical Records of Australian Science, 23 (2), (2012), 232-3, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR12014. Details
• Braund, James, ed., Ferdinand Hochstetter and the Contribution of German-speaking Scientists to New Zealand Natural History in the Nineteenth Century (2012)
  Darragh, Thomas A., Historical Records of Australian Science, 24 (2), (2013), 346-8, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR13005. Details
• Clancy, Robert, The long enlightenment: Australian science from its beginning to the mid-20th century (2021)
  Darragh, Tom, Historical Records of Australian Science, 32 (2), (2021), 203-4, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR21903. Details

See also

• Bowler, Jim, 'Unlikely encounters: Geology and archaeology' in Dhoombak goobgoowana: a history of Indigenous Australia and the University of Melbourne - Volume 1: The Truth, Ross L. Jones, James Waghorne and Marcia Langton, eds (Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 2024), pp. 107-124, https://www.mup.com.au/books/dhoombak-goobgoowana-paperback-softback. Details