Serventy, Dominic Louis (1904 - 1988)

Summary

Dominic Serventy was internationally recognised for his expertise in Australian ornithology. Between 1937 and 1951 he worked for the Fisheries Division of CSIR/O and for the Wildlife Survey Section of CSIRO in Perth from 1951. He was taught to preserve bird skins by Otto Lipfert, the taxidermist of the Western Australian Museum. His research interests covered all aspects of ornithology from biogeography and speciation to breeding seasons and general biology, was a major contributor to scientific journals and had a long-term influence on conservation, Government policies and the cause of natural history generally. Serventy helped his brother Vincent (q.v.) and sister Lucy to revive the Western Australian Naturalists' Club after World War II. He produced an extensive sets of bird distribution maps and wrote Birds of Western Australia (1948. 5th edition 1976) with H.M. Whittell and The Handbook of Australian Seabirds (1971) with Vincent Serventy and John Warham (qq.v.). Serventy was a Corresponding Member of a number of international ornithological societies. An island off the Western Australian coast has been named Serventy Island in his honour. The D. L. Serventy Medal has been awarded since 1991 by the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (and its successors) to a member who has made outstanding contributions to publication in the science of ornithology in the Australasian region.

Details

Chronology

1924

Career position - Foundation Member, Western Australian Naturalists' Club

1931

Award - 1851 Exhibition Overseas Scholarship

1931

Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc(Hons)), University of Western Australia

1933

Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Cambridge

1934 - 1937

Career position - Assistant lecturer in zoology, University of Western Australia

1937 - 1951

Career position - Research Officer, Marine Biological Laboratory, Fisheries Division, CSIR/O, Cronulla, New South Wales

1943 - 1947

Career position - Member, Western Australian Wild Life Authority

1946 - 1966

Career position - Australian representative, Standing Committee on Pacific Conservation, Pacific Science Association

1947 - 1949

Career position - President, Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union

1947 - 1980

Career position - Editor, Western Australian Naturalist

1951 - 1969

Career position - Officer-in-charge, Wildlife Survey Section, CSIRO, Perth

1952 - 1988

Award - Fellow, Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union

1953 - 1957

Career position - Chairman, Standing Committee on Pacific Conservation, Pacific Science Association

1956

Award - Australian Natural History Medallion, Field Naturalists Club of Victoria

1961 - 1966

Career position - Principal Research Officer, Wildlife Survey Section, CSIRO, Perth

1962 - 1964

Career position - President, Western Australian Naturalists' Club

1966 - 1969

Career position - Senior Principal Research Officer, Wildlife Survey Section, CSIRO, Perth

1966 - 1978

Career position - Member, Permanent Executive Committee, International Ornithological Congress

1966 - 1988

Career position - Permanent Member, Executive Council, International Ornithological Council

1968 - 1969

Career position - Vice-President, Royal Society of Western Australia

1970

Award - Royal Society of Tasmania Medal

1970

Award - Royal Society of Tasmania Medal

1973 - 1988

Award - Honorary Member, Royal Society of Western Australia

1974 - 1988

Award - Fellow, Western Australian Museum

1978

Career position - Vice-President, International Congress, International Ornithological Council

1979

Award - Medal of the Royal Society of Western Australia

1991

Award - D. L. Serventy Medal inaugurated by the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union

Related entries

Published resources

Book Sections

• Erickson, Rica, 'Serventy, Dominic Louis (1904-1988), Ornithologist and Conservationist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 18: 1981 - 1990 L-Z, Melanie Nolan, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2012), pp. 406-7. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/serventy-dominic-louis-15496. Details

Journal Articles

• Anon, 'Royal Society Medallists, 1979', Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 63 (1) (1980), 29-31. Details
• Chisholm, A. H.; and Serventy, D. L., 'Tom Iredale', Emu, 73 (2) (1973), 74-8. Details
• Keast, A., 'Obituary: Dr Dominic Louis Serventy', Emu, 89 (3) (1989), 183-4. Details
• Serventy, D., 'Taxonomic trends in Australian ornithology - with special reference to the work of Gregory Mathews', Emu, 49 (4) (1950), 257-67. Details
• Serventy, D. L., 'The late Major H. M. Whittell. OBE', Emu, 53 (1954), 61-67. Details
• Serventy, D. L., 'Ludwig Glauert - Museum Director and Naturalist', Western Australian Naturalist, 5 (1957), 148-165. Details
• Serventy, D. L., 'Historical Background of Ornithology with Special Reference to Australia', Emu, 72 (2) (1972), 41-50. Details
• Serventy, D. L.; and Smith, G. G., ''Miss North's Tree,' Warren National Park', Western Australian Naturalist, 13 (2/3) (1975), 29-31. Details
• Serventy, D.L., 'The menace of acclimatisation', Emu, 36 (1) (1937), 189-97. Details
• Storr, G. M., 'Obituary: Dr D. L. Serventy (1904 - 1988)', Western Australian Naturalist, 17 (8) (1989), 202-8. Details
• Warham, John, 'Obituary: Dr D. L. "Dom""Serventy', Corella, 13 (1) (1989), 31-2. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q5290649. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/107313367. Details
• 'Serventy, D L (19040328-19880808)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-525835. Details

See also

• Erickson, R., 'History of the Western Australian Naturalists' Club', Western Australian Naturalist, 9 (6) (1964), 122-145. Details
• McGregor, Russell, Idling in green places: a life of Alec Chisholm (North Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing, 2019), 285 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