Person

Banks, Maxwell Robert (1925 - 2014)

AM

Born
21 July 1925
Punchbowl, New South Wales, Australia
Died
24 November 2014
Hobart?, Tasmania, Australia
Occupation
Geologist

Summary

Maxwell Banks was an expert on geology of Tasmania, especially Ordovician and Permo-Triassic periods. His research led to major advances in understanding the geology and resources of Tasmania, and won national recognition. He had an extensive knowledge of the early study of Tasmanian geology especially by French and English explorers. Banks was a long-serving member of the Royal Society of Tasmania, holding various offices between 1966 and 1996, including Editor of the Papers and proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania for 27 years. He published prolifically, including in education. The genera Banksiaporites and Banksiops and 13 species were named in his honour. In 1998 the Royal Society of Tasmania awarded the inaugural M. R. Banks Medal.

Details

Chronology

1947
Award - University of Sydney medallist
1947
Award - Deas-Thompson Scholarship for Geology, University of Sydney
1947
Career position - Demonstrator, Department of Geology, University of Tasmania
1947
Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of Sydney
1948 - 1952
Career position - Lecturer, University of Tasmania
1952 - 1966
Career position - Senior Lecturer, University of Tasmania
1958 - 1967
Career position - Council Member, Australian Institution of Cartographers
1960
Career position - President, Australian Institution of Cartographers
1965 - 1966
Career position - President, Geological Society of Australia
1966 - 1968
Career position - Member of Council, Royal Society of Tasmania
1966 - 1990
Career position - Reader, Department of Geology, University of Tasmania
1971 - 1973
Career position - Vice-President, Royal Society of Tasmania
1973 - 1975
Career position - Dean, Faculty of Science, University of Tasmania
1973 - 2000
Career position - Editor, Papers and proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania
1974 - 1984
Career position - Member of the Board of the Tasmania Museum and Art Gallery, as the representative of the Royal Society of Tasmania
1977
Award - Honorary Doctorate, University of Lille, France
1978
Award - Royal Society of Tasmania Medal
1978
Award - Doctor of Science (DSc), University of Tasmania
1979 - 1984
Career position - Chairman, Board of the Tasmania Museum and Art Gallery
1981
Award - Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in recognition of service to the community and science
1986 - 2014
Award - Life Member, Royal Society of Tasmania
1990
Life event - Retired
1992 - 2014
Award - Honorary Life Member, Geological Society of Australia
1993 - 1994
Career position - Vice-President, Royal Society of Tasmania
1995 - 1996
Career position - Honorary Secretary, Royal Society of Tasmania
1998
Award - M. R. Banks Medal first awarded by the Royal Society of Tasmania

Related Awards

Related Corporate Bodies

Published resources

Books

  • Plomley, Brian; Cornell, Christine; and Banks, Max, Francois Peron's natural history of Maria Island, Tasmania (Launceston, Tas.: Queen Victoria Museum, 1990), 50 pp. Details

Book Sections

Conference Papers

  • Banks, M. R., 'Geological Torchbearers in Tasmania, 1840-1890 - Two Amateurs and a Professional', 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. 214-230.. Details

Edited Books

  • Banks, M. R. [and others] ed., Aspects of Tasmanian botany : a tribute to Winifred Curtis (Hobart: Royal Society of Tasmania, 1991), 247 pp. Details
  • Banks. M. R.; and Kirkpatrick, J. B. eds, Landscape and man : the interaction between man and environment in western Tasmania (Hobart: Royal Society of Tasmania, 1977), 199 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • Bacon, C. A.; and Banks, M. R., 'A history of discovery, study and exploitation of coal in Tasmania', Papers and proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, 123 (1989), 137-89. Details
  • Banks, M., 'Fossil Discoveries in Van Diemen's Land', Bulletin of the Fossil Collectors' Association of Australasia, 32-33 (1991), 13-20. Details
  • Banks, Max, 'Charles Darwin's Visit to Hobart Town', Tasmanian Tramp, 24 (1982), 180-186. Details
  • Quilty, Patrick G., 'Maxwell Robert Banks 21 July 1925 - 24 November 2014', TAG: Geological Society of Australia Newsletter, 174 (2015), 42-3. Details
  • Quilty, Patrick G.; and Banks, Maxwell R., 'Samuel Warren Carey 1911-2002', Historical Records of Australian Science, 14 (3) (2003), 313-335. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR03005. Details
  • Quilty, Patrick M., 'Obituary: Maxwell Robert Banks AM, D.Sc., D.H.C. (Lille), 21 July 1925 - 24 October 2014', Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, 148 (2014), 71-6. Details

Resources

Helen Cohn

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