Zietz, Amandus Heinrich Christian (1840 - 1921)

Summary

Amandus Zietz was a palaeontologist who, before coming to South Australia in 1883, reputedly studied under German zoologist Ernst Haeckel. He worked for a time at the Godeffroy Museum in Hamburg and later was appointed preparator and curator at the Kiel Zoological Museum. In 1883 Zietz migrated to South Australia and was appointed preparator at the South Australian Institute's museum. During his time at the museum he made significant contributions to the collections and exhibitions. He was particularly interested in fish and birds. Zietz participated in a number of collecting trips for the museum with other staff, notably Edward Stirling, including investigating fossil deposits at Lake Callabonna in 1893, and at Naracoorte in 1908. Ultimately Zietz became Assistant Director of the museum.The endemic genus of scarab beetle Zeitzia was named in his honour.

Details

Chronology

1883

Career event - Appointed Preparator, South Australian Institute

1883

Life event - Arrived in South Australia

1886 - 1921

Career position - Fellow, Royal Society of South Australia

1888 - 1910

Career position - Assistant Director, South Australian Institute Museum

1893

Career event - Collecting at Lake Callabonna with E. C. Stirling

1899

Career position - Founding Member, South Australian Ornithological Association

1899 - 1900

Career position - Vice-President, South Australian Ornithological Association

1901

Career position - Founding Member, Australasian Ornithologial Union

1901 - 1902

Career position - President, South Australian Ornithological Association

1906

Career event - Collecting at Salt Creek and Normanville, S.A., with Robert Zietz

1907 - 1908

Career position - Vice-President, South Australian Ornithological Association

1908

Career event - Collecting at Naracoorte, S.A., with E. C. Stirling

1908 - 1909

Career position - President, South Australian Ornithological Association

1910

Life event - Retired

Related entries

Published resources

Journal Articles

• Anon, 'Obituary: the late Mr A. H. C. Zietz, R.A.O.U.', Emu, 21 (3) (1922), 237. https://doi.org/10.1071/MU921237. Details
• Paton, Penelope, 'Amandus Heinrich Christian Zietz (1840-1921) and Friedrich Robert Zietz (1874-1922) - father and son museum ornithologists, part 2', The birder, 277 (2025), i-iv, https://resources.birdssa.au/wp-content/uploads/HIST-SERIES-INSERT-94-for-website.pdf. Details
• Paton, Penelope, 'Amandus Heinrich Christian Zietz (1840-1921) and Friedrich Robert Zietz (1874-1922) - father and son museum ornithologists, part 1', The birder, 726 (2025), i-iv, https://resources.birdssa.au/wp-content/uploads/HIST-SERIES-INSERT-93-for-website.pdf. Details
• Stirling, E. C. and Zietz, A. H. C., 'Genyornis newtoni, a fossil struthious bird from lake Callabonna, South Australia: with description of the bones of the leg and foot', Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 20 (2) (1896), 191-210, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/26249714. Details
• Stirling, E. C. and Zietz, A. H. C., 'Fossil remains of Lake Callabonna, I: descriptions on the Manus and Pes of Diprotodon australis Owen', Memoirs of the Royal Society of South Australia, 1 (1) (1899), 1-40. Details
• Stirling, E. C. and Zietz, A. H. C., 'Fossil remains of Lake Callabonna, III: description of the vertebrae of Genyornis newtoni', Memoirs of the Royal Society of South Australia, 1 (3) (1905), 81-110. Details

See also

• Reed, E.H. and Bourne, S. J., 'Pleistocene fossil vertebrate sites of the South East region of South Australia', Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 124 (1) (2000), 61-90. Details
• Reed, Elizabeth, 'Naracoorte Caves: a critical window of faunal extinctions and past climates' in Proceedings of the 31st conference of the Australian Speleological Federation - the darkness beneath (Australian Speleological Federation, 2019), pp. 12-9. http://st1.asflib.net/JNS/AUNat/ASF/ASF-ConfProc/ASFConfProcs31.html. Details
• Reed, Liz and Bourne, Steve, '"Old" cave, new stories: the interpretative evolution of Blanche Cave, Naracoorte', Journal of the Australasian Cave and Karst Management Association, 90 (2013), 11-28. https://ackma.org/journal/90/'Old'%20Cave%20New%20Stories%20The%20Interpretative%20Evolution%20Of%20Blanche%20Cave%20Naracoorte%20South%20Australia%20-%20Liz%20Reed%20and%20Steve%20Bourne.pdf. Details
• Turner, N. K. and Reed, E. H., 'Using historical research to constrain the provenance and age of the first recorded collection of extinct Pleistocene large mammal fossils from the Naracoorte Caves, South Australia', Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 147 (1) (2023), 143-59, https://doi.org/10.1080/03721426.2023.2188442. Details