Hodgkin, Ernest Pease (1908 - 1998)

Summary

Ernest Hodgkin was an entomologist whose early research was on arthropod vectors of malaria, filariasis and rickettsial disease while living in Malaya. After joining the University of Western Australia in 1946 his research was mainly on the ecology of invertebrate fauna of freshwater, estuaries and rocky shores. He sought to understand coastal geomorphology, and the evolution of these estuaries and the organisms that inhabit them. This research was continued in his retirement when he was consultant to several Western Australian Government organisations. Concentrating on the 21 estuaries between Augusta and Esperance, Hodgkin co-ordinated research team studies of the Blackwater River and on eutrophication in the Peel-Harvey estuarine system. Outcomes included the Estuarine studies series published by the W. A. Environmental Protection Authority. For 28 years Hodgkin was a Trustee (and Chairman) of the Western Australian Museum. He served as President of the Royal Society of Western Australia, which awarded him its Medal in 1997.

Details

Chronology

1930

Education - BSc, Victoria University of Manchester, United Kingdom

1931 - 1942

Career position - Entomologist, Institute of Medical Research, Federated Malay States

1942 - 1945

Life event - Interned in Singapore

1945

Life event - Migrated to Western Australia

1946 - 1948

Career position - Lecturer, Department of Zoology, University of Western Australia

1948 - 1949

Career position - Senior Lecturer, Department of Zoology, University of Western Australia

1949 - 1971

Career position - Reader in comparative anatomy and entomology, Department of Zoology, University of Western Australia

1950

Education - DSc, University of Western Australia

1955 - 1958

Career position - Trustee, Western Australian Museum and Art Gallery

1958 - 1959

Career position - President, Royal Society of Western Australia

1960 - 1981

Career position - Vice-Chairman of Trustees, Western Australian Museum

1971 - 1973

Career position - Associate Professor, Department of Zoology, University of Western Australia

1973

Life event - Retired

1974 - 1996

Career position - Environmental Consultant to Western Australia Department of Conservation and Environment and Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority

1982 - 1983

Career position - Chairman of Trustees, Western Australian Museum

1983

Award - Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to natural science and to the community

1989 - 1996

Career position - Environmental advisor to the Western Australian Department of Environmental Protection

1997

Award - Medal of the Royal Society of Western Australia (jointly with Arthur McComb)

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Brearley, Anne, Ernest Hodgkin's Swanland: estuaries and coastal lagoons of south-western Australia (Crawley, W.A.: University of Western Australia Press, 2005), 550 pp. Details
• Hodgkin, E. P., Environmental study of the Blackwood River estuary: a report, 2 vols (Perth: Estuarine and Marine Advisory Committee, Environmental Protection Authority, 1976). Details
• Hodgkin, E. P., Estuarine environments of the Southern Hemisphere: papers presented at a symposium, Man's impact on the estuarine environment held at the 53rd Congress of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science in conjunction with the Australian marine Sciences Association, Perth, May 1983 (Perth: Department of Conservation and Environment, 1983), 140 pp. Details
• Hodgkin, E. P. [and others], The shelled gastropods of Western Australia (Perth: Western Australian Naturalists’ Club, 1966), 60 pp. Details
• Hodgkin, E. P. and Majer, K., An index to ecological information on estuaries and marine embayments in Western Australia (Cronulla, N.S.W.: Marine Laboratory, 1976), 85 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• Bradshaw, Don 1998, 'Obituary: Ernest Pease Hodgkin', Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 81 (1998), 229. Details
• Hodgkin, E. P., 'Patterns of life on rocky shores: Presidential address 1959', Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 43 (2) (1960), 35-45. Details
• Hodgkin, E. P. and Sheard, K., 'Rottnest Island: the Rottnest biological station and recent scientific research', Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 42 (1959), 65-95. Details
• Hodgkin, Ernest P., 'Barbara York Main', Records of the Western Australian Museum, supplement, 52 (1995), vii-xv. Details
• Jones, M. G. K., 'The Royal Society of Western Australia Medallists, 1997: Dr Ernest Hodgkin, OAM; Dr Arthur McComb', Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 80 (1997), 287. Details