The Auckland Shell Club, also known as the Conchology Section of the Auckland Museum Institute, is a New Zealand society concerned with the study of

mollusc Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

s and their shells.

History

The club first formed in 1931, as the Conchology Section of the

Auckland Institute and Museum Auckland Institute and Museum, known as Auckland Museum Institute since 1996 and the Royal Society of New Zealand Auckland Branch, is a learned society in New Zealand. History Formed as the Auckland Philosophical Society on 6 November 1867, for ...

. Sections are special interest groups or organisations housed within

Auckland War Memorial Museum The Auckland War Memorial Museum (), also known as Auckland Museum, is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building constructed in the 1920s and 1950s, stands on Observatory ...

, and the Shell Club is the oldest. It is one of only three shell clubs in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. The first facilitator of the club was Baden Powell. Powell held weekly after-school meetings and several Auckland schoolboys attended. Powell led field trips to

Hauraki Gulf The Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana is a coastal feature of the North Island of New Zealand. It has an area of 4000 km2,Takapuna Takapuna is a suburb located on the North Shore, New Zealand, North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. The suburb is an isthmus between Shoal Bay, New Zealand, Shoal Bay, arm of the Waitematā Harbour, and the Hauraki Gulf. Lake Pupuke, a volca ...

to search for molluscs, and conducted a harbour survey, dredging the bottom of

Auckland Harbour Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

; club members would sort these dredge samples and sand for tiny shells. Charles Fleming, Peter Bull, and

Richard Dell Richard Kenneth Dell (11 July 1920 – 6 March 2002) was a New Zealand malacologist. Biography Dell was born in Auckland in 1920. As a young boy, he took an interest in shells, collecting them from the shores of Waitematā Harbour. He even ...

were all members of the club as teenagers. Bull went onto become an ornithologist and ecologist, Dell Curator of Molluscs at the

Dominion Museum The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa ( Māori for ' the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand a ...

, and Fleming became a palaeontologist studying

palaeobiogeography Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, ...

and

stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithost ...

. Through the Shell Club, Charles Fleming was able to meet

Robert Falla Sir Robert Alexander Falla (21 July 1901 – 23 February 1979) was a New Zealand museum administrator and ornithologist. Early life Falla was born in Palmerston North in 1901 to George Falla and his wife, Elizabeth Kirk. As his father was work ...

and the Museum's director

Gilbert Archey Sir Gilbert Edward Archey (4 August 1890 – 20 October 1974) was a New Zealand zoologist, ethnologist, World War I officer, and museum director. He wrote one of the major works on the moa, based on his own field work and collection. He also ...

, both important to his later scientific career. Powell took Fleming, then aged just 14, with him to Wanganui Museum to see the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Henry Suter Henry Suter (born Hans Heinrich Suter, 9 March 1841 – 31 July 1918) was a Swiss-born New Zealand zoologist, naturalist, palaeontologist, and malacologist. Biography Henry Suter was born on 9 March 1841 in Riesbach, Zurich, Switzerland, an ...

's collection, and in 1933 the teenage naturalist accompanied Powell's expedition to the

Chatham Islands The Chatham Islands ( ; Moriori language, Moriori: , 'Misty Sun'; ) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island, administered as part of New Zealand, and consisting of about 10 islands within an approxima ...

. The second facilitator of the club was Czech malacologist Walter Olivier Cernohorsky. The club used to meet in a dedicated area of the

's Malacology Department, where the club's library was also kept. The jubilee celebrations of the Conchology Club was held in October 1980, with a dinner at the Mon Desir Hotel and a field trip to Whangaparaoa Peninsula. From 1962 to 2014, the shell club published ''Poirieria'', a journal available at the

Biodiversity Heritage Library The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is the world’s largest open-access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives. BHL operates as a worldwide consortium of natural history, botanical, research, and national libraries working ...

. The Auckland Shell Club takes part in the New Zealand Shell Show, an event that occurs every two years, alternatively held in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

and

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

Current and former members

* Wilma M. Blom * Albert Eugene Brookes * Walter Olivier Cernohorsky *

* Charles Fleming * Bruce Hayward * Margaret S. Morley *

Winston Ponder Winston Frank Ponder (born 1941) is a malacologist born and educated in New Zealand who has named and described many marine and freshwater animals, especially micromolluscs. Education and career Ponder graduated with an MSc, PhD (1968) and ...

* Baden Powell *

Keith Arthur John Wise Keith Arthur John Wise (1 June 1926 – 31 March 2012), often referred to as K. A. J. Wise, was a New Zealand entomologist. Originally employed at the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (New Zealand), Department of Scientific and ...

References

External links

Official website

''Poirieria'' at the Biodiversity Heritage Library
Auckland War Memorial Museum Conchological societies Scientific organisations based in New Zealand Scientific organizations established in 1931 1931 establishments in New Zealand Non-profit organisations based in New Zealand Learned societies of New Zealand {{NewZealand-org-stub