The Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, formerly the Geographical Society of Australasia, was an Australian organisation formed in 1883 until it split up into various state organisations in the 1920s. The South Australian and Queensland branches continue as the

Royal Geographical Society of South Australia The Royal Geographical Society of South Australia (RGSSA), is a voluntary, community-based learned society based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1885 to promote the advancement of all aspects of geographical science, the Society has 342 m ...

(RGSSA) and Royal Geographical Society of Queensland (RGSAQ) respectively.

History

On 22 June 1883, the Geographical Society of Australasia started at a meeting in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. A branch was formed in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

in the same year. In July 1885, both the

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

and the

South Australian South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which includes some of the most arid parts ...

branches started. In July 1886 the society became the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia. The New South Wales branch's new constitution in 1886 widened its scope to encourage interest in scientific, commercial, educational and historical aspects of geography. The Society sponsored several important expeditions, notably the New Guinea Exploration Expedition in 1885, whose members included zoologist

Wilhelm Haacke Johann Wilhelm Haacke (23 August 1855 – 6 December 1912) was a German zoologist born in Clenze, which is now Lower Saxony, who served as Director of the South Australian Museum in Adelaide from 1882 to 1884. Career He studied zoology at th ...

, erstwhile director of the

South Australian Museum The South Australian Museum is a natural history museum and research institution in Adelaide, South Australia, founded in 1856 and owned by the Government of South Australia. It occupies a complex of buildings on North Terrace in the cultur ...

. The Victorian branch amalgamated with the Victorian Historical Society, while the New South Wales branch had ceased to function by the early 1920s. The South Australian and Queensland branches continue as the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia and Royal Geographical Society of Queensland respectively.

Queensland

The Queensland Branch (RGSAQ) was established in 1885.

Great Barrier Reef Committee

In 1922 the RGSAQ formed the Great Barrier Reef Committee, instigated by Henry C. Richards, geology professor at the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

, and

Matthew Nathan Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Matthew Nathan (3 January 1862 – 18 April 1939) was a British soldier and colonial administrator, who variously served as the governor of Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Hong Kong, Natal and Queensland. He was Under-Secre ...

Governor of Queensland The governor of Queensland is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in the state of Queensland. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia, governor-general at the national level, the governor Governors of ...

.) In 1924 the committee became an independent organisation, which it remained until 1982, supported by the Queensland Government and the Universities of Queensland and

. Members were by invitation only, drawn from academics at universities, scientific societies, and government organisations, including the RGSAQ, the

Queensland Museum The Queensland Museum Kurilpa is the state museum of Queensland, funded by the government, and dedicated to natural history, cultural heritage, science and human achievement. The museum currently operates from its headquarters and general museu ...

, the

Queensland Naturalists Club The Queensland Naturalists' Club Inc. was founded in Queensland as the Queensland Field Naturalists Club in 1906 to encourage the study, appreciation and preservation of Queensland’s flora and fauna and its environments. It has been known as the ...

, and the

Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales The Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales (RZSNSW) was formed in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in 1879 as the New South Wales Zoological Society. A Royal Charter was granted in September, 1908, leading to a change to the current name ...

. It ran scientific research programs and expeditions on the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

. It established the

Heron Island Research Station Heron Island Research Station is a marine research station located on Heron Island, an island within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, 80 km from Gladstone, off the coast of Queensland, Australia. It is located at the leeward end of a co ...

in 1951, which was the first marine research station on the reef. The committed was incorporated in 1957 and membership was by subscription. From 1983 it underwent restructuring, and was renamed the Australian Coral Reef Society.

South Australia

The South Australian branch (RGSSA) was formed on 10 July 1885. In 1905 they acquired the

York Gate Library The York Gate Library is a library located in Adelaide, Australia, which was originally created by Stephen William Silver (William), a resident of 3 York Gate, London during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Silver, with his brother H ...

, following the death of

Stephen William Silver Stephen William Silver was born to Stephen Winckworth Silver and his wife, Frances Susan Adams, on 7 May 1817. He was a brother of Hugh Silver. They were London merchants, who took over running S. W. Silver and Co. from their father in 1846. He ...

a prosperous London merchant who had branched out into publishing information for colonial settlers alongside clothes, furniture and other equipment for use in the

British colonies A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony governed by England, and then Great Britain or the United Kingdom within the English and later British Empire. There was usually a governor to represent the Crown, appointed by the British monarch on ...

Expedition sponsorship

The South Australian branch played a part in organising a number of expeditions. These included: *

Tietkens expedition of 1889 The Tietkens expedition of 1889 was led by William Tietkens. It covered territory west of Alice Springs to the vicinity of the Western Australian border. Expedition members The expedition members were: * David Beetson * Fred Warman * Billy (a bl ...

, territory west of Alice Springs to the Western Australian border *

Elder Scientific Exploring Expedition David Lindsay (20 June 1856 – 17 December 1922) was an Australian explorer and surveyor and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, London.Suzanne Edgar,Lindsay, David (1856–1922), ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 10, Me ...

, 1891, country between Warrina, South Australia, and the Western Australian coast * Calvert Scientific Exploring Expedition, 1896—1897, central and northern Western Australia

Members of the RGSSA

The founding members were: * His Honor the Chief Justice S. J. Way * Sir

Henry Ayers Sir Henry Ayers (now pron. "airs") (1 May 1821 – 11 June 1897) was the eighth Premier of South Australia, serving a record five times between 1863 and 1873. His lasting memorial was in the name Ayers Rock, now better-known as Uluru, wh ...

, KCMG. (President of the Legislative Council) * Sir Samuel Davenport * Sir

Thomas Elder Sir Thomas Elder (5 August 1818 – 6 March 1897) was a Scottish-Australian Pastoral farming, pastoralist, highly successful businessman, philanthropist, politician, race-horse owner and breeder, and public figure. Amongst many other things, h ...

* Hons. George W. Cotton * David Murray * Henry Scott * Robert Alfred Tarlton, M.L.C. *

Bishop Kennion George Wyndham Kennion, DD (5 September 184519 May 1922) was the Anglican Bishop of Adelaide, and later Bishop of Bath and Wells. Birth and education George Wyndham Kennion, the son of George Kennion and Catherine, daughter of J. F. Fordyc ...

, D.D. *

Archdeacon Farr The Ven. George Henry Farr, M.A., LL.D. (2 July 1819 – 7 February 1904) was a British born Australian Anglican priest; headmaster of St Peter's College from 1854 to 1879. History Farr was born in Tottenham, London, a son of John Farr, and was ...

, M.A., LLD, Rev. F. Williams, M.A. *

Peter Egerton-Warburton Colonel Peter Egerton-Warburton (16 August 1813 – 5 November 1889), often referred to as Major Warburton, was a British military officer, Commissioner of Police for South Australia, and an Australian explorer. In 1872 he sealed his legacy t ...

* F. E. H. W. Krichauff, M.P. *

Edwin Thomas Smith Sir Edwin Thomas Smith (6 April 1830 – 25 December 1919) was an English-born South Australian brewer, businessman, councillor, mayor, politician and philanthropist. Early years Smith was born on 6 April 1830 at Walsall, Staffordshire, ...

, M.P. * William Bundey (Mayor of Adelaide) * J. A. Hartley, B.A., B.Sc. (lnspector-General of Schools) * James W. Jones (Conservator of Water) *

J. Langdon Bonython Sir John Langdon Bonython (;Charles Earle Funk, ''What's the Name, Please?'' (Funk & Wagnalls, 1936). 15 October 184822 October 1939) was an Australian editor, newspaper proprietor, philanthropist, journalist and politician who served ...

J. F. Conigrave John Fairfax Conigrave (c. 1843 – 20 June 1920), generally referred to as J. F. Conigrave or J. Fairfax Conigrave, was a businessman in South Australia. Conigrave was born in Rundle Street, Adelaide, the son of a Benjamin Conigrave, a cabinetmak ...

* T. Evans Jr. * William Everard * Tom Gill * C. Hope Harris * E. Holthouse * A. T. Magarey * C. M. McKillop F.R.G.S. * C. J. Sanders *

Samuel Tomkinson Samuel Tomkinson J.P. (25 April 1816 – 30 August 1900) was a South Australian banker and politician. He was a member of the South Australian Legislative Council from 1885 to 1894, representing Southern District, and from 1897 to 1900 represen ...

W. H. Tietkens William Harry Tietkens (30 August 1844 – 19 April 1933), known as "Harry Tietkens", explorer and naturalist, was born in England and emigrated to Australia in 1859. Tietkens was second in command to Ernest Giles on expeditions to Central Au ...

, F.R.G.S. *

W. B. Wilkinson William Birkinshaw Wilkinson (23 May 1854 – 11 January 1927), commonly referred to as W. B. Wilkinson, was a South Australian businessman, a member of the Royal Geographical Society. History Born and educated in England, Wilkinson emigrated from ...

* Thomas Worsnop * F. S. Wallis Later prominent members were: *

Simpson Newland Simpson Newland CMG (2 November 1835 – 27 June 1925), pastoralist, author and politician, was a pioneer in Australia who made significant contributions to development around the Murray River. He was also an author of practical works and novel ...

(president 1895–1900 and 1920–1922) *

A. M. Simpson Alfred Muller Simpson (4 April 1843 – 28 September 1917), invariably known as Alfred M. Simpson or A. M. Simpson, was a South Australian industrialist, a principal of the manufacturing firm of A. Simpson & Son. He was a member of the South A ...

A. A. Simpson Alfred Allen Simpson (15 April 1875 – 27 November 1939) was an industrialist in South Australia and a partner in the firm A. Simpson & Son, founded by his grandfather Alfred Simpson. He was the mayor of Adelaide from 1913 to 1915. History ...

(president 1925–1930) *

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American civil rights activist and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

(president 1913–1920) * A. W. Piper KC (president 1910–1913) * Clive M. Hambidge (president 1944–1947). *

T. S. Reed Thomas Sadler Reed (22 May 1818 – 25 April 1914) was a Civil Servant in the British colony of South Australia, and long-serving secretary of the State's branch of the Royal Geographical Society. History Reed was born in Wellington Place, Bristo ...

(secretary 1903–1914) * F. L. Parker (secretary 1922–1932; president 1934–1936) * A. A. Lendon MD.

References

External links

Royal Geographical Society of Queensland websiteRoyal Geographical Society of South Australia websiteRoyal Geographical Society of South Australia blog siteRoyal Geographical Society of Queensland Photographs 1894-1927

State Library of Queensland State Library of Queensland (State Library) is the state public reference and research library of Queensland, Australia, operated by the Government of Queensland, state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, whi ...

Organisations based in Australia with royal patronage Clubs and societies in Australia 1883 establishments in Australia 1885 establishments in Australia 1886 establishments in Australia Geographic societies {{Australia-org-stub