Ronald Strahan (1922–2010) was a zoologist, historian and author of works on the fauna of Australia. Strahan graduated from the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

in 1947, furthering his studies at Oxford and other universities in Hong Kong and New South Wales. He became director of

Taronga Zoo Taronga Zoo Sydney is a government-run public zoo located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, in the Lower North Shore suburb of Mosman, New South Wales, Mosman, on the shores of Port Jackson, Sydney Harbour. It offers great views of Sydney ...

in 1967 and joined the staff of the

Australian Museum The Australian Museum, originally known as the Colonial Museum or Sydney Museum. is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney, William Street, Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, New South Wales. It is the oldest natural ...

in 1974. He was the editor of major publications assembled by museum, and extensively involved in oversight of the

National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife The National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife was founded as a project of the Australian Museum on 3 June 1969 (as the National Photographic Index of Australian Birds) to compile a comprehensive collection of photographs of Australian bir ...

which included ''The Complete Book of Australian Birds'' and ''The Complete Book of Australian Mammals''. Strahan also created travelling exhibitions, and wrote a series of essays on the history and work of the Australian Museum, ''Rare and Curious Specimens''. His own publications include works on Australian fauna, and his instigated a major collection of bird song at the Australian Museum. Strahan's second marriage was to the wildlife artist Pamela Conder. In the 1994 Queen's Birthday Honours Strahan was made a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

for "service to zoology and to advancing understanding of Australia's natural biological heritage".

Taxon named in his honor

* The hooded carpetshark ''

Hemiscyllium strahani The hooded carpetshark (''Hemiscyllium strahani'') is a bamboo shark in the family Hemiscylliidae found around Papua New Guinea, between latitudes 5° S and 10° S, and longitude 144° E and 153° E. Its length is up to 75 cm. Like other ...

'' Whitley, 1967 is a bamboo shark in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Hemiscylliidae The Hemiscylliidae are a family of sharks in the order Orectolobiformes, commonly known as longtail carpet sharks and sometimes as bamboo sharks. They are found in shallow waters of the tropical Indo-Pacific. They are relatively small sharks, ...

found around

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

, between

latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...

s 5° S and 10° S, and

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east- west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek lett ...

144° E and 153° E.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strahan, Ronald 1922 births 2010 deaths Australian zoologists Directors of museums in Australia Zoo directors Members of the Order of Australia University of Western Australia alumni