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Millennia of evolutionary ecology have seen Australia become one of the driest and flattest continents on Earth—and in the process, home to more than 700 species of Eucalyptus. Colonial scientists named them using a binomial system, thereby overwriting local vernaculars that had persisted for tens of thousands of years. This paper traces the man commemorated in the Albany Blackbutt, Eucalyptus staeri , a tree unique to the Great Southern region of Western Australia, traditionally the land of the Menang Noongar people. Using a biographical lens, the paper examines the intersection of Western science and commerce in plant collection and naming, and the ways in which these processes exclude or discount Indigenous knowledge. The paper argues that a more holistic and inclusive historical interpretation of herbarium specimens of E. staeri is achieved by correcting and re-analysing information about the German settler after whom it is named, John Staer, while at the same time acknowledging the Noongar people's deep knowledge (kartijin) of plants that has been passed down over many thousands of years. Australia is home to more than 700 species of Eucalyptus, named by Colonial scientists with a binomial system that displaced local Aboriginal vernaculars. Using a biographical lens, this paper traces the man commemorated in the Albany Blackbutt, Eucalyptus staeri , a tree unique to the Great Southern region of Western Australia, traditionally the land of the Menang Noongar people. In doing so, it suggests corrections and additions to public documents that speak to a need to Indigenise and decolonise written sources in herbaria the world over. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article summarises the careers of ten women who have made an amazing contribution to our knowledge of Australian coral reefs and their management, and how this contribution has been used by the Great Barrier Reef Committee (subsequently the Australian Coral Reef Society) to conserve and manage our reefs—an ongoing process in the face of climate change. This paper highlights the critical role that women have played in Australian coral reef science over the last 90 years, through documenting the biodiversity, ecology and functioning of coral reefs. The scientific contributions of ten outstanding women are summarised, along with how they broke down barriers by working on oceanographic vessels and undertaking research in remote areas, while also using their expertise to advocate for the management and conservation of Australia's diverse coral reefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scott Sloan (1954–2019) was a leader of academic engineering in Australia and beyond, as evidenced by his numerous professional accolades and important research achievements, which have had significant impact on his chosen profession of geotechnical engineering. Educated in Australia and the United Kingdom, he returned to Australia in 1984 and developed a large and active research group at the University of Newcastle, and tackled a wide range of important problems in civil and mining engineering. These include the development of computational methods to predict the mechanical behaviour of soil and rock masses, and his pioneering methods to predict the collapse states of structures made of, on, and in, earth materials, allowing engineers to design cheaper and safer civil infrastructure around the globe. Sloan established long-standing international collaborations and was awarded many honours for his research achievements. He was also a keen and skilful fisherman and a more than competent blues guitar player. Scott William Sloan, AO, FAA, FTSE, FREng, FRS, was a distinguished Australian geotechnical engineer, who pioneered many advances in computational methods that are now used routinely to design structures constructed in and of earth materials. This paper describes his career development and his numerous research achievements, as well as his role in mentoring other engineers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

History is replete with debates between health professionals with concerns about practices and products and others who either challenge scientific evidence or believe that the greatest public good is achieved through maintenance of the status quo. This paper provides a 1950s socio-scientific perspective on a recurring problem for health professionals. It analyses dentists' promotion of oral health by discouraging sugar consumption and the sugar industry's defence of its staple product. Despite scientific evidence in support of its case, the dental profession lacked influence with government and large sections of the Australian community. The division of powers within the Australian Constitution, together with the cause, nature and ubiquity of caries and Australians' tolerance of the disease, were relevant to the outcome. In contrast, the sugar industry was a powerful force. Sugar was a pillar of the Australian and Queensland economies. The industry contributed to the history of Queensland and to Queenslanders' collective psyche, and enjoyed access to centralized authority in decision-making. The timing of the debate was also relevant. Under Prime Minister Robert Menzies, the Australian Government was more concerned with promoting industry and initiative than oral health. This was a one-sided contest. Patterns of food consumption evolve from interactions between availability, culture and choice. Food and associated etiquettes provide far more than health, nutrients and enjoyment. They contribute to economic and social development, national and regional identity and the incidence of disease. The growing, milling and processing of sugarcane and the incorporation of sugar into the Australian diet is a case study that illuminates the interface between health professionals, corporations, society and the state. Today, for a variety of reasons, health professionals recommend limits for daily intake of sugar. Calls for dietary reform are not new and invariably arouse opposition. The issue came to the fore between 1945 and 1960, when dentists contended that the consumption of sugar either caused or contributed to a major health problem, namely dental caries (tooth decay). Representatives of the sugar industry defended their staple product against these claims, which emerged at a critical time for the industry. With hindsight, these exchanges can be seen as a precursor to more diverse and recurring debates relating to contemporary health campaigns. This paper documents and analyses the contemporaneous scientific and socio-political backgrounds underpinning these engagements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early 1850s, Victoria's newly appointed Government Botanist, Ferdinand Mueller, undertook three remarkable journeys of botanical exploration in the alpine region in the colony's north-east. There has been considerable uncertainty about the route that he followed, especially on his third expedition between November 1854 and March 1855. This paper offers a reconsideration of Mueller's travels in the mountains that takes account of his reports and correspondence, published and unpublished, and also the topography of the region. The conclusions reached have implications for the interpretation of Mueller's collection records from these expeditions. The paper also discusses Mueller's attempt to fix names on various geographical features in the area and suggests why this was unsuccessful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Australia’s responses to questions about ‘the environment’, particularly in the period from the 1960s–80s, showing how they were informed in varying amounts by international science, by the emerging aesthetics of the idea of the environment and by social movements, including one later known as environmentalism. The rise of ‘integrated science’, particularly Big Science and international collaborations in science, modelling and the information technology revolution all shaped the interdisciplinary expertise that frames the environment still. It is, however, very rare to find an individual like Max Day, whose biography enables a re-examination of the way thinking about the environment shaped strategic national thinking, public science and popular concerns including national parks management across the second half of the twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biochemistry was an early concern of physiologists and agricultural scientists in the universities of Australia. Much more is known and recorded about such early biochemists as Osborne, Robertson and Young than about Arthur Rothera, whose contribution from 1906 to 1915 is the principal focus of this paper. Rothera was the first lecturer in biochemistry in Australia, the author of a number of significant papers and, through his ketone test, is still influential in diagnosis of diabetes today. At his death, he left biochemistry at Melbourne in new laboratories, and several students able to take his place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the expectation in nineteenth-century botany that the plants of one country were most similar to those of adjacent countries, by the middle of the century it was accepted that there was a connexion between flora of northern Australia and 'India'. The pattern and reasons for plant distribution around the world were studied in the emerging science of phytogeography, but this paper suggests that the strength of the Indo-Australian connexion was influenced by species limits in the established science of phytography or descriptive botany. This paper also shows that while the botany of Australia and 'India' was predominantly studied in European nations, Ferdinand Mueller used resources obtained from Joseph Hooker in Great Britain, and Friedrich Miquel in the Netherlands to add new details to the distribution pattern of 'Indian' plants in northern Australia. Although Mueller was unwilling to reflect on these findings himself, they seemed to challenge attempts to introduce evolutionary and geological explanations into phytogeography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geographic area covered by this bibliography includes material relating to the history of science in Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea and other islands of the Pacific Ocean near Australia, and Antarctica. Publications included were mostly published in 2011. The subject coverage includes works on the history of the natural sciences (mathematics, physical sciences, earth sciences and biological sciences), some of the applied sciences (including medical and health sciences, agriculture, engineering and technology) and human sciences. Biographical material relating to these sciences is also of interest. In compiling this bibliography, over 150 journals have been scanned for relevant articles, books and book reviews on subjects covered. As well, journals that had yielded relevant articles in previous years were scanned as likely sources of papers for inclusion. The libraries of the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne and the University of Melbourne were useful sources of relevant material, as were the catalogs of the National Library of Australia and the National Library of New Zealand Te Papa Matauranga O Aotearoa. Thanks are due to those people who sent items or information about items published in 2011 for inclusion in the bibliography, particularly individual authors who provided details of their work. In particular, thanks are extended to Professor Rod Home who continues to alert the compiler to citations of relevant material. The staff of eScholarship Research Centre at the University of Melbourne, especially Helen Morgan and Ailie Smith, were once again of great assistance in producing this bibliography. Readers are invited to continue to send information on the publication of books, journal articles, conference papers, reports, Master's and PhD theses and reviews on the subject published during 2012 for inclusion in future bibliographies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has long been held that the general population of the British colony of New South Wales before the 1820s was neither exposed to nor interested in science, and that there was little home-grown science in Sydney at this time. This prevailing view, however, is based on a definition of science as institutionalized knowledge producer. In this paper I examine the Sydney colony between 1788 and 1821 through the lens of recent historiographical developments that have redefined science as a form of communicative action, and that incorporate the study of popular discourse centrally within histories of science. Under this approach, an examination of Sydney's mass media and popular culture reveals a widespread, rich and invested fascination with science among the colony's general population, and active contributions to public science discourse by ordinary colony residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many of Ralph Tate's achievements as the University of Adelaide's foundation Professor of Natural Science are well known. The focus here is on the quite remarkable, but almost forgotten, natural history museum that he built at the University and that after his death was named the Tate Museum. The paper outlines and explains the difficulties that Tate encountered in establishing the museum, the strictly geological focus of his successors and the gradual dispersal of Tate's main collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1922 there was a total solar eclipse with the central track traversing the Australian continent from Western Australia, through South Australia and across Queensland. Local and overseas astronomers mounted major observing campaigns to verify the amount of gravitational light bending predicted by the Theory of General Relativity. This paper looks at how the media reported the results from previous expeditions in 1919, which were conducted by the British, and the necessity for the 1922 measurements in Australia. It was this latter local eclipse that was the impetus for Australian correspondents to report on General Relativity. In general, the Australian newspapers chronicled informatively and accurately, they provided a good coverage of the eclipse parties and stressed the significance of the 1922 investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Science and Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF) was established in 1926 by the passage in the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia of the Science and Industry Endowment Act at the same time as the Science and Industry Research Act established the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. The SIEF played a major role in funding the training of Australian research workers from 1926 to 1950 and funded much of the research carried out in Australian universities in the pre-war period. This paper documents the activities of the SIEF from its inception in 1926 until inflation eroded the value of the Fund in the 1970s. The Fund was later reinvigorated by the injection of $150 million by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation between 2009 and 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the past fifty years, Sandringham Station has provided a major focus for scientific work in southwestern Queensland, an arid region that includes the Simpson Desert and the Channel Country (together 'Desert Channels'). This paper explores the role of place, chance and private enterprise in supporting science in this region. Unlike other parts of inland Australia, where government initiatives were prominent, science in Queensland's arid country was privately supported, and research there had an ecological or eco-physiological rather than an economic focus. It began later than elsewhere (1960s), and its scientific questions were different from those framed in research stations set up to address agricultural and pastoral imperatives. The location of Sandringham on the ecological edge between the ephemeral wetlands of the anastomosing channels and the dune country of the Simpson Desert created an ecotonal area that was rich in animals adapted to living in Australian desert country, and a particular opportunity to observe their adaptations to the boom-and-bust ecological conditions. The role of local observers, particularly station managers and naturalists, has been critical in studying the often cryptic animals of the region, and the ongoing support of the station itself was essential to investigations that were mostly on private leasehold lands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the past of desert landscapes has been interpreted since European explorers and scientists first encountered them. It charts the research that created the conceptual space within which archaeologists and Quaternarists now work. Studies from the 1840s-1960s created the notion of a 'Great Australian Arid Period'. The 1960s studies of Lake Mungo and the Willandra Lakes by Jim Bowler revealed the cyclical nature of palaeolakes, that changed with climate changes in the Pleistocene, and the complexity of desert pasts. SLEADS and other researchers in the 1980s used thermoluminescence techniques that showed further complexities in desert lands beyond the Willandra particularly through new studies in the Strzelecki and Simpson Dunefields, Lake Eyre, Lake Woods and Lake Gregory. Australian deserts are varied and have very different histories. Far from 'timeless lands', they have carried detailed information about long-term climate changes on continental scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ralph Tate (1840-1901), the foundation Professor of Natural Science at the University of Adelaide, proved to be a remarkable scientist and naturalist with outstanding achievements in several fields. Tate was selected for the Chair in Adelaide, despite having no previous university experience, mainly on the recommendation of T. H. Huxley. This paper examines Tate's background in some detail and establishes that, in fact, as a respected geologist and palaeontologist with interests in conchology and botany, he was particularly well qualified to fill the post. He had had years of teaching practice, a long list of research publications and even experience in exploring new territories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scope of the Bibliography comprises material on the history of the natural sciences (mathematics, physical sciences, earth sciences and biological sciences), some of the applied sciences (including medical and health sciences, agriculture, manufacturing and engineering) and human sciences (psychology, anthropology and sociology). Biographical material on practitioners in these sciences is also of interest. Geographically, apart from Australia, the coverage includes New Zealand, New Guinea and other islands of the Pacific Ocean near Australia, and Antarctica. In compiling this bibliography, sources that proved valuable in the compilation of previous bibliographies were used to search for citations of articles, books and book reviews on subjects covered. This includes over 200 journals that have yielded relevant articles in previous years. Library catalogues, particularly those of the National Libraries of Australia and New Zealand and the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, were useful sources of relevant material. Thanks are due to those people who sent items or information about items published in 2012 for inclusion in the bibliography, particularly Professor Rod Home who continues to provide citations on relevant subjects. Thanks are also due to the staff of the eScholarship Research Centre at the University of Melbourne, especially Helen Morgan and Ailie Smith, who provide valuable assistance in the entering of data. Readers are invited to continue to send information on the publication of books, journal articles, conference papers, reports, Master's and PhD theses and reviews on the subject published covered by the Bibliography for inclusion in future issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over fifty years ago, the new Department of Geophysics of the Australian National University in Canberra pursued research in paleomagnetism which was to be fundamental to the major developments in Earth Sciences now known as the plate tectonics revolution. In the setting of some then unexplained phenomena such as reversely magnetized rocks, and slightly in advance of fundamental developments in the dating of rocks using radioactive decay schemes of naturally-occurring isotopes, a team led by Edward Irving obtained data for the Australian continent which, accepted and combined with data from Europe and North America, demanded that major continents of the globe had moved relative to each other over geological time. Generally these facts are recognised in histories of science, however such histories usually do not record the local Australian National University setting, which it is intended to describe in this paper. Essential for the paleomagnetic work was the skilled support of a wide range of Australian geologists, who guided collection strategy and supplied oriented samples that had been collected continent-wide. It may also be little appreciated that the first paleomagnetic measurements at the Australian National University were carried out by J. C. Jaeger on samples of Tasmanian dolerite, following work on the same rock by P. M. S. Blackett's group in England. Because these cores were vertical and the magnetization in them approximately vertical, that they were not oriented with regard to horizontal direction was unimportant. Their vertical magnetization gave a forerunner of the continental-drift result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Items cited in this bibliography relate to the history of science in Australia and its neighbours New Zealand, New Guinea and other islands of the Pacific Ocean near Australia, and Antarctica. Publications include material on the history of the natural sciences (mathematics, physical sciences, earth sciences, and biological sciences), some of the applied sciences (including medical and health sciences, agriculture, and engineering), and human sciences (psychology, anthropology, and sociology). Also of interest is biographical material on people active in these sciences. Sources used in compiling this bibliography include an extensive list of journals and databases that have yielded relevant citations in the past. These have been particularly useful in locating epublications. In particular, the libraries of the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne and the University of Melbourne were useful sources of material, as were the catalogues of the National Library of Australia and the National Library of New Zealand Te Papa Matauranga O Aotearoa. Assistance has been received from a number of people who sent items or information for inclusion in the bibliography. In particular, Professor Rod Home has diligently forwarded citations. Staff of the eScholarship Research Centre at the University of Melbourne, especially Helen Morgan and Ailie Smith, were of great assistance in the preparation of this bibliography. Thanks are also due to those individuals who alerted the compiler to relevant information. Readers may have access to information about relevant books, journal articles, conference papers, reports, Master's and PhD theses, and reviews published in 2011. They are encouraged to send such information to the compiler at the above email address for inclusion in future bibliographies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A national research approach to the 'grasshopper problem' began following a plague of the Australian plague locust (Chortoicetes terminifera Walker) in inland south-eastern Australia in the 1930s. After the plague of the 1950s, the role of arid inland areas as a source of migrations into agricultural areas received greater attention. In the 1960s and 1970s, international collaborative experimental research with the CSIRO advanced the knowledge of locust lifecycles and population ecology. Studies of nocturnal mass migration on upper-level winds brought a new understanding of Australian locust population dynamics. This paper traces Australian research into locust ecology within the contexts of locust infestations and government responses to them. Investigations on Australian locusts reflected many contemporary ideas and methods in entomological research and contributed to the development of international ecological theory during the twentieth century. International locust research based on the phase change and outbreak area model of Uvarov particularly influenced work carried out in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an appendix to Phillip Parker King's 1826 book Narrative of a Survey of the ... Coasts of Australia..., W. H. Fitton attempted, largely on the basis of the rock specimens collected on King's and earlier expeditions, to summarize the geological (mainly lithological) character of Australia's coastal regions. We have examined and identified the specimens, preserved in the Natural History Museum, London, in terms of modern concepts, indicating their stratigraphic affinities. Fitton realized the limitations of his work and, wishing to encourage better knowledge, appended 'Instructions for collecting geological specimens', stressing the need to understand not only the materials, but the order of formation. Fitton was indicating that a sense of stratigraphy was essential to the progress of geology. Despite its deficiencies, Fitton's paper was an important step towards understanding the geology of an almost unknown continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inquiries into the diminishing supply of artesian water within the Queensland aspect of the Great Artesian Basin began in 1939. These investigations produced a Queensland phenomenon without Australian precedent in terms of rationale, geographical diversity, and commitment of resources. In some regions, exposure of herds to fluoride emerged as an urgent issue because fluoride was perceived as an invasive, invisible, and odourless 'contaminant' in artesian water. This paper discusses the scientific background to, and management of, concerns over the consumption by stock of artesian water with a high concentration of natural bioavailable fluoride. The Queensland Department of Agriculture and Stock managed the problem by scientific investigation, methodical field study, and the application of research findings to animal husbandry. The practical solutions arrived at involved rotation of stock on an age-related basis to and from certain bore supplies, fencing young sheep away from the artesian supply, fencing young sheep near the bore-head, and limiting the use of supplements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]