Even though iodine deficiency in Tasmania had been known since the 1830s no full account of the thyrotoxicosis epidemic of 1966–67 has ever been recorded. This personal narrative tracks the history of this epidemic in Tasmania during the 1960s, when it first appeared as iodine deficiency, then as iodine excess, how it was formally recognised and the events leading to its eventual treatment. The addition of iodine into the diet of Tasmanians, initially in bread and then unwittingly through use of iodophors in the dairy industry, resulted in a sequence of events that required unravelling by medical practitioners new to the field but aided by experts from elsewhere. The Tasmanian thyrotoxicosis epidemic was, and continues to be, cited in the annals of the scientific literature as an important medical case study.
The Royal Society of Tasmania and its precursors have met and stored their collections in at least eight different buildings in Hobart and several in Launceston since Sir John and Lady Franklin started a scientific society in 1838.Those built for
The endemic Tasmanian Digger Wasp Williamsita tasmanica is only known from 13 registered museum specimens, with little recorded on its life history.A nesting aggregation of females was observed over a 25-day period, enabling the first detailed observations of host log, nest design, prey and egg deposition, and behavioural patterns to be made.Cells were provisioned with large flies (order Diptera) of nine species from nine genera and four families to observe behaviour.This aggregation used a large eucalypt with an exposed core of friable brown rot for nesting.Our study showed that the day-to-day behaviour of the female is predictable, centring on nest construction, hunting large flies and egg-laying.This information has been lodged on the Atlas of Living Australia and voucher specimens collected for the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery to facilitate further taxonomic study.
This report summarises the chief reasons the Royal Society of Tasmania should apologise to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community.
Tasmania has been the site of much astronomical activity over the past century.While most of the scientific research has taken place in the south of the state, this paper documents the significant activities that have been a focus in northern Tasmania, tracing the history of key events and people involved.The scene is set with a summary of pre-1920 astronomical history, followed by a detailed discussion of activities over the past 100 years, including the establishment of the Launceston Planetarium and its subsequent shift from QVMAG to the present-day Inveresk site.It identifies the many professional and amateur astronomers who have played a pivotal role in helping build Tasmania's strong astronomical reputation as a centre for research and education, now recognised worldwide.Many aspects of this paper are drawn from the author's own experience in the hopes of attracting further information to expand our knowledge.
On Monday, 15 February 2021, the Royal Society of Tasmania (RST) and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) delivered paired Apologies to the Aboriginal people of Tasmania. The event was held in the Courtyard of TMAG, Hobart, and attended in person by about one hundred invited guests including members of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community, members of the Council of the RST and members of the Board of Trustees of TMAG. A large number of invited guests also witnessed the event by livestream. It was also the first time the Aboriginal flag had been flown at Customs House to commemorate the significance of this event.
The Walls of Jerusalem, in Tasmania's Central Plateau, is marked by several dolerite escarpments, or "walls", enclosing sheltered grassy valleys with Pencil Pine forests.Geologically, the area is a structurally raised block between two faults, with the peaks and plateaus being 100 m or so higher than the surrounding plateau.The valleys and escarpments may be mainly due to intense faulting and shattering of the dolerite by cross-faults, and removal of this material by glaciers.The higher peaks and plateaus have all been abraded by ice, except for an extraordinary patch at Solomons Throne, which retains irregular scree piles coloured red with lichen.Virtually all the valley floors are covered by glacial till, which probably relates to the younger glacial episodes.It consists mostly of dolerite boulders and clay, and shows subdued morainal forms in most places, with a few matrix-free boulder deposits probably representing lag after meltwater washing.Bedded clay deposits formed in lakes and meltwater streams as the ice retreated are extensive within the drift deposits, reflecting the confined nature of the two glacier lobes which entered the valleys from north and south.Dolerite screes along the scarps appear to post-date most of the morainal deposits, but some older screes may also be present.The Temple eminence within the centre of the Walls consists of fragmented dolerite overlying Triassic sandstone, almost completely covered by periglacial and glacial deposits, including superb examples of solifluction flows.There are many unanswered questions concerning the glacial deposits, but the lack of any dates means it is not yet possible to establish a comprehensive glacial chronology.
Measurements beneath Antarctic ice shelves are critical to our understanding of how the glaciers will change and melt. To access these regions, we rely on autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV), which are free-swimming robots. The Australian Maritime College in Launceston, Tasmania, is leading efforts to deploy these vehicles in some of the harshest environments on Earth. This paper provides an overview of the history and recent Australian efforts in deploying AUVs in under-ice environments and discusses recent advances in mission planning and the ongoing challenges to take measurements from beneath ice shelves.
Gardens are both a source of plant species that invade native vegetation (bush) and are places that native species can invade.We test the hypotheses that the richness of adventive exotic and native trees in suburban gardens declines with distance from the bush, and that the type of garden strongly influences the establishment of adventive trees.The adventive woody species in front gardens of houses on randomly selected streets in three Hobart suburbs were observed from the street, along with garden type.Distance from the bush boundary was measured from maps.Most taxa occurred less frequently with increasing distance from the bush and garden type was associated with the occurrence of several taxa.Distance and garden type had no effect on the exotic Pittosporum undulatum, possibly because it is rare in native vegetation due to its fire sensitivity but is both attractive to many gardeners and well-dispersed by birds between gardens.
In 2019 the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston received a donation of one of Australia’s largest and most significant private butterfly collections. The Lambkin-Knight collection, containing around 12,000 Australian including Tasmanian specimens, provides an invaluable reference point for butterfly identification, distribution and climate-change related research and has already resulted in over 30 scientific publications.
Despite being more prevalent in Tasmania than elsewhere, dolerite found relatively limited use by early European settlers. Dolerite was used in foundations, basements and retaining walls, but was difficult to shape and at least in the first half of the colonial century, highly unfashionable both in colour and texture, although acceptable for industrial buildings and rural outbuildings. Later in the nineteenth century, quarried stones of uniform colour were used to build some notable churches as well as basements for buildings of other materials. There was a progression during the three decades before the First World War from use of stones of varied size to a preference for stones of regular appearance; after which dolerite was largely replaced by concrete. For much of the twentieth century, dolerite was chiefly crushed for road metal, concrete aggregate or railway ballast, with occasional use in formal building. Towards the end of that period, it returned to building in decorative features, and to engineering practice as filling for gabions and in massive assemblies of boulders. This overview traces the use of dolerite in Tasmania from early colonial times to present-day practices in fashionable architecture and as a structural building material.
Much has been written, theorised and assumed about Tasmanian Aboriginal peoples and histories, but few representations of their life and culture have been recorded by the subjects themselves.This paper reiterates and expands on the conclusions drawn in previous work that tells the little-known history of the genesis of Tasmania's contemporary Aboriginal communities.The lifeworld and identity of the unique cultural group formed by the Straitsmen and their female Aboriginal partners, the Tyereelore, on the small islands of eastern Bass Strait, has remained virtually undisclosed in colonial narratives.They were entrepreneurs and shrewd traders of the surplus from the sea and land and in partnership they thrived despite the harsh environment and their precarious position in the socio-economic landscape.Against all odds, their joint skillsets, adaptability and resilience ensured the survival of their descendants today.
The endemic Tasmanian cockroach Polyzosteria yingina, was formally described in 2021, 80 years after it was first documented.Evidence from morphology, biogeography and DNA barcodes distinguishes this species from the related mainland Australian taxa it had previously been confused with and united the geographically disparate alpine and coastal populations under a single specific epithet.That specific epithet, yingina, was chosen in collaboration with the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre.This was to acknowledge that, given the species' large size, handsome appearance and overt behaviours, it would once have had Aboriginal names, which now may have been lost due to colonial disruption of language, land and culture.
holds special significance for those in the north dedicated to the advancement of knowledge as it marks the inaugural lecture of the newly formed Northern Branch of the Royal Society of Tasmania.Yet, as will be demonstrated, this organisation was not undergoing creation but a reincarnation from its earlier counterpart.Knowledge of the first Branch and its activities is poorly known other than it originally flourished then faded into obscurity.Nevertheless, this group of dedicated enthusiasts persisted and today hold a special place in the story of the development of scientific bodies in the north of Tasmania including the nineteenth-century movement towards the establishment of public museums.As with all progressive endeavours, there were pivotal figures who stood out for the part they played in shaping events.Their names can be found in the following discussion.
The Tamar Valley occupies the Tamar Graben, a geological structure defined by a series of parallel NW-trending faults which have lowered the dolerite basement to below sea level. The resulting narrow trough, some 50 km long and 5 km wide, has been partially infilled with soft sands, clays and gravels, with intercalated basalt flows in places, of mainly Paleogene (lower Tertiary) age. Low hills of hard Jurassic dolerite define the structure on either side. The graben was formed during the break-up of Gondwana, the separation of Australia from Antarctica, and the making of Tasmania, in the Cretaceous-early Cenozoic period, some 70–140 million years ago (Ma). A spreading ridge had propagated eastwards through the Great Australian Bight but was unable to break through the Bass Strait area, and instead a large wedge of crust containing the future Tasmania was pulled away from the corner of Antarctica on a series of transcurrent faults. The associated crustal stretching in the Bass Strait area resulted in the formation of the deep ‘hole’ of Bass Basin, which had offshoots onto what became Tasmania, including the Tamar Graben. For much of its life, the Tamar River was a major feeder stream into the Bass Basin, carrying large volumes of sediment eroded from the Tasmanian highlands. The course of its major tributary, the South Esk River, within the southern part of the graben was completely blocked by basalt flows near the present Evandale about 35 Ma, forcing it into a new course to the west through the dolerite, to form the Cataract Gorge.
Sporulating mycelial mats on the bark of lower stems are a common and notable sign of Davidsoniella australis infection of Nothofagus cunninghamii in cool temperate rainforest in Tasmania and Victoria.Inoculation studies indicate viable conidia from mats may be present in the rainforest during most of the year.Air-or water-borne conidia from sporulating mats and in the frass of the ambrosia beetle Platypus subgranosus that attacks infected trees, is the likely source of new infections in N. cunninghamii.
Southeast Australia, and most notably Tasmania, is the last home to the Handfishes, a unique group of marine fish that use their fins for walking.A range of threats occur across all species, with four listed as endangered, two as critically endangered, and the Red Handfish now on the brink of extinction.This paper summarises the contribution being made to the national recovery of the Spotted Handfish and Red Handfish by a captive breeding project underway at Beauty Point in northern Tasmania.Information is provided on husbandry techniques, survival and growth rates in captivity and a trial underway to identify their reproductive strategies.This program highlights the contribution the aquarium industry can make to improving the survival of two of the world's most unique species of marine fishes and the collaboratives efforts of those involved.
Good afternoon everyone. I would like to acknowledge all members of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community who are here today, and to pay respect to all our old people who have passed before us. Let’s not forget that this day is as much about them as it is us. This is a momentous day for the Aboriginal community of Tasmania – Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and the Royal Society of Tasmania. As we have heard today the TMAG and the Royal Society have offered apologies to the Aboriginal community for past actions that have shown no regard for our culture and spirituality and which in turn contributed to our disadvantage and trauma. I believe it is up to all of us to consider these apologies with open minds and hearts.
