Field Naturalists Club of Victoria

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Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria expedition group, King Island, 1887 Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria Expedition Group, King Island, 1887Expedition-group-336831-large.jpg
Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria expedition group, King Island, 1887

The Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (FNCV) is an Australian natural history and conservation organisation. [1] The club is the oldest of its kind in Australia and is unique in having existed continuously since its foundation. [2] Since its founding, the club has drawn its membership from the ranks of both amateur naturalists and professional scientists. This dual stream of members has continued into the 21st century, in which the club is well known for not only its scientific research output, but also numerous ongoing citizen science projects. [3]

Contents

Since 1940 the FNCV has awarded the Australian Natural History Medallion to the person judged to have made the most meritorious contribution to the understanding of Australian Natural History. [4] Past winners include: Alex Chisholm (1940), Helen Aston (1979), Jack Hyett (1985), and Richard Shine (2009). [5]

The FNCV is situated at 1 Gardenia St, Blackburn, in Melbourne's eastern suburbs. A range of services is available for members, including a bookshop.

Current activities

Currently there are ten special interest groups within the FNCV: Bats, Botany, Day, Fauna Survey, Fungi, Geology, Marine Research, Microscopy, Terrestrial Invertebrates, and Juniors. [6] The Day group aims to provide a generalist, high quality natural history program that invites speakers from inside and outside the club to undertake lectures and excursions around the state. [7] Accounting for both the special interest groups, and Day Group, the FNCV holds weekly member events, including lectures, tours, excursions and conservation activities throughout the year. [8]

The FNCV works closely with government and not-for-profit conservation and natural history organisations, to monitor and protect key biodiverse areas in the state. [9] [10] This includes an ongoing research project with Parks Victoria, studying endangered malleefowls in Mallee country in the north of the state. [11] The club's Fauna Survey special interest group has also been studying the population numbers of the endangered regent parrot, identifying a notable population increase in Hattah-Kulkyne National Park while on an excursion. [12] The club has also notable a growing population[ clarify ] of the critically endangered swift parrot in Deep Lead Nature Conservation Reserve, while undertaking a long-term population study in collaboration with Parks Victoria. [13]

History

The FNCV was founded in May 1880 by a group of nature enthusiasts that included medical practitioner Thomas Pennington Lucas, [14] botanist and curator of the National Herbarium of Victoria, Johann George Luehmann, Charles French, and Dudley Best. The club worked closely with the Royal Society of Victoria, with which it shared a large percentage of its membership. [3]

The club's first president, palaeontologist and zoologist, Frederick McCoy, was also the first director of the National Museum of Victoria (now Museums Victoria). The two organisations have maintained a close working relationship since that founding period, with many curators and staff playing key roles in the club. [15]

Since its founding, the club has played a critical role in founding and maintaining Victoria's key biodiversity regions through conservation efforts and lobbying government bodies. This includes the club's establishment of Wilsons Promontory National Park, in collaboration with the Royal Society of Victoria in 1898. The FNCV has maintained a watching brief over the park for over 120 years. [16] The club also played a key role in founding Croajingolong National Park, the Little Desert National Park and the box-ironbark forests. [3]

The FNCV has played key roles in founding conservation and natural history organisations across the country. Many regional field naturalist clubs in Victoria can trace their founding back to FNCV members starting offshoot clubs for their local region, including the Bendigo Field Naturalists Club, [17] the Peninsula Field Naturalists' Club, [18] and the Latrobe Valley Field Naturalists Club. [19] To foster organisation between the Victoria clubs, the FNCV established the Victorian Field Naturalists Clubs Association, which is now the South East Australian Naturalists Association, one of the largest amateur science and conservation organisations in Australia. [3] [20]

Publications

The title page of The Victorian Naturalist vol.15 1898-1899 Title page Victorian Naturalist vol.15 1898-1899.tif
The title page of The Victorian Naturalist vol.15 1898–1899

Since 1884 it has published the bimonthly scientific research journal, The Victorian Naturalist . The journal contains scientific research reports, contributions, naturalist notes and book reviews. Although the journal predominantly focuses on Victorian natural history, submissions are accepted Australia-wide, on all natural history subjects. [21] Ferdinand von Mueller published many of his first descriptions in this journal, including Agapetes meiniana , [22] Oldenlandia psychotrioides, [23] Morinda hypotephra , [23] Phyllanthus hypospodius [24] and Wendlandia basistaminea. [24]

The club has produced a monthly newsletter, the Field Nats News, since 1991, which contains club activity and excursion reports, internal notices for club members and member-submitted articles. [25]

The history of the club and their conservation work has been published by the club in Leaves from Our History: the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria, 1880-2005, [26] and its follow-up publication Understanding our natural world: the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria 1880-2015. [27] [28]

Presidents

Past presidents include:

Regional groups

The FNCV has informal links to a number of regional field naturalist groups across Victoria, including:

See also

Related Research Articles

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<i>The Victorian Naturalist</i> Scientific journal published in Victoria, Australia

The Victorian Naturalist is a bimonthly scientific journal covering natural history, especially of Australia. It is published by the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria and is received as part of the membership subscription of that club. From 1881, club proceedings and papers had been published in the Southern Science Record and Magazine of Natural History before the first issue of The Victorian Naturalist appeared in January 1884. The journal publishes peer-reviewed research articles, research reports, "Naturalist Notes", and book reviews. The journal was published monthly until 1976, since then it has been published bimonthly. In that period several special issues have been published. These covered particular natural history topics or significant centenaries: of the club (1980), the death of Ferdinand von Mueller (1996), and the establishment of Wilsons Promontory National Park and Mount Buffalo National Park (1998). In 2001 there was a special issue on Frederick McCoy, the first president of the club. The journal was abstracted and indexed by Scopus in 1980 and 1984 and from 2008 to 2014.

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The Castlemaine Field Naturalists Club (CFNC) is an Australian regional natural history society dedicated to the study, appreciation and conservation of the natural environment in the Castlemaine region of Victoria. Founded in 1976, the CFNC has played a pivotal role in promoting environmental awareness and scientific enquiry within the Castlemaine community.

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The Field Naturalists' Club of Ballarat (FNCB) is an Australian regional scientific natural history and conservation society. The club was founded in 1952 (a continuation of the Field Club and Science Society) and is located in Ballarat, Victoria.

The Bendigo Field Naturalists Club (BFNC) is an Australian regional scientific natural history society, dedicated to the study, appreciation and conservation of the natural environment. It is located in Bendigo, in central Victoria and focuses on the native biodiversity of the Bendigo Valley.

References

  1. ↑ Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology. "The Field Naturalists Club of Victoria Inc - Corporate Body - Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation". www.eoas.info. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  2. ↑ Presland, Gary (2010). "The role of naturalists in environmental conservation". Transactions of the Royal Society of Victoria. 122 (2): xci–xcv – via CSIRO Publishing.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Gary Presland (2016) Understanding our natural world: the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria 1880-2015. Melbourne: Field Naturalists Club of Victoria
  4. ↑ Sheila Houghton (1987) The Australian Natural History Medallion Melbourne: Field Naturalists Club of Victoria
  5. ↑ "Australian Natural History Medallionists" (PDF). Field Naturalists Club of Victoria. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  6. ↑ "Field Naturalist Club of Victoria - Environment Victoria". environmentvictoria.org.au. 12 July 2016. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  7. ↑ "Day Group | FNCV" . Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  8. ↑ Anonymous (27 September 2013). "Field Naturalists Club of Victoria". Eco-shout. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  9. ↑ "Citizen Science". www.parks.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  10. ↑ "Impostors: If it's endangered, we want it". ABC listen. 4 October 2022. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  11. ↑ "Citizen scientists help study threatened malleefowl". ABC News. 17 April 2017. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  12. ↑ "Regent Parrot numbers soar in Victoria following increased rainfall". ABC News. 23 November 2016. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  13. ↑ "Swift Parrots discovered at Deep Lead Nature Conservation Reserve". www.parks.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  14. ↑ Sophie C. Ducker, 'Lucas, Arthur Henry Shakespeare (1853 - 1936)', Australian Dictionary of Biography , Volume 10, MUP, 1986, pp 163-164. Retrieved 2009-09-19
  15. ↑ "Field Naturalists Club of Victoria". Museums Victoria Collections. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  16. ↑ "A history of Wilsons Promontory". Victorian National Parks Association. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  17. ↑ The Victorian Naturalist. Vol. v.65 (1948-1949). [Melbourne]: Field Naturalists Club of Victoria. 1948.
  18. ↑ The Victorian Naturalist. Vol. v.65 (1948-1949). [Melbourne]: Field Naturalists Club of Victoria. 1948.
  19. ↑ Rayment, Philip; Thompson, Bon; Long, Lorna; Roberts, Beatrice; Latrobe Valley Field Naturalists' Club (2010), To protect and enjoy : the first fifty years of the Latrobe Valley Field Naturalists Club : 1960-2010 / [authored and edited by Philip Rayment ; with contributions from Bon Thompson and Lorna Long ; drawings by Beatrice Roberts], Latrobe Valley Field Naturalists' Club, ISBN   9780980419719
  20. ↑ "SEANA - South East Australian Naturalist Association" . Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  21. ↑ "The Victorian naturalist". State Library of Victoria. 2017. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  22. ↑ Ferdinand von Mueller (1887). "Descriptions of new Australian plants (continued)". The Victorian Naturalist . 3 (11): 157-160 [158]. ISSN   0042-5184. Wikidata   Q124841229.
  23. 1 2 Ferdinand von Mueller (1889). "Descriptions of some new Australian plants". The Victorian Naturalist . 6: 54–55. ISSN   0042-5184. Wikidata   Q124825709.
  24. 1 2 Ferdinand von Mueller (1892). "Descriptions of new Australian plants, with occasional other annotations (Continued)". The Victorian Naturalist . 8: 177–180. ISSN   0042-5184. Wikidata   Q124826895.
  25. ↑ "Field nats news". Trove. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  26. ↑ Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology. "The Field Naturalists Club of Victoria Inc - Corporate Body - Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation". www.eoas.info. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  27. ↑ Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology. "Book - Leaves from Our History: the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria, 1880-2005 - Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation". www.eoas.info. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  28. ↑ Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology. "Book - Understanding our natural world: the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria 1880 - 2015 - Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation". www.eoas.info. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  29. ↑ Barrow, Elizabeth. "Dobson, Frank Stanley (1835–1895)". Australian Dictionary of Biography . National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN   1833-7538 . Retrieved 20 October 2012.
  30. ↑ Sophie C. Ducker, 'Lucas, Arthur Henry Shakespeare (1853 - 1936)', Australian Dictionary of Biography , Volume 10, MUP, 1986, pp 163-164. Retrieved 2009-09-19
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