Abstract
TO commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the foundation of the Royal Society of Tasmania, the secretary, Mr. E. L. Piesse, has prepared a valuable sketch of its history. The society dates from October 24, 1843, and therefore from a quarrelsome epoch of Tasmanian history. Its founder, Sir John Eardley Wilmot, had landed as Governor before arrival of the news of Sir John Franklin's recall; and an uncomfortable situation was relieved by Wilmot's undertaking a tour in the northern part of the island until Sir John Franklin had time to vacate Government House. Sir John Franklin in 1838 had established a Society for the Promotion of Natural History in Tasmania, and after a nameless existence it adopted in 1842 the title of “The Tasmanian Society.” With characteristic generosity Lady Franklin established a Franklin Museum about three miles from Hobart, and endowed it with 410 acres of land, A museum building in a classic style of architecture was erected, but in consequence of uncertainty as to the ownership, owing to vagueness in the deed of gift, Lady Franklin's ideas have not been carried intc effect. Shortly after his arrival, Eardley Wilmot determined to reconstitute the Tasmanian Society; but its members were mostly Franklinites, and all but five of them withdrew from the meeting, owing to disputes over unimportant details.
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G., J. The Royal Society of Tasmania 1 . Nature 93, 333 (1914). https://doi.org/10.1038/093333a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/093333a0