Home
RZS News
About RZS
- A Brief History
   Formation of the Society
   Royal Charter
   Incorporation
   Change of Direction
   References
Join RZS
Publications
Whitley Awards
EMR Grants
RZS Events
Contact RZS
Links

A Brief History of the RZS of NSW

The Formation of the Society

"That a society be formed to be called the New South Wales Zoological Society...for the introduction and acclimatisation of song birds and game, and for other objects set forth in the prospectus."

So read the motion passed at a public meeting held in Sydney on the 24th of March, 1879 that brought the Society into being. Dissatisfaction with the existing NSW Acclimatisation Society appears to have been a strong motivating force behind the calling of the meeting. However, many at the meeting seemed to be expecting the formation of a scientific and educational society setting up a tension that remained part of the Society's culture for many years to come. So, paradoxically, the title and objectives of the society were broadened to accomodate the scientifically inclined, but the initial aims of the Society remained tightly bound to the original acclimatisation idea.

It did not take long for the pro-acclimatisationists to act. Very soon after its formation, the Society obtained and released many species of birds and fish into New South Wales, many of which went on to become serious pests. Much of this misguided activity took place with Colonial and local government support. For example, large stocks of starlings and skylarks were imported and distributed to the mayors of several towns and municipalities around Sydney including Bathurst, Goulburn, Parramatta, Penrith and West Maitland. However, within two years the Society began to broaden its thinking and steps were taken to establish a zoological garden. In 1880, after an agreement had been reached with Sydney City Council to lease land from them, work began on a zoo in the council's Billy Goat Swamp enclosure at Moore Park. This is now the site of Sydney Girls' High School at the intersection of Cleveland Street and Anzac Parade.

By 1883, the Society had stocked the fledgling zoo with two elephants, one of which was donoted by the King of Siam. The Acclimatisation Society (from which the NSW Zoological Society was, in a way, an off-shoot) also donoted in 1883 a collection of birds it had housed at the Botanic Gardens in Sydney. The Moore Park Zoological Gardens were opened to the public for the first time in 1884.

The rapid growth of the zoological gardens began to create problems for the Society. Financial difficulties plagued the Society from the opening of the zoo and into the early part of the twentieth century. Numerous "begging" delegations to the Colonial, and then State Government following Federation in 1901, produced substantial grants, but it was still a very difficult time for the Society.

The site at Moore Park presented other difficulties. It flooded often and became a dust bowl during droughts such as the record drought that affected Australia at the turn of the 19th Century. Occassional outbreaks of disease amongst the collection were also a problem for zoo staff and caused the closure of the zoo on at least one occassion when bubonic plague irrupted.

Even with such financial distress and a difficult site, the zoo was extremely popular with the people of Sydney and the zoo grew rapidly in area with further land leased from Sydney City Council. The collection of animals on exhibit also grew. By 1909, the Moore Park site was causing great difficulty, and the RZS Council was actively canvassing new sites for the zoo. In 1910, a site at Ashton Park near Bradley's Head on the northern shore of Sydney Harbour was identified as ideal. As it was Crown Land, the State Government was lobbied successfully for a grant of land at this location which was formally announced in the NSW Government Gazette of 24th April 1912. Part of the arrangement, however, was for the management of the new zoo to be placed in the hands of a Government-appointed trust. The new Taronga Park Zoo opened on the 7th of October 1916, and the era of zoo ownership and management for the RZS of NSW drew to a close.

A Royal Charter

The Governor of New South Wales has always, it seems, consented to be the sole patron of the Society. By 1908, almost thirty years after its formation, the Society had risen in prominence to the extent that the then President of the New South Wales Zoological Society, Dr T.P. Anderson-Stuart, sought permission to add the "Royal" prefix to the name. A Royal Charter was duly granted in September, 1908. On the 10th February, 1909, the Society changed its name to "The Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales".

Incorporation

In 1917, a Memorandum and Articles of Association were drawn up and the Society was registered under the Companies Act 1899 as a non-profit organisation. Prior to that, the Society had operated on an informal basis.

A change to the type of registered company was made in 1961, when the Council of the day arranged for the Society to become a limited liability company without the requirement to have the word "limited" in its title. A new company registration was lodged in 1994 to comply with amended corporations law and the RZS of NSW is now a company limited by guarantee and not having a share capital.

A change of direction

The original aims and earliest activities of the Society reflected the dominant thinking of the time. That is, that life in the Colony of New South Wales could be much improved by importing fauna from the Northern Hemisphere, particularly from Great Britain.

Reflecting the changing mores of the broader community of which it was a part, the direction of the RZS of NSW began to change. The balance between the pro-development acclimatisation element and the pro-conservation and scientific study element, present since the formation of the Society, began very slowly to shift. This tension had some strange outcomes. In a supreme parodox when seen through modern eyes, the RZS of NSW successfully lobbied the NSW Colonial Government to pass an Act protecting native bird species during the 1880 parliamentary session at the same time as it was actively working towards acclimatisation of introduced birds. It seems that there was a widely held view amongst zoologists of the time that introduced species would find their habitats within disturbed areas, with native species secure in the vast tracts of relatively undisturbed bushland (see Frith, H.J. Wildlife Conservation, page 138).

This ecologically absurd view of the world lived long in the collective psyche of the Society. The aims of the Society written into the 1917 Memorandum drawn up to register the Society as a corporation begin with the following four items:

"(a) To promote and advance the science of zoology.

(b) To protect, preserve, and study the indigenous and introduced animals of Australia.

(c) To introduce and acclimaitise desirable and suitable animals from abroad.

(d) To establish, equip and maintain or assist in the establishment, equipment and maintenance of biological stations in suitable locatilites in within the State of New South Wales for the purpose of investigation, observation and record of the life histories of the indiginous fauna."

And, further on in the Memorandum:

"(s) To promote the passing of or enforcing of, or to join with any other Sociaty or any body or persons in having passed or enforced, any legislation having for its object the preservation or protection of the fauna of New South Wales or elsewhere in Australia or any other object in connection with Zoology."

Clearly, the direction of the RZS was moving strongly towards scientific study and conservation, but the tension seen at the 1879 public meeting that established the organisation remained strong in 1917. And, they remained entrenched in the RZS's "constitution" for many generations. Thus, the 1917 Memorandum and Articles of Association were retained as the Memorandum of Association without change when corporate registration was amended in 1961 to make the Society a limited liability company. The by then dated sentiments expressed in part (c) of the original Memorandum of Association remained!

The RZS was not alone in experiencing such shifts in direction and emphasis. Harry Frith notes in his seminal text Wildlife Conservation, that pro-acclimatisation sentiments were expressed in 1906 in the annual address of the president of the Australian Union of Ornithologists. This organisation later became the Royal Australian Ornithologists Union or RAOU, and more recently Birds Australia. It is now an organisation firmly committed to scientific study and the conservation of endemic species.

Further evidence of this shift within the RZS comes from J.H. Prince's centennial history of the Society The First One Hundred Years. In 1929, Prince reports, the RZS of NSW protested strongly to the Queensland Government over its declaration of an open season on possums in order to alleviate the plight of the many unemployed by allowing them an income from possum fur. The Victorian and New South Wales governments soon followed with a similar scheme. Jack Prince noted that: "The newspapers had a field day over this issue, but it seems that they were all certainly on the side of the RZS in protesting against indiscriminant slaughter of our native fauna." From newspaper editorials of the time, it appears that professional shooters were the major beneficiaries of government policy.

With re-registration under new corporations law in 1994, the opportunity was taken to formalise the transition that in fact had been in place for many decades. The new Memoradum of Association of the RZS of NSW gives the objects of the Society as:

"(i) To promote and advance the science of zoology.

"(ii) To protect, preserve and conserve the indigenous animals of Australia and their associated habitats."

The RZS of NSW continues to this day to focus its activities on promoting and advancing zoology as a scientific discipline, and on the conservation and wise use of indigenous fauna.

References

Sources used in this very brief account:

Prince, J.H. (1979) The First One Hundred Years of the Royal Zoological Society of NSW, 1879 to 1979. Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, Mosman, NSW.

Strahan, R. (1992) The origin and early history of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. Australian Zoologist 28:6-10.

Strahan, R. (1994) Later history of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. Australian Zoologist 29:229-237.

Other valuable sources of early Australian natural (and zoological) history:

Bonyhady, Tim (2000) The Colonial Earth. Miegunyah Press, an imprint of Melbourne Univ. Press, Melbourne.

Hutton, D. and Connors, L. (1999) A History of the Australian Environmental Movement. Cambridge University Press, Melbourne.

Finney, C.M. (1984) To Sail Beyond the Sunset: Natural History in Australia 1699-1829. Rigby, Adelaide. Whitley Award Winner 1984

Frith, H.J. (1973) Wildlife Conservation. Angus & Robertson, Sydney. (Chapter 3 deals specifically with the issue of acclimatisation of non-endemic species and the translocation of native species within Australia.)

Kelly, F. (1993) On the Edge of Discovery: Australian Women in Science. Text Publishing, East Melbourne.

Moyal, A. (1986) A Bright and Savage Land. Penguin Books, Ringwood, Victoria.

Moyal, A. (2001) Platypus: The Extraordinary Story of how a Curious Creature Baffled the World. Allen and Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW. Whitley Award Winner 2001

Paddle, R. (2001) The Last Tasmanian Tiger. The History and Extinction of the Thylacine. Cambridge University Press, Melbourne. Whitley Medalist 2001

Sumner, R. (1993) A Woman in the Wilderness: The Story of Amalie Dietrich in Australia. University of New South Wales Press, Kensington, NSW.

Whitley, G.P. (1970) Early History of Australian Zoology. Royal Zoological Society of NSW, Mosman, NSW.

Whitely, G.P. (1975) More Early History of Australian Zoology. Royal Zoological Society of NSW, Mosman, NSW.