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. However the balance between the pro-development acclimatization element and the pro-conservation and scientific element began very to slowly shift.

In a supreme parodox when seen through modern eyes, the RZS successfully lobbied the NSW Colonial Government to pass an Act protecting native bird species during the 1880 parliamentary session while 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.

This ecologically absurd view 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:

    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 organization remained strong in 1917. And, they remained entrenched in the RZS's "constitution" for many generations.

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. Thus, 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 starting to be express, for example, in 1906 in the annual address of the president of the Australian Union of Ornithologists. This organisation later became the Royal Australian Ornithologists Union (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 protested strongly to the Queensland Government over its declaration of an open season on possums 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.

It was not until 1994 with re-registration under new corporations law, that the opportunity was taken to formalize 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.