The Sunth Australian Naluralist. 3 



OUR BEGINNINGS. 

 By W. H. Selway. 



The first public meeting in connection with the promotion 

 of the South AustraHan Field Naturalists was held in the 

 Banqueting Room of the Adelaide Town Hall on the even- 

 ing of Wednesday, November 7, 1883, on which occasion the 

 late Dr. H. T. Whittell, then President of the Royal Society, 

 occupied the chair. He said that for some time there had been 

 a desire to take up the study of natural history from a more 

 elementary standpoint than that pursued by the Royal 

 Society, and the establishment of this Section was the out- 

 come of that wish. The opening lecture was intended mainly 

 for members of the various Young Men's Societies in and 

 around Adelaide, wdio had been specially invited to be pre- 

 sent. It may here be mentioned, by way of parenthesis, that 

 at that date,' and for many years afterwards, but perhaps 

 especially in the "eighties," literary, or, as they were some- 

 times called, ''Young Men's Socie'ties," were a prominent 

 feature of the educational life of Adelaide. 



On the evening mentioned, the late Professor Tate 

 delivered a very interesting lecture, and explained that that 

 meeting was intended to inaugurate a system of instruction 

 new^ to this country, and one wdiich did not interfere with 

 existing institutions, viz., the outdoor study of natural his- 

 tory. The Professor remarked that he had founded one of 

 the most flourishing Field Clubs in the United Kingdom, 

 established at Belfast in 1863. He referred also to Mr. \V. 

 E. Pickles, who was the prime mover in the attempt to found 

 a Field Club in Adelaide, and who h^d been a member of one 

 of the largest Field Clubs in England. (The name is not 

 stated, but the writer believes it wrs Manchester.) They also 

 would have the help of the Rev. (now Professor) W. How- 

 chin, a member of the Tyneside Club, which club had brought 

 out so many distinguished naturalists. The Royal Society 

 did not seek pecuniary profit hf its patronage, but offered to 

 the members of the Section \arious privileges which as an 

 independent Society they could not hope to secure. The 

 Professor went on to explain that the object of the Section 

 was the practical study of natural history, as an intellectual 

 recreation, by means of excursions and by evening meetings. 



Lest it might be thought that the excursions and meet- 

 ings were intended only for students, the Professor was care- 

 ful to explain that it was by no means desired to exclude from 

 the ranks of the Section those who might seek in the excur- 



