240 Obituary — Rohert Ether idge. 



position was the valuable Catalogue of the Blastoidea, in which he 

 had the co-operation of P, Herbert Carpenter. 



Australia, however, was never far from the thoughts of Etheridge. 

 He compiled a useful bibliography of Australian Geology, and 

 studied fossils sent to him from Queensland by his former Edinburgh 

 colleague, Mr. R. Logan Jack. This eventually resulted in a large 

 work by the two friends on The Geology and Palceontologij of Queens- 

 land and Neiv Guinea (1892). Meanwhile, in 1887, Etheridge returned 

 to Australia as palaeontologist to the Geological Survey of New South 

 Wales and to the Australian Museum, Sydney. Here he strenuously 

 worked for the remaining thirty-three years of his life, becoming 

 Director of the Museum in 1895. At the Mines Dej)artment he laid 

 the foundation of what is now a fine library, he started the well- 

 known '■ Records of the Geological Survey ", and he published from 

 time to time im])ortant memoirs on the fossils of the older rocks. 

 Produced without the facilities enjoyed by palaeontologists at home, 

 these writings were warmly welcomed by them, and " it is not too 

 much to say", writes Professor Edgeworth David, "that the 

 classification and correlation of the coalfields, goldfields, artesian 

 water-basins, oilfields, and other mineral deposits of the Common- 

 wealth are based essentially on the work of Mr. Etheridge." At 

 the Australian Museum Etheridge threw himself with his wonted 

 vigour into the arrangement and display of the collections, and 

 introduced the descriptive labelling initiated in the Natural History 

 Dejoartments of the British Museum. He founded the " Records of 

 the Australian Museum ", and under his guidance numerous memoirs 

 on the fauna of the continent were published. He also extended 

 the educational services of the museum by popular science lectures 

 and demonstrations to visitors. In this position he was led, as so 

 many others, away from his own science to follow the insistent 

 call of ethnology. Through his efforts a fine series of ethnological 

 exhibits from the Pacific Islands was accumulated, and a 

 magnificent display of native work was installed in the museum 

 galleries. 



Etheridge received the Clarke Memorial Medal from the Royal 

 Society of New South Wales in 1895, and the Mueller Memorial 

 Medal from the Australian Association for the Advancement of 

 Science in 1911. His remoteness from the Mother Country and his 

 objection to advertisement were probably the reasons why similar 

 honours were not conferred upon him iDy Metropolitan societies. 

 The award of the Wollaston Fund by the Council of the Geological 

 Society in 1877 is all that we can trace. His name, however, is widely 

 known, not from the various fossils that have been named after him, 

 but from the Antarctic glacier, the lofty peak on the Kosciusko 

 Plateau, and the Etheridge goldfield in North Queensland. His 

 colleagues will cherish his memory as that of a sound and untiring 

 worker, and a man always ready to help his fellows.' 



1 See additional paragraph on p. 194 written by Mr. R. Bullen Newton. 



