*W*] OoifiMwy; Crow j/foH} P»Uh,wJ Itf 



Hie Association during- the centaury celebratiioi* of \t* col leg* He WlW 3 

 member of the Americjtti Asjorialiojt at Pc'.roJeoin Occdogisn and c member 

 of the Geologists Society tyt London. 



For rnOst of the ibavtf uifortoatkm 1 aflfi indebted to Miss JrwiE Prif chard. 



— D J Oivk;.^n 

 OBITUARY; fRED LEWIS. 1S62-I956 



Mr Fred Lewis, J.P., Vice-President nf the Field Nalurah*?* Club of 

 Victoria, whose death occurred on August 7, 3956. was a mrti who ifctU he 

 sadly nursed by ail who kiK-w him and by many other? to whom In- was 

 perhaps but a nam*. His long and active association with nature con*cr\i;iiun 

 mave-roetm ha? {mured for him a pUce in the memory ci Australian 

 rtatorslKtv and * special place Ifl the hearty of F.N C V, mciuberv 



In tTOS nc iohiod the State Government Service as ".in oftiucr of iJic 

 Fisheries and Gfcinc Section of tnc Pons and Harbours Department Plirij 

 when the Section became u separate oflkr in l°-lO, transferred to what flien 

 became the Fisheries and Game Department Of the latter he became ihe 

 Acting Head in *VH 10 1 9^4, at the age of 42, he hetamc Chief Inspector o) 

 Fisheries and Game and permanent head of the Department, an office which 

 lie held with distinction unci) hw retirement in 19*1/. 



It was as the TDeriartnieuffi- Chief Inspector that Mr. Lewis became Known 

 and respected alike by naturalists, conservators, sportsmen. professional 

 rufcermcu and bests oil other* throughout the Stale and br>ond >*:► borders. 

 His strong influence in shaping the policy of his Department \% reflect od in 

 its jj/vsent hiyh status and in thr scientific approach o{ it* offtcers to the 

 problems of nature conservation and the protection of the wiblHfe with which 

 it has to deal 



He was never content to make a decision without the justification of laclSi 

 and it wa? this trait that kad him to undertake investigations of great bJjti- 

 logical importance. Thus, rather than accede to the demands of » voCw 

 group that tome animal should be added or removed from the list of ptnOxtc\l 

 sperie$, he preferred to investigate first the biological implications and then, 

 from the facts gleaned in the held, to determine a course of action. Such work 

 took him to almost every part of the State, and the rirat-hand knowledge of 

 out indigenous fauna so obtained has been a notable contiibntion IV> our 

 knowledge oi the natural history of & number of them One need mention only 

 the Koala, Mutton Bird, Lowan, Lyrebird and Seal to recall such work 

 published by hint as official Government Reports or as papers and articles 

 in such journals as the iVfo/«m Natuuttist, the fimii and Wild Life. His 

 most publicly recognised achievement was m the ste)is he took to ensure the 

 preservation oi the Koala which, by 1911), had become almost extinct in this 

 St8l< Thanlts largely to Fred Lewi* the animal is now nnnly rc-cstabh-hed 

 in safe sanctuary. 



lie did splendid work too in having marram grns«. plrmrcd at Cape 

 vVoolamai, over thirLy years ago, when serious sand drift? threatened to 

 d<-stvu> tltc mutton bird rookeries there-. Through this timely action the whok 

 a fen wa> saved and there arc more birds breeding there now thai) there were 

 at the beginning of the century, 



Jt was inevitable *}19$ a man ot his Quality and sympathies should, op his 

 retirement, seek to maintain ftfc interest in the conservation Ot oor native 

 fauna and flora, In 1948 he joined the Fielij Naturalists Club, a body with 

 which, ju his ollficial tapaeity, he had always enjoyed amicable reUuVms. In 

 rim following year Iw was elected Vice-President, and k'roin April 1951 to 

 J Line 1955 was ihe Clubs Honorary Secretary, an office he held with dis- 

 tinction. He represented Ihe Club o\\ several important deputations 10 Minis- 

 ters of the Crown on occasions when matters affecting national parses and 

 nature protection were discussed. He was the Club's delegate to the Victorian 



