March. 1953 THE SOUTH AUSTRALIA N NATURALIST Forty I 
What Other Nature Societies Are 
Doing in Australia 
by Ken Dunstone 
To find out how other kindred 
societies function, I wrote to other 
naturalist clubs and societies in 
Australia whose addresses I could 
find. In due course I received most 
informative replies from the fol- 
lowing: — 
The Field Naturalists' Club of 
Victoria. 
Field Naturalists’ Club, Bendigo, 
Victoria. 
Portland Field Naturalists’ 
Society, Victoria. 
Launceston Field Naturalists’ 
Club. 
Naturalists’ Society of N.S.W. 
Fhe West Australian Naturalists’ 
Club. 
National Parks Association of 
Queensland (a most illumin- 
ating reply). 
The Townsville and District 
Naturalists’ Club. 
North Queensland Naturalists* 
Club. 
On presenting this information 
to the Committee, it was suggested 
that a precis of it be prepared for 
general information. Here it is! 
1 he first thing that impressed 
me was the enthusiastic spirit in 
which all the letters were written. 
I he writers went to no end of 
trouble in supplying me with the 
information, such as the number 
of outings per month, number of 
juvenile members, how they get 
their leaders, etc. Some went so far 
as to place the information in a 
most systematic way under various 
headings, thus making it easy to 
compare one society with another. 
In the main, the aims and ob- 
jects of all societies are the same, ! 
the primary one, of course, being 1 
the preservation of flora and fauna. 
As far as I can judge, all of the 
organisations from which I received 
replies are not affiliated in any 
way with parent bodies, but seem 
to be independent societies. 
The annual subscription for 
ordinary members is in the vicinity 
of 10/- per annum, in most cases 
with a reduction to 5/- or 7/6 per 
annum for junior members. 
Most of the bodies publish some 
sort of journal regularly and these 
are generally of very high order. 
It is significant in these days of 
high printing costs that these ab- 
sorb the larger part of the annual 
subscription. 
As regards programmes, most of 
the organisations supply printed or 
duplicated ones to their members: 
monthly, quarterly or half-yearly. 
In some instances, the society pre- 
fers not to publish a programme 
made up too far in advance but 
just work things out from month 
to month. 
Fhe programme of the West 
Australian Naturalists’ Club is a 
very attractive printed one on thin 
card, and covers a full year. A very 
important feature of this club is 
that they have only one field excur- 
sion her month, with one evening 
meeting a month for seniors and 
one a month for juniors. 
The Bendigo Club’s programme 
is <lrawn up half-yearly. 
Fhe Launceston Club publishes 
a printed card, giving details of 
their monthly meetings, but stating 
that outings are arranged as 
reouested. 
The Field Naturalists’ Club of 
Victoria has no printed programme 
