72 
C. T. WHITE MEMORIAL LECTURE FOR 1956 
OUR FIRST FIFTY YEARS 
By J. Cossor Smith 
(abridged)* 
This evening we are celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Queens- 
land Naturalists' Club, and i have been given the privilege of preparing a 
short history of the Club as a C. T. White Memorial Lecture. 
/nnugiiration. Aims and Achievements of the Chih 
In March, 1906, three well-known scientists. Professor S. J. B. 
Skertchly, Mr. Henry Tryon and Mr. J. Johnston, called a meeting in 
Brisbane, with the idea of forming a club to further public interest in 
natural history. As a result, the Field Naturalists' Club, as it was called 
until 1922, was successfully inaugurated in April, 1906, with 50 members. 
The aims of the Club were: — (1) The local organization of nature students; 
(2) The furtherance of the nature study movement; (3) The cultivation and 
study of natural history in all its branches. 
Attempts were made in 1 907 and 1 908 to promote nature study 
amongst children by means of excursions for senior students. Only three 
took place. Attempts to revive them in 1922 and 1926 also failed 
through lack of interest. 
In his Presidential Address In 1915, Mr. Frank Burtt said: "I believe 
that . . . [the Club's] success is due in a very great measure to the fact 
that its membership consists of two classes — those who have made the i 
study of science their life's business, and those who . . . are merely lovers I 
of nature, . . . and that between those two classes of members perfect 
freedom of intercourse exists, those with the greater knowledge in any 
one subject being always willing to impart their special knowledge to 
members in search of it". That is still true today. Professor Skertchly : 
was very emphatic that it was a "Club" where friendly information could 
be given and received, and not a "Society" of scientific experts only. 
Mr. W. R. Colledge, in his Presidential Address in 1911, said: "We 
are to be Nature's students, in our ways unfettered and free: no text I 
books to master or examinations to pass . . . i think it is good to keep ^ 
before us the ideal club life; not to permit ourselves to be isolated into 
units or detachments . . 
In 1916, Dr. F. Boge, in her Presidential Address, said: "I should 
like to emphasise the value of our Club in the matter of educating and i 
influencing public opinion. We are members of a Club which has no party j 
political feelings, and no vested interests, and therefore, as a Club, we j 
can speak with no uncertain voice when necessary". 
From the very beginning, the Club has shown the way in encouraging 
preservation and protection of our flora and fauna. Our Council was 
partly instrumental in having an Animals and Birds Act passed. Also we 
can take credit for preserving the Sandgate Lagoons and the Bora Ring 
at Nudgee. We have been successful in having other places declared 
Sanctuaries, including Hercules Bank (now Bishop I.), Bribie I. and part 
of Sunnybank. We were one of the prime movers in asking the authorities 
to establish National Parks. 
In 1908, the Club supported the movement to establish a Queensland 
University. This objective was achieved in 1910, and- over the years we 
have gained much from the active participation of various members of 
the University staff. 
* Because of lack of space it has been possible to publish only an abridged version 
of this lecture. — Editor. 
