ISSN 1329-7759 RSWA Proceedings July 2012 ATTENTION LIBRARIANS: This publication should be catalogued under "Proceedings of the Royal Society of "

2012 Annual General Meeting and presentation of Student Medals by Prof Lyn Beazley AO Followed by

The Wreck of the Zuytdorp - 1712 Dr Phillip Playford 7.00 pm, 16th July, 2012 Webb Lecture Theatre, University of WA (map on back page)

In 1927, a stockman working on Murchison House Station, Tom Pepper, found wooden wreckage at the foot of a line of steep cliffs about 60 km north of Kalbarri. In 1954 Dr Phillip Playford relocated this wreckage and soon afterwards organized two expeditions to the site. Through correspondence with museums and archives in the , Cape Town, and , he was able to prove that this wreck was that of the Zuytdorp, wrecked in 1712. There are two major unsolved mysteries relating to the Zuytdorp: the fate of the survivors and the whereabouts of the looted coinage. Major commemorative events to mark its 300th

anniversary were held on 1 June 2012 in Kalbarri and Middleburg (capital of the province of Zeeland in The Netherlands, from where the vessel departed in 1711). Full abstract on Page 2 AGM AGENDA

7:00 pm Drinks 7:30 pm Apologies Minutes of RSWA 2011 AGM Presentation of the Annual Report Presentation of the Treasurer’s Annual Report 7.50 pm Presentation of RSWA University Student Medals by Prof Lyn Beazley OA, Chief Scientist of WA 8.00 pm Address by Dr Phillip Playford 9:00 pm Supper

Members, Guests and the Public All Welcome Enquiries: [email protected] or Lynne Milne 0414 400 219 This issue of the RSWA Proceedings was edited by Lynne Milne 1

The Wreck of the Zuytdorp - 1712 possible to dive there, they found that much of this Phillip Playford coinage was preserved as a ‘carpet of silver’ on the In 1927, a stockman working on Murchison House seafloor. This consisted of hundreds of thousands of Station, Tom Pepper, found wooden wreckage at the silver coins polished by sand and wave action. foot of a line of steep cliffs about 60 km north of Several thousand coins have since been recovered by Kalbarri. In 1954 I relocated this wreckage, following divers of the WA Maritime Museum, but the major directions from Tom Pepper, and soon afterwards part of the Carpet of Silver has been taken by looters. organised two expeditions to the site. Many silver coins were found there, including schellingen and double stuivers bearing the name Zeeland and the date 1711. Through correspondence with museums and archives in the Netherlands, Cape Town, and Jakarta, I was able to prove that this wreck was that of the Zuytdorp, a great ship of the that had disappeared after leaving the Cape of Good Hope, bound for Batavia (Jakarta), in April 1712. This was the first Dutch wreck to be found and identified on the coast of Western Australia.

I formally gave the name Zuytdorp Cliffs to the line of precipitous cliffs that extend north from Kalbarri to Small coins from the Zuytdorp Steep Point, a distance of some 200 km. These cliffs form the eroded scarp of the Zuytdorp Fault, perhaps There are two major unsolved mysteries relating to the most prominent Quaternary fault-line scarp in the Zuytdorp: the fate of the survivors and the Australia. whereabouts of the looted coinage. It is certain that no survivors ever returned to civilization, and they must eventually have died in Western Australia. There is an intriguing possibility that some may have joined and interbred with Aborigines of the area, a question that may eventually be solved through DNA research. In relation to the looted coinage, there is evidence of the identity of at least one person who was involved in this.

The ship is thought to have been wrecked in June 1712, so this year marks the 300th anniversary of the wreck. Commemorative functions were held during June of this year in Kalbarri, to commemorate the wreck and dedicate a memorial to its survivors. They Zuytdorp wreck site looking south may have been the first European ‘boat people’ to live

Clear evidence was found at the wrecksite that many in Australia. people survived the wreck. They climbed to the top of the cliff, lighting a huge fire and indulging in a Biosketch: Dr Phillip Playford was born in , and drinking spree. They left many broken gin bottles and holds BSc. (Honours) and Honorary DSc degrees in geology various other items. Three survivors’ camp sites were from the University of Western Australia, and a PhD from Stanford University. He is a former Director of the identified inland from the wreck, and there is good Geological Survey of Western Australia and is well known as evidence that some people may have reached a large both a geologist and a historian. He was rewarded by the spring frequented by Aboriginal people of the WA Government as a primary discoverer of the Zuytdorp Malgana Tribe, 50 km north of the wreck. wreck, the first Dutch wreck to be found and identified in Western Australia. His book “Carpet of Silver; the wreck of The Zuytdorp was carrying 250,000 guilders in cash, the Zuytdorp” received a Premier’s prize for literature, and to be used for trade in Asia. This coinage was kept in another, “Voyage of discovery to Terra Australis by Willem de chests stored in the captain’s cabin, and it is clear Vlamingh in 1696-97”, was short listed for a Premier’s from wreckage on the seafloor that the chests went award. He has received many honours and awards, including the Medal of the Royal Society of WA, and a straight to the bottom after the wreck came to rest in Member of the Order of Australia (AM), for his front of the cliff. When divers first examined the site, contributions to the geology and . on one of the very few days each year that it is

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Tidal flats and stromatolites in the Shark Bay Microbialites through time World Heritage area: past evolution and future The morphological features of the modern change microbialites resemble those of fossilized Lindsay Collins, Dept of Applied Geology, Curtin assemblages thereby providing extensive modern University analogues for ancient systems, which include some of the earliest life on Earth. The best studied example of There was standing room only at the talk given by the likely oldest evidence of life on Earth is in the Prof Lindsay Collins at the general meeting on Pilbara district of Western Australia, in stromatolitic Monday 18th June, at Kings Park Administration rocks aged 3.47 billion years which separate from the Centre. The following is a summary of his talk. stromatolites include fossilized thread-like and globular bacteria (Schopf, 1993; Walter, 1999; Acknowledgement: Both the recent RSWA talk and this Allwood et al., 2006; Van Kranendonk et al., 2008). summary were based on information published as Jahnert and Collins, 2012.

Introduction The western Australian coast spreads across a latitudinal gradient from the tropical macrotidal north to the temperate microtidal south, and has a biotic transition separating the Northern Australian Tropical Province from the Southern Temperate Province across a transition zone. It is one of the few coasts in the world with two World Heritage areas; Ningaloo Reef and Shark Bay. The Shark Bay World Heritage area fulfils both the biological and geological criteria for listing due to its specialised salinity setting and environments. Initial studies of Shark Bay in the 1960s to 70s on hypersaline stromatolites, microbial tidal flats, and seagrass banks led to establishment of the World Heritage precinct with high conservation status, an important asset for all with an interest in specialised FIGURE 1 Hamelin Pool, L'Haridon Bight and Henri Freycinet marine environments. Ongoing research has included embayment at Shark Bay, WA. (from Jahnert & Collins 2012) studies by astrobiologists, ecologists, geologists and many others. Geoscientific research has centred on a Late Holocene Sea Level history number of studies, notably by Logan et al 1974, The microbial carbonate system in Hamelin Pool Playford, 1976, 1979, 1990; Burne, & Moore, 1987; has developed in response to a slow progressive Kennard & James, 1986; Awramik & Riding, 1988; change in environmental conditions transforming a Reid et al 2003, Jahnert and Collins 2011, 2012, and near open marine system into a restricted several others. embayment landlocked to the east, south and west The recognition of the significance of coquinas and and semi-closed to the north by a barrier bank (Faure microbialites in ancient systems has renewed Bank, see Fig. 1), with abnormal salinity, high geoscientific interest in Shark Bay, with the alkalinity and high evaporation (Logan et. al., 1974). development of current and new research themes of Microbial sediment started depositing at about 2000 management significance including: years ago long after the Holocene maximum flooding of the sea level at about 6,800 U/Th years ago (see • Microbial mat systems, environments, discussion in Collins et al., 2006). This was in chemistry, organic composition and response to a relative sea level fall of about 2.5 microbial communities, metres, as a minor variation within the Holocene • Subtidal microbial structures: origin, stratigraphic highstand system tract (Jahnert and occurrence, distribution and growth history. Collins, 2011). High stress conditions in an intertidal- • Coquina ridge morphology, genesis, subtidal environment have supported the structures, chronologic record and evolution. development of a prolific microbial benthic domain which has produced organo-sedimentary deposits (mats, domical or columnar structures) mainly by

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trapping, binding and biologically promoted • Bights are subtle re-entrances with gradients carbonate precipitation where processes of accretion about 2 m/km with microbial deposits forming exceed erosion. mats or elongate structures and tabular Microbial Pavement in subtidal regions. The Microbial deposits and substrate morphology, structures (about 50 cm height) have their long Hamelin Pool axes perpendicular to the shoreline and tidal current direction. The delicate balance between tidal energy, waves, exposure time and water depth results in sediment • Embayments occur in re-entrances of the coast, accretion or erosion in Shark Bay (Logan et al. 1974). normally protected by the presence of coquina Low water energy associated with high evaporation, barrier ridges. The tidal flats have low sediment supply and topography are key elements for gradients of about 30-50 cm/km and produce sediment accretion. The gross morphology of extensive deposits of microbial mats. Because microbial deposits is related to interaction of these of sea level fall during the last thousand years factors with the embayment coastal morphology and the microbial system is adjusting its position to its related substrate gradient. The general coastal seaward, so that landward areas are now morphology of Hamelin Pool can be classified into exposed and under erosion producing three different types: headlands, bights and brecciated microbial deposits, often expressed embayment tidal flats (Fig.2; Logan et al., 1974; as breccia pavements. Hoffman, 1976). Fluctuating tidal and wave energy controls the amount of carbonate particles available to be deposited and trapped by microbes which, depending on micro-habitat, construct laminar or non-laminar fabrics (Fig. 2). High energy water near Smooth and Colloform domains is rich in fine carbonate particles that, after storms, are slowly deposited supplying microbial communities with enough material to produce laminar fabrics. Deeper waters are depleted in fine carbonate particles and microbial communities stabilize sediment by inducing carbonate precipitation and trapping fine grains. Coarse particles such as bivalve shells and fragments, bioclasts and ooids are widely available and are supplied mainly during storms. Hamelin Pool has an extensive sublittoral platform with a gently sloping top (0.5-3m/km) and a more FIGURE 2 Microbial deposit morphologies and types according to the substrate gradient. Headlands have steep gradients with steeply sloping margin (>4m/km), this platform growing heads while embayments have low gradients and are extends basinward to water depths as deep as 6 colonized by widespread mats. (from Jahnert & Collins 2012) metres. • Headlands are characterised by steep gradients (Fig. 2) of 4 m/100 m, where the substrate Habitats and Microbial Distribution favours growth of submerged microbial Submarine videos, photos, samples and bottom deposits (1.5 metres high) as columnar, substrate profiles have provided substantial material domical, conical and club shaped which was used to identify, map and classify the morphologies. Intense activity of waves and morphology of microbial structures and their tidal currents is responsible for erosional distribution in the subtidal areas, supporting the effects on the microbial structures, which often construction of georeferenced organo-sedimentary exhibit basal thin necks, tunnels, and other maps of Hamelin Pool and supplying accurate evidence of erosion. The high energy of substrate elevations for each group of microbial currents also supplies coarse carbonate grains structure type (Fig. 3). and bioclasts that become trapped by microbial activity. Water depth controls the living The organo-sedimentary substrate deposits of microbial communities which respond with Hamelin Pool were mapped (Fig. 3) and classified distinct communities, internal fabrics, external according to their hinterland, supratidal, intertidal colours (pigmentation) and growth styles. and subtidal domains.

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medium white ooids, brown peloids and gypsum crystals. Supratidal areas are the domain of film and blister microbial mats.

Intertidal organo-sediments These occupy a relatively small area (22 km2) but are important because they accommodate extensive microbial mats and heads in shallow waters. The intertidal zone is a domain of Pustular and Tufted microbial deposits. Pustular mat spreads as brown dark sheets of small colonies, inhabiting the upper intertidal to the upper subtidal zone and depending on the substrate gradient develops mats, ridge-rill or sub-spherical structures. Tufted mat occurs in the upper intertidal zone, growing in scallops that accumulate water and sediment within the created relief. Tufted mat FIGURE 3 Schematic depositional model for microbial deposits in normally develops over shallow muddy substrate able Hamelin Pool highlighting the distribution, characteristics and to sustain sediment moisture, normally landward of morphologies according to the tidal zones. Photos from Jahnert & pustular deposits. Collins 2012.

The Supratidal Zone Subtidal microbial deposits Influenced by storms and abnormal tides and thus These are extensive, occupying approximately 300 exposed to erosional processes most of the time. Here km2 of the total Holocene 1400 km2 area of the microbes survive in topographic lows and local Hamelin Pool Marine Reserve. Subtidal microbial depressions as detached sites of ephemeral mats deposits that grow as structures cover 54 km2. receiving only sporadic wetting. The microbes are Subtidal deposits were classified according to their adapted to survive in high substrate temperatures actual microbial superficial dominance, however and grow in blister, tuft or pinnacle forms. The many structures were partially constructed in supratidal zone in Hamelin Pool occupies nearly 80 different conditions of sea level presenting internally km2, and contains two organo-sedimentary units different fabrics. Hamelin Pool areas lacking microbial which are exposed and prograding seaward, as carbonates are dominated by seagrass and related described below: bioclastic and quartz sand, particularly near the Faure bank to the north of the embayment. Mobile sheets of • Hamelin Coquina is the upper unit of the Holocene system that refers to a supratidal bioclastic and quartz sand occur in areas affected by beach ridge system which overlies thin strong tidal currents, such as parts of the sublittoral Pleistocene units. It is composed platform and over the Faure bank. The “Embayment predominantly of bivalve skeletons, deposited Plain” comprises bivalve coquina, serpulids and algae as shore-parallel ridges above the normal with a superficial veneer of organic rich material. . spring high tide level. The Hamelin Coquina is The bio-sedimentary subtidal deposits (see Jahnert prograding toward the embayment center over and Collins 2011) are summarised as follows (Fig 4.) Holocene supratidal microbial deposits as a • Laminated microbial Smooth stromatolites consequence of sea level fall have beige flat surfaces, and occur as stratiform sheets and as build-ups. Internal fabrics are • Bioclastic-oolitic/quartz sand and breccia composed of flat sub-horizontal millimetric occupy extensive areas between the coquina laminae made of fine grained carbonate deposits and the area reached by normal tides. Breccia pavements occur as lithified crusts that sediment interbedded with laminae of microbial organic matter that become lithified are developing over older microbial pavements as micrite laminae. and heads, generated by processes that include desiccation, cementation and disruption by • Laminated microbial Colloform stromatolites gypsum crystallization Bioclastic/oolitic sands construct build-ups of brown/yellow colors are composed of skeletons of bivalves, micro- with small (1-5 cm) hemispherical globular gastropods, serpulids and foraminifera and shapes rich in fine grained peloids. Internal spherical to sub-spherical well sorted, fine to layers are composed of ooids/peloids that

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alternate with thin laminae of lithified micrite Bioclastic and quartz sand also occurs in shallow generating a coarse laminoid wavy internal areas to the north on the Faure Bank where tidal fabric with sub-horizontal elongate to arcuate velocity is amplified, constructing channel lags. voids. • Non-laminated cryptomicrobial Cerebroid structures are the deepest subtidal build-ups growing as domical, ridge-like or prismatic elongate morphologies of white to cream colors. Cerebroid structures contain superficial cavities that receive coarse grains/fragments and are commonly bored by bivalves. Patches of micrite are sparse in a bioclastic/oolitic sediment rich in bivalve shells, serpulids and colonized by algae. • Cryptomicrobial Tabular Pavement occurs as flat substrates which are being lithified as bioclastic grainstone that contains Fragum bivalves, serpulids, micro-gastropods, foraminifera and algae.

• Cryptomicrobial Blocky Pavement is similar to FIGURE 4 Photographs of examples of the principal microbial the facies described above but is deposits and their external characteristics: (A) Well developed disrupted/reworked producing partially to laminar fabric in Smooth mat; (B) Colloform structures, external view (globular appearance; rich in fine carbonate particles); (C) wholly disconnected blocks, rich in Fragum Cerebroid structure; note convoluted external form with cavities, bivalve shells and colonized by serpulids that and algal ornamentation; (D) Microbial Pavement; flat, lithified occupy voids and protected spaces, often bioclastic carbonate with abundant bivalve shells, serpulids and growing at the base of the microbial carbonate soft bodied algae. From Jahnert & Collins, 2012. blocks. The Shark Bay Microbial Distribution Model • Bioclastic/oolitic/peloidal sand occurs in the sublittoral region as a result of longshore The existence of stromatolites in Hamelin Pool has currents and storm activity producing sand- been known since the 1950s (Playford et al., 1976). floored depressions adjacent to microbial However, apart from the presence of subtidal deposits. stromatolite heads at the seaward termination of a limited number of surveyed tidal flat transects, there • Bivalve coquinas constitute extensive deposits was little documentation of the nature and extent of of Fragum bivalve shells, which inhabit the subtidal habitat until recently. While sea level fall has sublittoral platform waters between -1.5 and -6 stranded stromatolites as partially emergent features m. Bivalve shells are super-abundant in around the embayment shores, the importance of the Hamelin Pool. Some of the disarticulated shells Shark Bay subtidal habitat is only recently are swept into deeper portions of the bay, appreciated. This is evident from both habitat others fill depressions as gravel, and a large mapping and coastal reconstructions of microbial amount is transported shorewards by storms distribution. and deposited in the supratidal zone as exposed beach ridges. Shark Bay Futures: The Caring for Our Country Study (Western Australian Marine Science • Bioclastic sand with variable amount of quartz grains comprises the substrate of seagrass Institution) domain in channels, patches or as ridges A forty year climate drying in southwest Australia oriented E-W perpendicular to the tidal action. and interaction with the cyclone regime which impacts the semi-arid Shark Bay region has raised • Bioclastic and quartz sand occurs in substrates questions for marine park managers concerning colonized by seagrass but in disconnected potential future climate trends and their impact on sparse stands and linear transverse ridges such World Heritage assets, and investigations of likely as those found over Faure bank. effects on World Heritage assets need to identify a mitigation and risk framework for future management.

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A 5 - component study is investigating likely effects of Profiling TONY COCKBAIN future climate change on World Heritage assets to RSWA Editor–in-Chief identify a mitigation and risk framework for future We are indeed fortune that Tony Cockbain agreed to management. The arid Wooramel delta juxtaposed be our Editor-in-Chief. He has a wealth of experience, with the Faure channel-bank complex provides an having been Editor of the Australian Journal of Earth association of potential significance for increased Sciences for the Geological Society of Australia for 17 input of terrigenous sediment and nutrients into years. Tony heads the new Editorial Board and is seagrass. Stromatolites have developed during stable investigating the possibility of RSWA having a formal to slowly falling sea level and within hypersaline Publisher who will publish, distribute electronically environments. The evolutionary history of the Faure and in hard copy, and market our Journal nationally Sill holds the key to the onset of hypersalinity in and internationally. Hamelin Pool, and in addition to the current status of the bank and seagrasss, bank evolution through time is key to understanding the development and stability of the specialised hypersaline system in Hamelin Pool.

References: A.C. Allwood, M.R. Walter, B.S. Kamber, C.P. Marshall, I.W. Burch, 2006. Stromatolite reef from the Early Archaean era of Australia. Nature, 441, pp. 714–718. S.M. Awramik, R. Riding, 1988. Role of algal eukaryotes in subtidal columnar stromatolite formation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 85 pp. 1327–1329 R.V. Burne, L.S. Moore, 1987. Microbialites: organosedimentary deposits of benthic microbial communities. Palaios, 2, pp. 241– 254 L.B. Collins, J.-X. Zhao, H. Freeman, 2006. A high-precision record of mid-late Holocene sea-level events from emergent coral pavements in the Houtman Abrolhos Islands, southwest Australia. Quaternary International, 145–146 pp. 78–85 P. Hoffman, 1976. in: M.R. Walter (Ed.), Stromatolite morphogenesis in Shark Bay, Western Australia, Developments in Sedimentology, Stromatolites, 20, Elsevier, pp. 261–272 R.J. Jahnert, L.B. Collins, 2011. Significance of subtidal microbial deposits in Shark Bay, Australia. Marine Geology, 286. pp. 106– 111 R.J. Jahnert, L.B. Collins, 2012. Characteristics, distribution and morphogenesis of subtidal microbial systems in Shark Bay, Tony Cockbain was born in 1934 in Warrington, when Australia. Marine Geology. Volumes 303–306, 15 March 2012, Pages 115–136 the town was in Lancashire but is now in Cheshire; J.M. Kennard, N.P. James, 1986. Thrombolites and stromatolites: attended the Boteler Grammar School, which became two distinct types of microbial structures. Palaios, 1, pp. 492– a comprehensive school and is now a Church of 503 England High School; and read geology at the B.W. Logan, J.F. Read, G.M. Hagan, P. Hoffman, R.G. Brown, P.J. Woods, C.D. Gebelein, 1974. Evolution and diagenesis of University of Nottingham, which now has no geology quaternary carbonate sequences, Shark Bay, Western Australia department, where he obtained his BSc and PhD. AAPG Memoir, 22 (1974) 358 pp. P.E. Playford, 1979. Environmental Controls on the Morphology of After this auspicious start he worked with the Cyprus Modern Stromatolites at Hamelin Pool, Western Australia. Annual Report (American Museum of Natural History) Geological Survey looking at Mesozoic and Cenozoic P.E. Playford, 1990. Geology of the Shark Bay area, Western foraminifera. Wishing to learn more about Australia. P.F. Berry, S.D. Bradshaw, B.R. Wilson (Eds.), foraminifera ecology he became a Research Associate Research in Shark Bay. Report of the France-Australe at the Institute of Oceanography at the University of Bicentenary Expedition Committee, Western Australian Museum, Perth, pp. 13–31. British Columbia in Vancouver, where he also started P.E. Playford, A.E. Cockbain, 1976. in: M.R. Walter (Ed.), Modern a course in Marine Geology. After numerous cruises algal stromatolites at Hamelin Pool, a hypersaline barred basin around the inlets and fjords of British Columbia and in Shark Bay, Western Australia, Developments in many bouts of seasickness he returned to land Sedimentology, 20, Elsevier, pp. 389–411 P.R. Reid, N.P. James, I.G. Macintyre, C.P. Dupraz, R.V. Burne, 2003. geology and took up a lectureship in Shark Bay stromatolites: microfabrics and reinterpretation of micropalaeontology at the University of Canterbury in origins. Facies, 49, pp. 45–53 Christchurch, where for three years he never felt an J.W. Schopf. Microfossils of the Early Archean Apex chert: new earthquake. evidence of the antiquity of life. Science, 260 (1993), pp. 640– 646

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Yearning to return to geological survey work he THE 2012 JOSEPH GENTILLI MEMORIAL moved to Perth in 1966 as palaeontologist with the LECTURE Geological Survey of WA, where he stayed until retiring as Assistant Director in 1992, with a brief Neoliberalism and the Denial of Global Warning period working for a firm of consultants exploring for oil and coal during the nickel boom. Naomi Oreskes Professor of History and Science Studies, University of After retirement he spent one glorious year starting California, - and 2012 UWA Institute of Advanced on his memoirs, before spending 17 years editing the Studies Professor-at-Large. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences for the Geological (Sourced from UWA advertising flyer) Society of Australia, for which he was given the Society’s W R Browne Medal in 2010. Following a Scientists have known for over a century that CO2 is a short editing-free break, when he returned to his greenhouse gas, for nearly half a century that it is memoirs, he was invited to be Editor-in-Chief of the increasing, and therefore we should expect climatic RSWA Journal. changes to occur. Since the 1990s it has been clear, again based on scientific evidence, that the climate is Most of Tony’s research has been in the fields of changing in the manner that scientists predicted. Why palaeontology and basin studies, including should anyone doubt this evidence? Why should Carboniferous corals and brachiopods, Cretaceous to scientists have become the target of angry political Holocene foraminifera, Devonian stromatoporoids of attacks? The answer, of course, is that climate change New Zealand and Western Australia, Devonian reef is not just a scientific matter, it is an issue with huge complexes in the Canning Basin, and geology of the economic, social and political consequences. Perth and Bremer Basins. He has a particular interest in mathematical geology although his mathematical In this lecture, Naomi Oreskes will outline the political expertise is far behind his geological enthusiasm. and ideological roots of climate change denial, showing the linkages between neo-liberalism – the revival, in the second half of the 20th century, of Our new postal address is classical commitments to laissez-faire economics – PO Box 7026 and the rejection of the scientific evidence of man- Karawara, WA 6152 made climate change

When: Wednesday 8th August, 2012, 6pm Venue: Social Sciences Lecture Theatre, University of Western Australia RSWA CENTENARY – 2014 Parking: P32 off Hackett Drive RSVP: This lecture is free, however seats are limited RSWA received Royal assent to assume the name and RSVP is essential to [email protected] by Royal Society of Western Australia on November 18th 1st August, 2012. 1913. However, the name was not formally adopted until a meeting on 10th March 1914 when a new The Joseph Gentilli Memorial Lecture was established Constitution was approved. This marked the in 2005 to honour the memory and intellectual legacy transition from the former ‘Natural History and of this influential and long-serving scholar. Joseph Scientific Society’ to the RSWA. We received a letter Gentilli (1912-2000) commenced teaching at UWA from Government House on 11th March 1914 soon after arriving in Fremantle from Italy in 1939, informing us that the King (George V) had agreed to and continued to be actively involved with the Dept of become Patron of the RSWA. Our Centenary clearly Geography at UWA until 2000. During his long and dates from the meeting on the 10th March 1914. Dr distinguished career, Joseph Gentilli helped to bring Alex Bevan heads the RSWA Centenary Sub- about a comprehensive understanding of the climates Committee and has already planned an exciting of Australia. In addition to his many other scientific programme for the year. We expect to have contributions, he wrote about “the selective or several formal social events around the time of the ‘greenhouse’ effect of the atmosphere” more than 50 important dates and to end the year. Ideas and offers years ago (A Geography of Climate, The University of of assistance are welcome. Alex can be contacted at Western Australia, 1952), and more than 30 years ago [email protected] was calling for an understanding of how climate patterns were changing (Australian Climate Patterns, Nelson, 1972).

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WA plays part in finding 'God particle' experiment known as the Large Hadron Collider in (Sourced from thewest.com.au 8th July, 2012) Switzerland. This week's breakthrough is a far cry from Professor's Taylor humble beginnings in "sleepy Geoffrey Taylor likes to joke that "particle" and and idyllic" Rockingham. "physics" are two words that don't normally stir a great deal of excitement. Nor, for that matter, are Professor Taylor, who went to high school in Kwinana particle physicists easily driven to excitement. before pursuing a distinguished academic career at the University of WA and overseas, jokes that he was But as the world listened breathlessly this week to drawn to science by the admonishments of a teacher. news that particle physicists had probably cracked "I had no idea what to do after school and I can one of the greatest mysteries of the universe by remember one teacher saying, 'If you do law, I won't detecting the Higgs boson, or "God particle", the 57- speak to you again'," he said. "I thought that was year-old allowed himself a rare moment of ecstasy. "It pretty drastic so I thought 'I won't do law'." is the biggest discovery in physics in the last century," Professor Taylor, from Rockingham, said on Friday.

CONSTITUTION REVIEW

Report of the RSWA Constitution sub-committee.

Prof. Bill Loneragan, Dr Jane Rosser, Dr Hugo Bekle, Dr Lynne Milne

Based on the advice of the Department of Commerce and the Electoral Commission that the current RSWA Constitution is cumbersome and dated, the RSWA Council has appointed this subcommittee to develop a new Constitution to put to the Members via a postal ballot as stipulated in the rules of the current Constitution.

The committee is currently investigating comparable Society Constitutions that may reflect the RSWA situation and so provide a basis on which to guide and build our new constitution. Current models being used and/or reviewed include the Harmony Constitution (provided as an example by The Dept of Commerce), The Ecological Society of Australia Incorporated Constitution and Model Rules for Incorporated Societies.

The sub-committee has identified particular areas Geoffrey Taylor. Picture: Nathan Dyer/The West Australian that it believes need revision or inclusion in the new constitution. These include but are not limited to For 23 years, Professor Taylor has played an important role in efforts to find the elusive Higgs • Editorial Board responsibilities boson, considered the cornerstone to understanding • Codes of Conduct for Council, Committees, physics. The theory was based on the work of British Editorial Board and Members. physicist Peter Higgs, whose landmark concept in • Aspects relating to Membership (item 59 of 1964 claimed the universe was full of an invisible the current Constitution). sticky sea of particles (Higgs bosons) which gave mass to other subatomic particles. • Aspects relating to the election of Councillors (items 26 and 27) As a particle physicist with the University of Melbourne, Professor Taylor has led a group of The aim of this sub-committee is to have a final scientists in designing a machine capable of detecting version of the revamped RSWA Constitution ready to such infinitesimal matter. They then had to build it present to Council for consideration at the 2013 and install it as part of a groundbreaking $10 billion Annual Retreat. Once Council has approved the

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document then the new Constitution shall be The next issue of the Journal will contain the presented to the RSWA Membership at an Ordinary following papers. Meeting early in 2013, followed by a formal Postal Ballot of Members to determine whether it is Volume 95 Part 2 (July 2012) accepted by the RSWA Membership. Distribution of Westralunio carteri Iredale, 1934 (Bivalvia: Hyriidae) on the south coast of southwestern Australia, including new records of the species: M W Klunzinger, S J Beatty, D L Morgan, A J Lymbery, A M Pinder & D J Cale Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia Original distribution of Trichosurus vulpecula

(Marsupialia: Phalangeridae) in Western Australia, A journal for science in Western Australia with particular reference to occurrence outside the southwest: I Abbott Contributions should be sent to: Editor-in-Chief Grasstree stem analysis reveals insufficient data for Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia inference of fire history: B P Miller*, T Walshe, N J 104 Hensman Street Enright & B B Lamont South Perth WA 6151 or (preferably)  [email protected] Ichthyoplankton assemblages associated with pink snapper (Pagrus auratus) spawning aggregations in EDITORIAL BOARD coastal embayments of southwestern Australia: N B The Editorial Board has been further expanded and Breheny, L E Beckley* & C B Wakefield now has the following Associate Editors H Bekle, Notre Dame University Importance of Lake MacLeod, northwestern Australia, A Bevan, Western Australian Museum to shorebirds: a review and update: D Bertzeletos*, R Davis, Edith Cowan University R A. Davis & P Horwitz. K A Haskard, Data Analysis Australia P Ladd, Murdoch University D Laird, Murdoch University K Trinajstic, Curtin University Directions to Webb Lecture Theatre, UWA M van Keulen, Murdoch University

K Wright, Curtin University

Directions to Webb Lecture Theatre, UWA

From carpark 20, walk east through bollards, then through the next carpark and through the archway in the Geology/Geography building, then turn right.

Free parking is available in all UWA carparks after 6.00 pm. Carparks 20 and 19 are most suitable for access to the Webb Lecture Theatre.

Access through the front or rear of the Geography building.

An interactive map is available at http://www.uwa.edu.au/campus -map

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RSWA Events Calendar 2012

Date Time Venue Event July 16th 7.00 pm Webb LT, UWA Dr Philip Playford – The wreck of the Zuytdorp in 1712 Aug. 20th 7.00 pm Curtin University Science Week – A/Prof. Kate Trinajstic: Palaeontology gets high tech. – new ways of looking at old bones Sept. 17th 9.30 am TBA Postgraduate Symposium Oct. 15th 7.00 pm TBA TBA* Nov.19th 7.00 pm Kings Park Admin Centre Dr Barry Green: Fusion – a sustainable energy source for the future Dec. TBA TBA Christmas Party

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