All in a Day ’s work… Memoirs, stories, articles and images of Dr Max Day AO FAA compiled to celebrate Max’s 100th birthd ay , 21 December 2015 All in a Day’s work… Memoirs, stories, articles and images of Dr Max Day AO FAA compiled to celebrate Max’s 100th birthday, 21 December 2015 This book has been compiled from a number of sources, the prime one being Max’s autobiographical memoirs written in the mid-1990s. These memoirs have been complemented by: • excerpts from several interviews (eg. Dr Max Blythe interviewed Max in 1993); • additional notes found within Max’s papers; • various articles written by other people in more recent times, reminiscing about some of Max’s contributions during his career (these are coloured yellow throughout the book), and • some additions from his family (coloured green in the book). The prime purpose of compiling the book was to celebrate Max’s 100th birthday – however hopefully it will also serve to help his family and his colleagues better understand just how amazing Max is… a wonderful scientist who has maintained his life-long passions about science and conservation. Thanks to all those who contributed to this compilation, particularly (in alphabetical order): Virginia Berger, Rob Birtles, Alan Brown, Pam Davis, Jack Elix, Murray Fletcher, Joel Green, Steph Griffin, Marianne Horak, Robert Ingpen, Patrap Khanna, Sadanandan Nambiar, Gus Nossal, Kelly O’Shanassy, Jim Peacock, John Raison, Libby Robin, Charlie Veron, Kylie Walker, Max Whitten, Graeme Worboys Jon Day December 2015 --------------------------------------------- This book has been compiled with all possible care and accuracy. If, however, any errors or omissions are noted, please let me know as per the contact details below: Jon C Day 17 Queen St, North Ward, Townsville QLD 4810 Australia Email [email protected] Mobile 0419 404 67 2 Max Day’s story - the contents of this book Page 1 Dr Max Day – Summary of notable achievements 5 2 Early Days in Sydney 6 3 Primary School, 1922-27 8 4 High School, 1928-33 9 5 Sydney University, 1934-37 12 6 Early Days in CSIR 15 7 My first overseas trip 17 8 The Harvard Years, 1938-41 17 9 St Louis, Missouri, 1941 23 10 Washington D.C. 1941-1947 24 11 CSIR/CSIRO Entomology 30 the Myxo story 31 12 Back to the United States, 1955-57 33 Election to the Australian Academy of Science 33 11 CSIRO in the 1960s 34 The Australian Conservation Foundation 37 12 The CSIRO Executive 1966-1975 38 Kosciusko National Park 41 Australian Institute of Marine science 49 Lizard Island Research Station 60 13 CSIRO Forestry, 1975-80 62 14 Retirement – what to do when you still have lots to do! 74 The Saturday tennis group 76 Leafhoppers 77 Max and the scribbly gum story 80 15 Reflections on a life in science 84 17 Key events in Max Day’s life 90 18 Max Day - list of publications (1938-2012) 91 19 Other sources of information 96 20 Species named after Max Day 97 3 Dr Max Day relaxing at St Andrews Village, Canberra 2014 4 Dr Max Day AO FAA – summary of notable achievements • University Medal (Sydney University), 1937 • PhD (Harvard) in 1941 • Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (Elected 1956) – today the longest serving Fellow • Appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia (1977) • Member of the Executive of CSIRO (1966-1976); during that period, was responsible for all CSIRO Divisions dealing with plant and animal sciences • Inaugural Chief of the CSIRO Division of Forest Research (1976-80) • Chairman of the Interim Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) Council (1970-72); coordinated the report that led to the development and location of AIMS; and was subsequently a Member of the Council of AIMS (1972-78) • Chairman, or member, of numerous committees for the Australian Academy of Science (especially the Science and Industry Forum, the Environment Committee; the Science Committee on National Parks and Reserves, the Botany Bay Project Committee and other committees involved in environmental issues eg. Fenner Committee and Jacobs Committee) • One of the founding members of the Australian Conservation Foundation and an ACF Councillor (1967-?) • Member, Advisory Committee, Kosciusko National Park (and Trustee for its predecessor, Kosciusko State Park) (1966-79) • Member of the ANU Council (and of several Committees of the Council) at the Australian National University (two terms of three years) • Chairman of the Committee to establish the Bureau of Rural Resources (now Bureau of Rural Sciences) in the then Commonwealth Department of Primary Industry and Energy • Member of the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies (CRES) Advisory Committee, at the Australian National University (1976-?) • Member of the Australian delegation to the inaugural meeting of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) in 1945. • Led the Australian delegation for the five year review of the Commonwealth Agriculture Bureau in London (1975) • Member of the International Commission on the Application of Science to Agriculture, Forestry and Aquaculture (CASAFA) • Member of the Board for International Council for Living Aquatic Resource Management (ICLARM) and Chairman of several of its committees. • Honorary Research Fellow, Division of Entomology, CSIRO (1990s- today) • Published 98 times over 74 years (Max’s first paper was published in 1938 and his last scientific paper on scribbly moths was published in 2012 at 97 years of age) – refer to the list of publications at the back of this book • His peers have named four species and one genus after Max (see p. 94) 5 Early Days in Sydney I was born in Sydney, NSW on December 21st, 1915, the first child of Harry Cooper Day and his young wife, Marguerite (‘Daisy’, nee Reichenbach). My father was a young architect who was also the eldest son of an architect, Mark Cooper Day, who had come from England as a young man. I remember Mark as a short, rather stout man with a moustache and beard. Early on he must have been quite successful and is remembered for two buildings on the National Heritage List, both in North Queensland. Later, however, Mark became one of the early Quantity Surveyors (the first in Sydney I believe). A history of his activities has recently been compiled by a student from the School of Architecture at the University of Sydney. He was obviously a difficult person to get along with and my father had done his apprenticeship, not in his father’s office, but with Wiltshire, with whom he later went into partnership. Moreover, Mark was separated from his wife, Blanche (nee Montagu), who was herself a formidable person who had gone to London and worked at the Overseas League. Clearly, Mark’s work had fallen away and although he maintained an office, he was doing little work during the depression, when he died in 1937. The North Queensland Insurance Building Flinders Street, Townsville, built 1892 (one of two North Queensland buildings on the National Heritage Register for which Mark Cooper Day was the architect) I recall Mark coming to the house at Vaucluse for Sunday lunch. He invariably wore a large watch in his waistcoat pocket and always asserted that he had set the correct time from the Post Office clock in Martin Place and then proceeded to reset a large pendulum clock which stood on a shelf near the stairs. My father was doing well in the 1920’s and early 30’s. He had built himself a home for his new bride on Fisher Avenue, Vaucluse, a lovely suburb of Sydney. Before long, he had planned a more substantial home which became a showplace for some of his ideas. This he named ‘Virginia’, sited on a superb block at 20 Wentworth Road, Vaucluse with views across the harbour to Manly from the front and views up the harbour towards the city from the west side. The view from my sleep-out veranda was photographed by Harold Cazneaux, then one of Sydney’s leading photographers. I remember him saying that the photo could take a prize in any salon in the world. It showed the 18 footers sailing around Shark Island on a Sunday afternoon, with spectacular clouds over the city. My sister Philippa, was born whilst we lived at Virginia and the area was developing rapidly. In fact, my father designed a number of homes in the vicinity. When Professor Leslie Wilkinson, the first Professor of Architecture in any Australian university, built himself a home a few doors away, his children and others along with our family brought a kindergarten teacher from the city to start us off, and we met at the Wilkinson’s place because there was no kindergarten in the district. 6 (L-R) Stephanie Day, Bridget Wilkinson, George Wilkinson, Eve McGregor, Max Day Vaucluse, circa 1921 (note Max’s hand on Eve’s knee!) I really do not know where my interest in environmental matters had its origin. Certainly I was determined that I wanted to be a biologist when I was very young. I was a bit of a loner as a kid and used to take long walks “in the bush”. I was not a very attractive kid and I still remember a young French maid we had at one stage, replying to my mother when she asked some question concerning me “’E nice, but ‘e not pretty”, undoubtedly a fair assessment of a freckled, redheaded little boy. There is in the family archives an envelope inscribed in my father’s writing, ‘Letter from Max’. It was dated Christmas 1922 written on the back of a laundry bill and is a note to Santa Claus asking for a butterfly net and a killing bottle.