CSIRO PUBLISHING www.publish.csiro.au/journals/hras Historical Records of Australian Science, 2005, 16, 107–126

Reviews

Compiled by Libby Robin

Email: [email protected]

Ann Moyal (ed.): The Web of Science: shore of Sydney Harbour. To enhance his The Scientific Correspondence of the income, he also took up journalism and for Rev. W. B. Clarke, Australia’s Pioneer many years regularly contributed articles, Geologist. Australian Scholarly editorials and letters to the Sydney Herald, Publishing: Melbourne, 2003. 2 vols. xxii + most of them dealing with scientific sub- 1340 pp., illus., ISBN 1 74097 042 (set); jects or with exploration (he was, for 1 74097 043 8 (vol. 1, 1836–1863); example, one of Ludwig Leichhardt’s prin- 1 74097 044 6 (vol. 2, 1864–1878), $175 cipal supporters). Most were published (set) ($200 for institutions). anonymously but his authorship was William Branwhite Clarke (1798–1878) widely known and helped him to quickly was one of Australia’s leading scientists of win a prominent place among Sydney’s the nineteenth century, the ‘father of Aus- small group of science enthusiasts. As that tralian geology’ as he came to be community expanded and viable scientific described. A graduate of Cambridge Uni- institutions were established, Clarke con- versity and an ordained minister in the tinued to play an influential role. In partic- Anglican Church, he had already estab- ular, during the last decade of his life he lished a position for himself as an enthusi- provided important leadership in the Royal astic ‘man of science’ in the classic British Society of New South Wales as Vice- style by the time he left England for New President (and thus effectively the chief South Wales in 1839, having published by office-bearer since the Governor was ex then some fifty papers on geological sub- officio President) for a period of nine years jects as well as a number of literary works. from the Society’s foundation in 1867. In He had also established connections with gratitude, the Society immortalized his the leading British geologists of the day, name by creating its Clarke Medal for both individually and through the Geologi- ‘meritorious contributions to the geology, cal Society in London, that he maintained mineralogy and natural history of Austral- by correspondence following his removal asia’ that is still awarded annually. to Sydney. Clarke had no private fortune, Clarke’s scientific standing both locally however — indeed, his move to Australia and internationally depended chiefly, how- was prompted by his lack of connections ever, not on his more ephemeral writings who could gain him preferment within the but on his geological work. From his earli- Church in England — and so he was est days in Australia, he spent much of his unable to devote himself solely to his leisure time hammering the rocks, seeking favourite scientific pursuits. Instead he an understanding of the colony’s compli- pursued his ministry, at first briefly as cated geological structures. The arrival in Headmaster of King’s School, Parramatta, Sydney Harbour of the United States then for several years as rector at nearby Exploring Expedition under Charles Campbelltown, and from 1846 until his Wilkes, a few months after Clarke himself retirement in 1871 as parson of the sprawl- had landed, gave this work an early fillip as ing parish of St Leonard’s on the north he went geologizing in the Illawarra region

© Australian Academy of Science 200510.1071/HR05006 0727-3061/05/010107 108 Historical Records of Australian Science, Volume 16 Number 1

with the young James Dwight Dana who D. J. and S. G. M. Carr (eds), Plants and became a life-long correspondent. Later, Man in Australia, Sydney, 1981, sometimes accompanied by other visitors to pp. 136–176), the ‘fuss’ was much more the colony such as J. B. Jukes, naturalist on than a personal and local battle between HMS Fly during its survey in Australian Clarke and McCoy. Its ramifications were waters, he ranged both north and south of international — the main questions at issue Sydney, exploring the Hunter Valley and were eventually resolved not in Australia Lake Macquarie as well as the Blue Moun- but in India — and involved both funda- tains to the west. By the late 1840s Clarke mental questions about the interpretation had become a recognized authority on the of fossil plants and the abandoning of geology of New South Wales, and people long-held views about the universality of paid attention when he predicted that gold geological formations (which assumed that would be found on the western slopes of the the geological column worked out for Great Dividing Range. When payable quan- Europe would apply equally well else- tities of gold were duly discovered at where) and a recognition that different Bathurst and elsewhere in 1851, sparking parts of the world might have had quite the gold rushes that transformed Australia, different geological histories. Clarke died Clarke became embroiled in an acerbic pri- before the new understanding was fully ority dispute. Credit for the discovery was worked out and, though he was more also claimed by the prospector Edward Har- receptive to new ideas than McCoy, his graves, and by the British geologist Roder- thinking (to use Vallance’s words) ick Murchison whose claim was based on ‘remained bound by belief in the primacy the prediction he had made, in very general of European experience’. In the present terms, arising from his theories about the volumes, we can trace Clarke’s struggling, formation of mineral deposits. At a more limited as he was by this unrecognized practical level, Clarke was engaged by the presupposition, with the deep conceptual New South Wales Government to undertake problems involved, in the face of McCoy’s a gold survey of the colony that fully occu- intransigence and vituperativeness and his pied him for most of the following two own sometimes over-hasty judgments. The years, while he took leave from his parish conclusions he ultimately arrived at were duties, and that enabled him to range much embodied in his Geological Sketch Map of more widely than he had been able to do on New South Wales that was published by the his own resources. The reports he submitted government of the colony three years after that drew attention to localities that he he died, and that is reproduced as a fold- judged likely to yield payable mineral out coloured plate in the present work. deposits were highly regarded by the mining Clarke was a prolific letter-writer community and consolidated his reputation throughout his life, and he carefully as a colonial savant. retained his files of correspondence Prickly and assertive, Clarke did not shy (including copies prepared by his son of from controversy, whether over his claim some of his outgoing letters). After his to priority in relation to the discovery of death these were preserved by the son and gold, or in his long-running dispute with eventually transferred along with others of Melbourne’s Frederick McCoy and others his papers to the Mitchell Library in over the age of Australia’s coal deposits. As Sydney. In the present volumes, Ann Moyal Vallance argued almost a quarter of a publishes many of these letters for the first century ago in a magisterial paper: ‘The time, together with numerous letters Fuss about Coal: Troubled Relations written by Clarke that are held in other between Palaeobotany and Geology’ (in collections in the Mitchell Library or in Review Section 109

other repositories. In all, the edition encom- The present publication is restricted, in passes 895 letters, many of them of great the editor’s words, to Clarke’s ‘scientific interest. They are preceded by a 65-page correspondence and such of his collected biographical introduction by Moyal that correspondence as is relevant to scientific sets the letters in context. There is also a affairs’. Letters dealing with family comprehensive bibliography of Clarke’s matters or with his work as a clergyman scientific publications. Annotations to the are thus systematically excluded. This is to letters provide further information. The be regretted since it inevitably leads to an whole constitutes a tremendously rich artificially narrow view of Clarke the man resource that will be mined by historians of and of the social context of his science. Australian science, and by historians of Also omitted are Clarke’s many letters to geology more generally, for years to come. the newspapers, which may be accessed by The evocative title Moyal has chosen for means of an index prepared some years the edition highlights a major feature of the ago by Michael Organ, and, more surpris- collection. Scientists working in Australia ingly, Clarke’s correspondence as Secre- in the nineteenth century were few and far tary of the Australian Museum, between, and they depended on their corre- 1840–1845. Even more surprisingly, given spondence to keep in touch both with inter- Clarke’s work on the gold surveys and his national developments in their field and other contacts with government, no search with fellow workers in Australia and New has been made in the New South Wales Zealand. In Clarke’s case, we can see from Archives for letters from or to him that his letters how, especially in the 1860s and may be held there. Within the limits set, the 1870s, he was able to build up a network of edition will give readers both a clear correspondents among the younger genera- impression of Clarke’s life in science tion of geological workers — men such as during a period of almost forty years and a Richard Daintree, C.D. Aplin, G.F. Ulrich, good idea of the way in which the under- Alexander Thomson, Charles Gould and standing of the geology of eastern Aus- C.S. Wilkinson — with whom he tralia advanced during that time. exchanged information and ideas, at the More regrettable from an editorial point same time as he was relying on his corre- of view are three other decisions that were spondents in Europe to identify the fossils made: (1) occasionally to omit passages he sent them, to underpin his efforts to not relating to science from letters that are unravel the geology of eastern Australia. published, so that the published version of We can also see how, like Ferdinand von the letter is incomplete; (2) not to repro- Mueller in Melbourne, he was able through duce the many sketches, mostly of fossils his correspondence to dispense patronage or geological formations, that occur in the within Australia — for example, by recom- letters; and (3) not to publish a number of mending Daintree and Aplin for geological the letters written in French in the original survey positions in Queensland — while language but only in English translation. his friends in Britain gained recognition for Tables of meteorological data included in him there, for example by arranging his some letters are also omitted. The omission election as a Fellow of the Royal Society of of the sketches is particularly unfortunate London. The successful pursuit of science, since in their absence it is often impossible even in such an essentially local discipline to understand the written text. Sometimes, as geology, requires the integration of one’s the result is even worse: a letter from work with what one’s peers are doing, and Daintree to Clarke dated 10 February 1866 Clarke’s correspondence shows very becomes hopelessly garbled when a series clearly how he went about achieving this. of labels written in columns beneath the 110 Historical Records of Australian Science, Volume 16 Number 1

omitted sketch of a geological formation ‘Todides’ must be Iodides); plants (‘Lonan- are transcribed as though they constitute thacia’ for Loranthaceae, ‘Dickenia’ for the continuous lines of prose running across tree-fern Dicksonia, ‘Tasmania aromatica’ the page, a ‘line’ being made up of two or for Tasmannia aromatica, ‘Epacsis’ for three words from each column in turn! Epacris, ‘sphagum bogs’ for sphagnum, While this is an extreme case, it is, sadly, ‘Richer Grandifolia’ presumably for a symptomatic of problems that beset the species of Richea); and, most significantly transcriptions of the letters, which are of all, given their importance for Clarke’s plagued with uncertainties and inaccur- science, fossils (‘Phiosaurus’ for Plio- acies. Bracketed phrases such as ‘[words saurus, ‘Aulostuges’ for Aulosteges, the indecipherable]’ or ‘[words obscured]’, or elephantine ‘Pachydermous’ for the marine ‘[?]’ to indicate a doubtful reading, appear bivalve Pachydomus). Such obvious mis- distressingly often. Proper names fre- readings are frequent enough that one is left quently cause editors difficulties when tran- with little confidence in the accuracy with scribing old handwriting, but here there are which other names have been transcribed. far too many errors that could readily have Unfortunately, there are grounds for been checked against standard works of thinking that there may be other problems, reference. Any number of examples could too, with the transcriptions. From time to be given. They include names of people time, sentences appear that are simply (‘Ebrenberg’ for the famous German inves- mysterious as they stand, that either have tigator of infusoria C.G. Ehrenberg, ‘Guy been transcribed incorrectly or demand Lu Sac’ for the French physicist Joseph some explanation. What, for example, is Gay-Lussac, ‘Sir Richard McDounall’ for one to make of the middle clause in the Governor MacDonnell of South Australia); following, that appears in the version pub- institutions (‘Geol. Society’ when the lished here of a letter from Daintree to context clearly dictates ‘Geol. Survey’); Clarke dated 21 September 1863: ‘I weary scientific equipment (‘Barling Point Appa- of the hod so will exchange for a time, oSe ratus’ for the boiling point apparatus used for Ta’dda, that is if cattle will fatten in to determine elevations of mountains); Queensland’? I can only suppose that places (‘[Raebourne]’ for a location on the Daintree with his Cambridge education north-west Australian coast, with the wrote some words in Greek and that this brackets indicating an uncertain reading is has not been recognized. (Elsewhere, surely the historic town of Roebourne; unforgivably, when Clarke uses a Greek ‘Boruthen on the Zambo’ in Gippsland in word, this is not transcribed but ‘[Greek Victoria must be the town of Bruthen on the script]’ is recorded.) In other cases, one Tambo River; ‘Siebengabage [?]’ is the can be certain that a mistake has been famous German mining district Siebenge- made in the transcribing. In a letter to berge; the ‘Ennesleight River’ in central Adam Sedgwick of 2 February 1843, for Queensland is presumably the Einasleigh; example, Clarke is shown reporting the ‘Enisher Bay’ in South Australia’s south- discovery of a fossil bone ‘about east is surely Guichen Bay; ‘Midway Puie- 2000 miles W of the Liverpool Range’, let’ on p. 745 becomes the much more which would put the discovery site on the plausible Midway Rivulet a few pages opposite side of the continent! The ‘Bear- further on; the ‘country of Cumberland’ is wah’ (i.e. Beerwah) peak in Queensland’s almost certainly the County of Cumberland Glasshouse Mountains is said (p. 258) to on which Sydney stands); chemicals (the be ‘11 to 12,000 feet above the surround- context makes clear that what appear as ing country’ which, if true, would make it ‘dilute ciciels’ are really dilute acids, while considerably higher than Australia’s Review Section 111

highest mountain, Mt Kosciusko. Else- details given to identify publications men- where, Clarke is shown reporting (p. 746) tioned in the letters. Still the notes include that from his house on Sydney’s North embarrassing errors, of which a few Shore he could see ‘Mount King George examples must suffice. A gloss in a foot- 50 miles to the eastward’, which would note referring to Mitchell’s map of New place the mountain well out to sea! If such South Wales (p. 86) solemnly explains that obvious misreadings can get through, how its 1:540,000 scale means 1 inch to many other, less obvious ones might there 540,000 miles! A footnote identifying not be? Having access to photocopies of a ‘Humboldt’ (p. 291) gives details, cor- few of the original letters, I was able to rectly, about the famous scientific traveller check Moyal’s transcriptions for myself Alexander von Humboldt, but ascribes the and have to report that in the two that I wrong given names to him. And when checked, there are, besides numerous small Clarke in a letter to Charles Darwin errors of spelling and punctuation, a remarks (p. 576) that ‘In your Monograph number of potentially significant misread- you define the oldest Cirripedes to belong ings of words. In a letter from Ferdinand to the Oolitic’, a footnote identifies the Mueller to Clarke dated 5 September 1858, reference as being to The Origin of Species for example, I noted the following: ‘parts’ when it is clearly to Darwin’s classic mono- where Mueller wrote ‘facts’, ‘however’ graph on Cirripedes. Such errors apart, it omitted, ‘authoritative’ instead of ‘authen- would, I think, have greatly assisted many tic’, ‘shrubs’ instead of ‘herbs’, ‘horse’ readers if Moyal had included more instead of ‘desert’, ‘their’ omitted, explanatory notes, to explain allusions in ‘advance’ instead of ‘ardour’. Again, in the the letters. Certainly I would have appreci- letter from Richard Daintree cited earlier ated more help of this kind. in regard to the misread captions belonging In summary, historians of science are to a geological sketch, I noted the follow- going to be grateful to Ann Moyal for ing additional misreadings: ‘of them’ many years to come for opening up for instead of ‘their’, ‘Pevy’s Range’ instead of wider study the science-related component ‘Perry’s Range’, the weight of a nugget of of Clarke’s fascinating and important cor- gold given as ‘47 dwts’ instead of 17 dwts. respondence. They are, however, at the The mistakes are numerous enough to same time going to regret that greater care undermine the value of the transcriptions. was not taken over the editing, so that they While these certainly remain useful would have a more reliable and more because for the most part they give a good informative text at their disposal. idea of what is being said, it would clearly R.W. Home be dangerous to rely on the exact wording Department of History and Philosophy of Science of any letter as published without checking University of Melbourne it against the original. Finally, there are shortcomings with Moyal’s annotations. While extensive bio- graphical details are given when there is a Graeme K. Hunter: Light is a Messenger: readily available source of information The Life and Science of William Lawrence such as the Australian Dictionary of Bragg. Oxford University Press: Oxford, Biography or the Dictionary of National 2004. xxi + 301 pp., illus., Biography, no information at all is given ISBN: 0 19 852921 (HB), A$120. about many other, lesser-known indi- I found this book strangely contradictory: viduals whose names appear in the letters. an informative, sometimes revealing and Also, only infrequently are bibliographical well-written biography of a very important 112 Historical Records of Australian Science, Volume 16 Number 1

man and his times, and yet also unsatisfy- Father and son subsequently led, indeed ing and perplexing. The major question, as dominated, the international flowering of for much of science biography, is what a X-ray crystallography for the next fifty science biography should be. The ‘life and years. Their legacy was immortalized science’ of the scientist, the present title when, in 1962 and during Lawrence’s suggests, but what does this mean, and has tenure of the Cavendish chair at Cam- it been achieved? bridge, four of his staff won Nobel Prizes: Much has been written about the bio- Crick and Watson (with Wilkins) for the graphy genre, but much less concerning structure of DNA, and Kendrew and Perutz the biography of scientists. As Shortland for the structure of haemoproteins. and Yeo commented in Telling Lives in Here are lives that cry out for an inti- Science (Cambridge University Press, mately integrated account of life, times 1996, p. xiii): ‘Since the seventeenth cen- and career; but there is very little of this in tury, memoirs anecdotes and portraits of the literature. The only book-length study leading natural philosophers have been of William is the charming portrait by his central to informing the way in which the daughter, but it is not strong on the science scientific community is perceived by out- and Lawrence is given only a minor role. siders and itself; … the promise of bio- Now we have the first lengthy study of graphy … is surely worth taking seriously. Lawrence. On his childhood and youth So, too, is its occasionally brilliant accom- I offered the author access to two filing plishment in the integration of a historical cabinets full of documents concerning the subject’s private, even intimate, life of Australian years, but he replied: ‘I had feeling with the broader, public domain of thought … of a research trip to Australia career and honour.’ but I am afraid the budget will not stretch The last sentence is revealing, for, while to that!’ Is this, perhaps, why the full most forms of biography assume that the Bragg story has not been told? Northern integration of the life, times and career is hemisphere scholars are reluctant to come highly desirable, in science it is rare. south of the equator. In addition, it was Scientists themselves have been reluctant only by special arrangement that a copy of to expose their ‘life of feeling’, and this book was obtained for review, through psycho-biographies have been unwelcome. the USA. It is not generally available in But scientists are human, and their human- Australia and has not been advertized here. ity is as important to their science as to the The publisher apparently sees no market in rest of their lives. Australia for the story of one of our most Having just graduated from Cambridge illustrious sons, which tells us something and aged only twenty-three, in 1885 about Australia (and about OUP)! William Henry Bragg was appointed to the Light is a Messenger covers Lawrence’s joint chair of mathematics and physics at science and career well. After scientific the University of Adelaide, where he work during WWI, he succeeded stayed until he left for England in 1909. By Rutherford at Manchester, where he made then he was married, had three children, crucial discoveries in the structure of had an international reputation and was an minerals, metals and alloys and in order– FRS. In 1915, William and his elder son disorder phenomena. He again succeeded (William) Lawrence Bragg, were jointly Rutherford when he became Cavendish awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for ‘the Professor in 1938. His reorganization of analysis of crystal structure by means of that laboratory was opposed but was essen- X-rays’. Lawrence was just twenty-five tial to its future, and radio astronomy, years old, still the youngest winner ever. which he encouraged along with molecular Review Section 113

biology, brought further Nobel Prizes. and biology, and had little interest in either Finally he became, like his father earlier, discipline’. The book itself gives the lie to Director of the Royal Institution in these statements, as does the most active of London. Again there were major organiza- all the sub-disciplines of physics in the tional difficulties that he conquered, and twentieth century, solid-state or condensed- here his presentation of science to children matter physics. Indeed, the author then was unmatched, and the research he led adds: ‘Bragg’s earliest work had profound blossomed yet again. All of this, and implications for both inorganic and related matters such as the trauma of the organic chemistry’, ‘Biology was … more publication of Watson’s The Double Helix, profoundly affected than chemistry’, he is told accurately and in detail, and with a was ‘the Father of Crystallography’, and touch that makes pleasant reading. ‘The crystallographer is a solid state Yet there are major problems. Despite scientist, and his interests are as broad as the title, the author admits that his book is ‘a all of science’. These last pages illustrate scientific biography rather than the bio- why the book is fundamentally flawed, and graphy of a scientist’. Because Lawrence they demonstrate starkly where it is defec- ‘did not have a flamboyant personality’, tive, despite its real value in other respects. ‘does not fit into any standard academic John Jenkin pigeonhole’, and erected ‘a solid wall of Philosophy Program privacy … around himself’, Hunter largely La Trobe University, Victoria avoids his life outside science. There are, however, numerous questions that demand a broader treatment, including: what was the Carolyn Rasmussen: Increasing nature of Lawrence’s pivotal relationship Momentum – Engineering at the University with his father, here just a shadow? What of Melbourne. Melbourne University was the basis and nature of the ‘depressive Press: Melbourne, 2004. 254 pp., illus., disorder’ Lawrence is said to have suffered? ISBN: 052285 135 5 (PB), $69.95. Why did he have serious initial difficulties Anyone who read the reviews in Historical at Manchester, then Cambridge, and finally Records of Australian Science, 2004, 15, of at the Royal Institution? Why did the British the books on the history of the University chemistry establishment ‘black ball’ him, of Melbourne, would be surprised to learn including his elevation to the presidency of that the University has a great Faculty of the Royal Society? How much did his Aus- Engineering. But having regard to the tralian origin influence his life thereafter? focus of Historical Records, it is not sur- How did he cope with the expectations of prising that the professional faculties of the early Prize and remain so extraordinarily medicine, law and engineering would not productive for the next fifty years? feature in the review, and it is good to see Most puzzling of all are Hunter’s last that engineering was not viewed as a four pages, which show that the prejudices subset of science. that dogged Lawrence’s life have been The beginning and the end of this book adopted without question by the author. say it all. In 1861 the first University For example: ‘his work had no great Engineering School in Australia had only a influence on the physics of his time — or couple of students, a shaky beginning, but after’, ‘he was a scientific dinosaur in a intrepid promotion by the foundation Pro- world now dominated by mammals’, fessor of Mathematics, Henry Wilson, who ‘Bragg did not make any major contri- had had associations with engineering edu- bution to twentieth-century physics’, and cation in Ireland. In 2004 it had become a ‘Bragg was quite ignorant of chemistry leading Engineering Faculty with 3,700 114 Historical Records of Australian Science, Volume 16 Number 1

undergraduates, 25% of them women and science in first and second year, for the 31% from overseas. While the Dean is satisfactory treatment of advanced engi- responsible for the academic leadership of neering studies in third and fourth year. the Faculty, a female General Manager Kernot was immovable and the problem runs the business and student services side was only solved after his death in 1909. of the large undertaking. The first lonely Financial stringency delayed the emer- female BMechE graduate in the 1940s gence of mechanical and electrical would be amazed at such inroads into the engineering in the years before the First hitherto male-dominated profession. World War, and research was a minor factor The story between the beginning and between the wars. The book describes per- now is one of struggle for funds, debates sonalities and struggles as the Faculty grew. about course content, and tensions Appointment of young Dr Aubrey Burstall between the nature of the cognitive base of from Birmingham as Professor of engineering and the needs of engineering Engineering in 1937 brought challenges to practice. Those tensions are still with us — a Faculty that needed new blood. As a between the imperatives of engineering mechanical engineer, Burstall challenged research for the few, and preparation for the dominance of civil engineering. But his effective engineering practice for the background was a problem for him in many. The story is told with admirable understanding the nature of the Australian insight by a historian who is not of the profession, by contrast with British condi- profession herself, but whose family back- tions, and he resigned in 1945. ground is reflected in her insights. His replacement, Louis Matheson, also The struggle across the interface from England, was a different character and between the mathematical and scientific he played a critical role in post-war redevel- foundations of engineering analysis, and opment. Other leading contributors who fol- the practicalities of engineering practice, lowed, Arthur Francis, Robert Blackwood, are epitomized in the career of the first Paul Henderson and Charles Moorhouse, Professor of Engineering, William Charles developed and broadened the range of Kernot. As the first graduate from the courses as student numbers increased. From Certificate of Engineer (CE) course in Kernot’s emphasis on model testing rather 1865, the young Kernot (MA 1866) than research, the recent decades of the encountered prejudice from established, faculty have seen a burgeoning of engineer- pupil-trained engineers, who railed against ing research across the wide range of ‘useless’ formal learning. No doubt the specialisms, from chemical engineering to more perceptive of the ‘old school’ information technology. engineers felt threatened by the new breed An essential mark of a professional with their facility in quantitative analysis. faculty has to be a porous interface Kernot was in the forefront in promoting between the faculty and the profession at the value of education underpinning sound large. From the beginning, members of the engineering practice. profession have contributed to the Faculty Kernot became the first Professor of in various ways, and Professor Kernot was Engineering in 1882, and by the end of the strongly embedded in engineering busi- century his graduates were seeding the ness. But this is one aspect of the history of new approach to engineering education the Faculty that could have been addressed and practice throughout Australia. But he more fully. Many members of staff have was being left behind. One of his lecturers, contributed to the leadership of Victoria Bernard Smith, was complaining against Division, the Accreditation Board, and the the inadequacy of the mathematics and National Council of the Institution of Review Section 115

Engineers, Australia. Several contributed tions. Gardenesque has an entry for each to the landmark Professional Engineers year from 1801 to 2004 selected from the Case of 1959–1961. However, in 1965 State Library of Victoria, and they vary Professor Charles Moorhouse was the only from serious Napoleonic/Regency science one to become National President of to frivolous but engaging trivia of the IEAust. As a comment on the evolution of fifties and polemics of the nineties. the Faculty, the specialism espoused by As François Péron commented: ‘New Moorhouse, Electrical Power Engineering, Holland defies our conclusions from com- is no longer offered. parisons, mocks our studies, and shakes to their foundations the most firmly estab- Brian E. Lloyd, Brighton, Victoria lished and most universally admitted of our Past-President, Engineers Australia scientific opinions’ (p. 19), an apt early observation from arguably the most impor- tant, yet unlauded, scientific expedition to Richard Aitken: Gardenesque: survey Australia. Aitken begins the collec- A Celebration of Australian Gardening. tion with this scientific study, undertaken Miegunyah Press (Melbourne University in many ways to ‘ground truth’ the imagin- Publishing): Carlton South, 2004. ing of the Great South land that had been 226 + xiv pp., full colour illustrations, under way for several hundred years. The ISBN: 0 522 851274 (HB), $45. structure of the book is what you might call ‘themed decades’. Paul Fox: Clearings: Six Colonial The objects illustrated reveal, as was Gardeners and their Landscapes. intended, what a rich source for scholar- Miegunyah Press (Melbourne University ship exists in the Victorian State Library. Publishing): Carlton South, 2004. Included are many illustrations from rare 269 +xvii pp., full colour illustrations, books such as Robert Thornton’s The ISBN: 0 522 850863 (HB), $59.95. Temple of Flora (1807), the third volume Are these books really about scientific of his extraordinary work The New Sexual history and should they be reviewed in this System of Linnaeus. However, a contem- august journal? Well ‘yes’ actually, if we porary resonance demands our interest in are to examine some of the underpinnings the work illustrated by Jacques-Julien of Australian scientific history and its Houtou de Labillardière. His work Novæ relationship with the public. In the early to Hollandiæ Plantarum Specimen of 1804 mid-nineteenth century, botany, in its suggests the huge amount of both natural manifestation as plant hunting and classi- history and physical scientific work under- fication, was arguably one of the two or taken on the expedition of d’Entrecas- three strongest ‘scientific’ disciplines in teaux, as well as the troubling fate awaiting Australia. Of course the discipline was not the probable key site of this expedition in called that and the practitioners were not Tasmania at present (the dispute over the called botanists, many of them would be so-called French Garden). what we call ‘amateurs’ usually forgetting Firstly, as attractive as many of the that the original use of this term was not a objects illustrated are, this book will serve pejorative but a very positive term. a useful purpose if it only introduces a Richard Aitken is almost a ‘Victorian’ broad audience to the richness of the col- himself in his obsession with detail and lection. Secondly, it may induce an interest with unmitigated scholarship. This book is in scholarship into the periods, using these his ‘cabinet of curiosities’ at least as rich resources. Thirdly, from there perhaps a as most of the nineteenth century collec- logical reappraisal of some of the scientific 116 Historical Records of Australian Science, Volume 16 Number 1

and political theories underlying many of their blessings stored up in the soil for the actions of our forebears might help us future generations by exhausting its vege- in managing or ‘re-imagining’ how to table mould’ (p. 192). Six years later manage our environments. Ferguson was appointed Inspector of This book and its associated exhibition Forests under the newly passed Land Act. at the State Library of Victoria are highly One of the most engaging chapters of recommended as both stimulators of ideas this book concerns Daniel Bunce and for pure pleasure, exactly what a (1812–1872) who Fox describes as ‘The ‘cabinet of curiosities’ was designed to do. Man on the Edge’. Bunce may have been a Clearings, on the other hand, is an rogue. His claims to be a trained botanist intense but rewarding read. Paul Fox has seemed to unravel soon after his book dedicated the book to the Wardian Case, Hortus Tasmaniensis was withdrawn from that wonderful small travelling greenhouse sale when the publisher had numerous that so facilitated plant translocation from errors in it pointed out to him by third the mid-nineteenth century. Tea clippers at parties. But relocating to the settlement of times had up to a thousand of these cases Port Phillip only four years after Fawkner as deck cargo leaving China for England, had established it, he moved into an other- giving rise to one of two explanations for wise unoccupied intellectual territory. From the appellation ‘hybrid tea rose’. an early meeting in Port Phillip with an Fox’s book is essentially six discrete Aboriginal man known as Benbow who essays, beautifully written, about collec- lived in the garden of John Batman, Bunce tors, nurserymen and botanical scientists of developed an interest in the plant descrip- the nineteenth century and their interaction tions of the Indigenous people. Perhaps now with the Australian environment. From a being an ‘outsider’ Bunce had a different ‘history of science’ perspective it is most view to the majority of the population when interesting how quickly and thoroughly he observed of Benbow: ‘He was not only new scientific ideas have been absorbed an intelligent native, but a really worthy into the ideas of practical plantsmen. For instance the very influential gardener fellow: an evidence that the aborigines of William Ferguson (c. 1827–1887) in his Australia are not, as has so frequently been Notes on Ornamental Planting (1863), stated by various writers, incapable of being published four years after The Origin of civilized’ (p. 65). Subsequently Bunce Species, is strongly influenced by notions undertook a number of field trips botanizing of natural selection and he suggests ‘…that and trying to tie together plant distributions the stronger species “in a state of nature” along with a growing knowledge of plant soon weaken and destroy others, “even in descriptions and indeed ecosystem descrip- the most favoured situations”’. Similarly tions of the Indigenous people of Port Ferguson was extremely concerned by Phillip to Western Port. 1863 of the threat of soil depletion and Bunce’s most prominent scientific what he described as ‘unscientific agricul- moment was as a botanist to Leichhardt’s tural practices’ (p. 192). Ferguson’s 1863 second expedition — although even this call for better forest management would led to a falling out with the leader, an event resonate well with many today: ‘Unless a that luckily spared him from Leichhardt’s stop is put to the wholesale destruction of next and fatal expedition. Despite the fact native forests and new forests are erected in that some of his claims were clearly false, many of our ranges, man will have much Daniel Bunce hit a high point in Victorian cause for regret for having laid waste the society when in 1857 he was appointed true source of his prosperity and destroyed curator of the Geelong Botanic Gardens. Review Section 117

From the perspective of the history of my opinion that it seems a pity that the science, this book reveals many of the inter- book’s designer (Melissa Fraser) is men- esting contests between those who would tioned only in the Acknowledgments. So later represent the academy in plant science much of the impact of the book depends on versus those of the dilettante. As botany was its excellent design and the high quality of a key science of the nineteenth century, this the photographs. There is a strong emphasis struggle to create a scientific discipline, to within the species photographed on ferns have it recognized as serious business in the and marine algae, both of which groups are academy, took many turns over this century often forgotten or overlooked by botanists and some of those turns were played out in in general. Another group of plants under- the remotest parts of the antipodes. That represented in most herbaria is the numeri- contestation is well documented between cally large group of species introduced to the lines of this well-written set of vignettes Australia; some introduced species are of some of the key players. included in this book however. For a scien- Max Bourke AM tific audience, the main interest will be in Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies reading the notes at the back of the book on Australian National University, Canberra each species photographed and its collec- tion details. And finally, a bibliography and an index are provided, which will enhance the usefulness of the book to students of Robyn Stacey and Ashley Hay: Australian botany. Herbarium. Cambridge University Press: While initially overwhelmed by the Melbourne, 2004. viii + 155 pp., colour beauty of this book, I soon began to have illus., ISBN 0 521 84277 8 (HB), $79.95. some doubts about its utility. Firstly, the This large folio-sized volume, produced in grouping of the photographs into sections both slip-cased and hardback versions, titled ‘The new world’, ‘Scientific fascina- consists of about 100 photographs of herb- tion’, ‘Hobby and decoration’ and ‘Exot- arium specimens taken from the extensive ics’ is not tied into the separate themes of collection of dried plants at the National the historical introduction, and this inter- Herbarium of New South Wales. Short nal mis-match is regrettable. notes are given on the botanical collection The species most recently collected and of each plant species photographed, along highlighted in the introduction to this book with an introduction of 26 pages giving a is the orchid Dendrobium gracilicaule — detailed historical account of the total col- collected in 1923 by the Anglican clergy- lection that illustrates several distinct man H.M. Rupp. What about species col- stages in botanical history and collection lected more recently? While the relatively in eastern Australia. The photographs are recent discovery in 1994 of the Wollemi by Robyn Stacey, while the historical intro- pine (Wollemia nobilis) is mentioned ductory chapter was written by Ashley Hay briefly on p. 26 and a photo of it is indeed and the short species notes by various included, no detailed account of its taxo- Sydney Herbarium staff. nomic classification is given — and yet it Such a matter-of-fact summary of the was identified by scientists in the very contents does not do this book justice, same institution that this book covers. The however. It is a beautifully designed and interested reader will need to go elsewhere produced volume that, given its release date [see, for example, James Woodford, (November 2004), was obviously intended Wollemi Pine (2000)] to find the exciting to capture the Christmas gift market and to story of the discovery and elucidation of grace coffee tables. So fine is the design in the taxonomic affiliations of Wollemi pine, 118 Historical Records of Australian Science, Volume 16 Number 1

the latter using modern methods. The tralian landscapes affected by salinity. The reader of this book is left with an impres- papers are a subset of those presented at a sion that only species collected more than conference held in Albany, Western Aus- 80 years ago are significant. tralia in October 2002. Prospects for Bio- I currently sit in an herbarium building diversity in Salinising Landscapes provides and hear many seminars on DNA detailed insight into the costs of saliniza- sequences, cladistic trees and other aspects tion. The volume also summarizes the of twenty-first century taxonomy. But there sobering predictions of degradation to come is no hint of these recent developments in and the efforts applied thus far to address taxonomic science in this book. Even more the problem. The diversity of perspectives surprising is the omission of any mention and disciplines is impressive. While a range of chemotaxonomy and its role in species of biophysical topics are presented, there are identification, despite its considerable role also analyses of salinity-related policy in eucalypt classification by Sydney-based including a strategic response framework chemotaxonomists of the early twentieth for predicting impact and recovery and a century. The book implies that taxonomy decision tool for assessing risk to aquatic was strongest in the nineteenth and early fauna. Other papers present a framework for twentieth centuries rather than being cur- adult learning in relation to improved land rently strong and using molecular markers management and a discussion of agri- as well as the traditional morphological business directions and options. If the characters of so-called alpha-taxonomy. volume is read from cover to cover one Throughout this book references are not develops an understanding of how toler- cited in the text and the endnotes are not ance, avoidance and acclimatization affect keyed in to the introductory text, which the response of individual organisms to I found unsatisfactory, although for the salinity; the relevance of alternative states general reader may be advantageous. In theory to salinity-affected systems; the role summary, if you can persuade someone to of treatment triage for salinity; the applica- give you this book, do so and you will be tion of non-market methods for valuing well satisfied with its beauty and produc- biodiversity; and the need for farm design tion. The audience for the book is a general and whole-landscape water management to one and not a scientific one. Only a few take account of salinity issues. plant scientists will find value for money The breadth of papers presented also from the contents of this book, splendidly highlights the complexity of quantifying produced though it is. salinity effects. Effects may be felt at the individual organism, population, commu- R.H. Groves CSIRO Plant Industry, Canberra nity or ecosystem level. Changes may occur in the chemical and physical proper- ties of natural systems, resulting in altered system dynamics. For example, Neilson W. M. Blacklow, S. L. Farrer and et al. argue that increasing salinity alters T. M. Launonen (eds): Prospects for the light climate and mixing properties of Biodiversity in Salinising Landscapes. water, which then impact on cycling of Special Issue of Australian Journal of energy and nutrients. Further complexity Botany, 51 (6), 2003. ISSN: 0067-1924. in addressing salinity is added in relation Issue available from CSIRO Publishing. to water resource demands made on these In this special issue of the Australian saline-affected environments. Goss pre- Journal of Botany thirteen papers together sents a case study of the Murray Darling consider the plight of biodiversity in Aus- Basin where highly regulated flow and Review Section 119

over-allocation of water resources are also dealing with salinity. A reduction in added to the equation. dryland salinity will come from a reduc- While history is not a strong focus of the tion in overland flow, which also has the publication several papers provide some effect of increasing riverine salinity at least interesting historical context. Briggs and in the short term (loser = riverine biodiver- Taws argue that the cause of dryland salinity sity) and reducing river flow (loser = has been recognized for fifty years or more, downstream water users). Goss presents and the effects on native vegetation for examples of how these tradeoffs may be seventy years. Despite this knowledge, managed, through consideration of differ- dryland salinity was ignored at an official ences in rainfall and levels of salt export level for many decades. We are also across a catchment, locating biodiversity reminded of the long history of salt in values at risk and identifying potential human culture — symbolizing punishment impacts on water users. and sexual depravity in the biblical story of As with many land degradation pro- Sodom and Gomorrah. Australia’s agricul- cesses there are always some ‘winners’. tural history is briefly mentioned with Broad patterns show that increasing salin- government and society of the past strongly ity results in a reduction in species rich- encouraging landholders to clear their land, ness. However, at a more detailed scale one of the major causes of dryland salinity. there are some species that appear to Halse et al. also provide some useful benefit from salinity, at least in the short historical context across geological time term. For example, McKenzie et al. show frames. Salt has been accumulating in the saline areas support more species of south west of our continent for hundreds of Lycosid spiders than non-saline areas. thousands of years. The naturally saline Several papers express concern at the lakes (playas) of this region support more lack of information and research on the than half of the Western Australian wheat- affects of salinity on natural terrestrial belt plant species. Playas are incredibly systems. This volume itself lacks papers on species-rich. For example, they support a terrestrial systems. A lack of information great diversity of brine shrimp — twelve on aquatic systems is also noted in several endemic species — compared with just two papers. James et al. point out that much of species in eastern Australia. our knowledge in this area is drawn from Halse observes that while salt is an adult life stages with little known on the integral part of the Western Australian impacts of salinity on early life stages of landscape, the integrity of saline playas aquatic organisms, which are likely to be can still be threatened by secondary more sensitive. Neilson et al. argue that (anthropogenically induced) salinity. salinity tolerance in freshwater systems Specifically, waterlogging associated with comes from lowland systems that are likely secondary salinity results in deleterious to have been historically exposed to salt changes to the flooding cycle and fluctua- and therefore may be more tolerant than tions in salt concentrations. Acidification upland systems. Sub-lethal, long-term, of groundwater associated with secondary synergistic and antagonistic effects of salinization is also likely to have negative salinity are all poorly understood, even for impacts on the plant and animal commu- aquatic systems. In addition, there has nities of saline playas. been a focus on riverine systems, with far Salinity ‘losers’ are identified in almost less information available on impacts on every paper, but some are not as obvious as wetland environments. others. Cocks and Goss both point out that Our understanding of salinity threats to there are water quantity tradeoffs in biodiversity are founded on, and continue 120 Historical Records of Australian Science, Volume 16 Number 1

to be primarily informed by, the salinity in other, less-scientific forms, to suit these experience in Western Australia. This is different audiences. reflected in the papers in this special issue. Donna Hazell While there are some similarities between Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies the salinity situations in eastern Australia Australian National University, Canberra and Western Australia there are also con- siderable differences: in the way salinity is expressed and in the biodiversity and dynamics of the natural systems at risk. Rob White (ed.): Controversies in Do we know enough about salinity to Environmental Sociology. Cambridge manage the risk and avoid further loss of University Press: Melbourne, 2004. biodiversity? Salinising Landscapes sug- 312 pp., illus., ISBN: 0 521 60102 9 (PB), gests not and identifies some important $49.95. gaps in our knowledge. While there is a As the term ‘environmental sociology’ considerable amount of ‘doom and gloom’ suggests, this book presents a collection of in the volume (for example, many species essays in which conjunction between the are at risk, the need for more knowledge, environment and society is the central policy change, land management change theme. It is a textbook that aims to intro- and funding for research) there are also duce the student reader to several central plenty of strategies suggested for improv- ‘controversies’ in the field of ‘environmen- ing the situation. tal sociology’. In the book’s introduction, If the knowledge and tools presented in its editor, Rob White, provides an extended this volume are applied in saline affected/ explanation of the book’s purpose and threatened landscapes, we should see a what is intended by the term ‘environmen- future where these areas are filled with tal sociology’. Sociology, he states, alternative agribusiness that is perennial [I]s about people, institutions and behav- and does not leak water into the ground- iours. It is about social interactions and water. Landholders will be further empow- social structures… Sociology is about ered to make decisions on how to manage understanding and dealing with social problems. … In my view, sociology is about their properties effectively for salinity. At a putting things into context about challeng- regional planning level we will see the risk ing the status quo and about making the of salinity clearly identified, underpinned world a better place. It is essentially about by an understanding of catchment-scale three important tasks: see, judge, act’. (p. 2) hydrological processes. Biodiversity assets By extension therefore, ‘[e]nvironmental most at threat will be identified with the sociology is about translating these tasks systems least able to recover from salinity into analysis and action around environ- best protected. mental issues’ (p. 3). Anyone with a desire to understand The book is also ‘very much informed current knowledge of salinity impacts on by a sense of “controversy”’ that arises Australian biodiversity and current think- from the dynamic relationship between ing on how to address it should read at society and environment. The contro- least a selection of papers from this versies examined are not disputes about volume. This knowledge needs to be environmental issues per se, but those shared amongst land managers, policy between writers and their viewpoints in the makers, funding bodies and natural field of environmental sociology. Each resource management staff. I would hope chapter attempts to convey a sense of lively that aspects of the content of this issue of scholarly debate in the area being Australian Journal of Botany also appears addressed. The controversies are grouped Review Section 121

into three parts: ‘Social Perspectives’, sense of completeness in their overview and ‘Social Trends’ and ‘Social Issues’. In the analysis. Whereas, those attempting to first part, the chapters survey conceptual or harness a large area of scholarship or map theoretical perspectives within broadly trends over time, such as is the case with sketched social areas and their relationship population, religion, citizenship, social to the environment; such areas as religion theory or animal rights, are less successful. (Douglas Ezzy), social theory (Stewart There is no doubt that a reviewer’s task is Lockie), gender and eco-feminism (Val made easier if the book can be read as ‘one Plumwood), animal rights (Lyle Munro), long argument’, rather than as a collection and risk (Vaughan Higgins and Kristin of topics on a related theme. In this case Natalier). In the second part, students are coherence is further compromised by it introduced to a selection of broad themes being a textbook that aims to introduce or problems central to environmental students to a new field of enquiry and that issues. Included here are the themes of must therefore cover very large scholarly world population growth (Natalie areas that bear at best a family resemblance. Jackson), inequality, social difference and How then might one evaluate the environmental resources (Roberta Julian), success of such a book? It would have been sustainable technology (Aidan Davison), ideal if I could have given it a ‘test run’ in the relationship between global and local one of my classes. This was not practicable challenges (Elaine Stratford), citizenship, so instead I imagined a first-year university rights and responsibilities (Julie subject called something like ‘Environ- Davidson), and environmental movements ment and Society’ that surveyed a range of (Bruce Tranter). The third section focuses environmental issues and thereby offered on specific examples of social issues that an introduction to key areas of scholarship have an impact on the state of the environ- and their seminal texts. I asked myself, ment. The issues covered are news media ‘How suitable would this book be for such (Sharon Beder), agricultural production a subject?’ How accessible to first-year (Geoffrey Lawrence, Lynda Cheshire and students was the text and what would stu- Carol Ackroyd Richards), environmental dents learn from reading this book? I think health (Peter Curson and Lindie Clark), the book would be useful for a first-year social impact assessment (Frank Vanclay) subject of the kind I imagined. It would, and criminology and environmental harm however, need to be accompanied by addi- (Rob White). tional reading and lecture material that Each chapter follows the same format: it would help flesh out the topics, themes and begins with a brief introduction, discusses arguments. The discussion questions that the ‘background to issues’, the ‘key follow each chapter often do little more debates’, and examines ‘future directions’. than serve as a comprehension test of the This is followed by a list of ‘discussion chapter’s contents. Students would need to questions’, a ‘glossary of terms’ used in the be encouraged to address questions that chapter, and references. As a general obser- extend and challenge some of the state- vation I would say that those chapters con- ments and claims made in this book. The cerned with a specific issue or body of glossary of terms at the end of each chap- theory fulfil their purpose better than those ter, while necessary for the sake of brevity that attempt to survey a broad trend or more within the chapter, can convey a false general area of scholarly work. For instance, sense of closure to some terms that are in the chapters on news media, agricultural fact highly contested. The book could be a production, risk society and gender and eco- useful resource for lecturers and students feminism are well focused and achieve a engaged in teaching and learning about the 122 Historical Records of Australian Science, Volume 16 Number 1

conjunction between sociology and the with a well-designed treasures website, a environment, but it is necessarily partial in trail for visitors and a beautiful volume its coverage and certain authors are at simply entitled Treasures of the Museum. times partisan in their views, so as with all All this treasure hunting might be seen texts one would want to offer this one to as a sign of conservative pressure upon our students with various caveats. cultural institutions. Instead of seeking to enlarge their roles as places of research, Rosemary Robins Department of History and Philosophy of Science interpretation and debate, it seems safer to University of Melbourne fall back on familiar stereotypes of vaults and storehouses, keeping safe the nation’s heritage. Treasures are, by their nature, Museum Victoria: Treasures of the precious things — often protected by ‘lock Museum, Victoria, Australia. Museum and key’, ‘hidden’ from casual scrutiny. It Victoria: Melbourne, 2004. ix + 206 pp., is a label that promotes difference over illus., ISBN: 0957747152 (HB), $39.95. familiarity, a feeling of reverence and awe over our ability to engage and connect. On National Museum of Australia: Land the other hand, in an age of interactive Nation People: Stories from the National exhibits and virtual museums, it is rather Museum of Australia. National Museum of reassuring to realize that objects still Australia Press: Canberra, 2004. xii + provide such a potent source of meaning. 144 pp., illus., ISBN: 1876944099 (PB), Institutions trade on their treasures $24.95. because we crave the experience of authen- Australia is blessed, it seems, with a fright- ticity. We want the feeling of wonder, ening abundance of treasures. A quick recognition and surprise that only comes survey of our cultural institutions reveals from getting up close to the ‘real thing’. an escalating ‘treasures race’, as libraries, In any case, cultural ‘treasures’ can be museums and archives bombard the public identified in a nuanced and reflective way, with accounts of their rarest, most beauti- as Treasures of the Museum well demon- ful and most interesting items. The State strates. Some of the objects it describes are Library of Victoria, for example, has pub- beautiful, some are perplexing, some are lished a lavish description of its ‘treas- funny, some are horrifying. Seemingly ures’, and features them prominently on its commonplace items are revealed as redesigned website. The National Library amongst the most challenging and evoca- of Australia also has an online display of tive, such as the red vinyl suitcase with its most treasured holdings, hoping to which Cuc Lam fled Vietnam in 1978. That bring in sponsorship for a permanent most treasured of treasures, Phar Lap, is ‘treasures gallery’. Meanwhile, the ‘Treas- included of course. However, ‘the most ures Gallery’ at the National Archives of famous quadruped in Australia’ is intro- Australia is already up and running, while duced by a guest contributor, Phillip the South Australian Museum guides visi- Adams, whose recollection of his own tors around a ‘treasures trail’. The Austral- childhood fascination, of ‘nose prints on ian Museum recently presented their the glass case’, focuses attention not on the ‘treasures’ in a special exhibition, and even object but on our own experiences and the University of Melbourne has cata- memories. The majority of entries, illus- logued the highlights of its collections in a trated by a magnificent series of photo- glossy book of ‘treasures’. Celebrating its graphs, are by museum staff, and vary in 150th birthday, the Museum of Victoria quality and tone. Some are merely descrip- has made an impressive entry into the fray tive, others offer intriguing fragments of Review Section 123

larger stories. There is much pleasure and the themes are important, and like the interest to be gained from repeated dipping Treasures of the Museum, the book assem- and browsing. bles an intriguing collection of objects and Whilst no doubt wishing to claim its illustrations. Indeed, despite the possible own share of treasures, the National tension between ‘treasures’ and ‘stories’, Museum of Australia chooses to cast itself there is much in the two books that is not as a repository, but as a ‘storyteller’. similar. The organization of Treasures of Seeking to interpret the ‘national story’ is the Museum also reflects the institution’s a brave undertaking, as evidenced by the current structure, with the treasures divided criticism that has dogged the museum into their respective collection areas of since its opening. Land Nation People: ‘Australian Society and Technology’, Stories from the National Museum of Aus- ‘Indigenous Cultures’ and ‘Sciences’. This tralia is a determined restatement of the is uninspired and unfortunate: Weary museum’s commitment ‘to telling the Dunlop’s medical instruments, for stories of Australia and Australians, and example, are uncomfortably tacked on to debating the key issues, events and people the end of ‘Sciences’, while the anthropo- that have shaped and influenced our logical collections of Baldwin Spencer and nation’. The book provides a condensed Donald Thompson, featured in ‘Indigenous version of the museum itself, presenting cultures’, are separated from their collec- major themes and selected objects from tors who are locked up in the ‘Sciences’ each of its exhibition areas: ‘First Austra- section. If you are going to take a ‘treas- lians’, ‘Horizons’, ‘Nation’ and ‘Tangled ures’ approach, why impose disciplinary destinies’. With the exhibitions set to boundaries at all? The companion website change in response to a review foisted on offers an alternative structure, grouping the museum by its critics, the book is an objects under such headings as ‘Celebrity’, interesting historical document in itself. ‘Messages’, ‘Journeys’ and ‘Survivors’. While the Museum of Victoria celebrates More importantly, of course, both its long and illustrious past, the National books are concerned with the relationship Museum of Australia seeks to record the between object and story. ‘Museum ambitions and achievements of its first few, objects’, remarks the Museum of Victoria’s turbulent years. CEO, ‘are like comets travelling through By unashamedly drawing attention to time and space, trailing streams of mean- the process and practice of storytelling, the ings’. Both books seek ways of making National Museum challenges curators, these meanings visible, and in doing so historians and visitors to face up to the they reveal connections, contrasts and difficulties of narrative. With conservative queries. This process is more explicit in commentators calling for the reinstitution Land Nation People, but Treasures of the of grand narratives of Australia’s progress Museum traverses much the same thematic all the way from Cook to cricket, there territory, relying on assemblage instead of needs to be greater acceptance that the argument to explore the broader signifi- crafting of engaging and insightful stories cance of its objects. The experience of from the complexities and contradictions immigration and arrival feature promi- of the past is hard, skilled and creative nently in both, as does the complexity of work. There are no easy answers. indigenous culture. Both also seek to docu- That said, there is nothing particularly ment ways in which we have come to know innovative about the storytelling in Land and understand the continent. Nation People. The stories are colourful The ‘Tangled Destinies’ section of Land and interesting, though rarely surprising, Nation People is most obviously concerned 124 Historical Records of Australian Science, Volume 16 Number 1

with the interaction of people and environ- the institution. However, featured promi- ment, but examples of change and adapta- nently amongst its ‘treasures’ are not just tion are spread across both volumes. One collections of birds, insects, minerals and has the story of William Farrer and his fossils, but the people who assembled ‘Federation’ wheat, the other counters with them. John Gould, Alfred Russel Wallace, the stump-jump plough. The sophistication William Blandowski, and even Charles of Indigenous technology, and the ability of Darwin, make appearances. These impor- Indigenous people to adapt to environ- tant inclusions emphasize the process of mental change are well demonstrated. Both collecting, the way in which scientific books feature a display of ‘Kimberley knowledge is constructed. Although most points’ — spearheads crafted not just from of the national science collections went traditional materials, but also from elsewhere, the National Museum effec- ceramics and glass. tively uses the stories of Harry Burrell and Gesturing towards the inventive streak Colin Mackenzie to similar ends. The lives within the Australian character, Land and works of such individuals offer insight Nation People introduces two of the best not just into the development of biology, known — and perhaps most overrated — but into the passion for collecting, under- Australian inventions under the banner of standing and knowing that motivates ‘Nation’. Yes, where would we be without science in general. the Victa mower and the Hills hoist? While it is perhaps the historical and Treasures of the Museum takes us into less aesthetic dimensions of the scientific familiar realms with the black box flight collections that make them appealing, their recorder and the Shephard micro-ruling continuing role in research is vitally impor- engine, which, in the late-nineteenth tant. Treasures of the Museum notes the century, pushed the limits of precision scientific significance of type specimens measurement. Technologies of measure- within its collections, as well as the ment and control appear in a variety of ongoing work of its staff to develop a guises, reflecting the desire of European cryogenic collection of tissue samples from settlers to define the limits and boundaries rare and threatened species. Such a of their new possession. Artefacts from the reminder that the collections themselves geodetic survey of Victoria can be con- are living, growing things offers further trasted with the Anton Breinl’s hot-air complexity to the idea of ‘treasures’. cabinet, used to study the effects of the Strangely, while the National Museum tropical climate on white workers — both describes work to conserve and develop the speak to questions of possession and legiti- National Historical Collection, there is macy. The clock used to maintain standard little mention of its other research activities time throughout Victoria has little in in environmental and Indigenous history. common with the field trowel used by Surely these too are stories worth telling? archaeologist John Mulvaney. But both This omission adds to the rather static sought to redefine our conception of time: feeling of Land Nation and People. As a one brought local timekeeping practices snapshot of the museum, complete with within a centralized system, the other obligatory corporate guff about its cutting- helped locate the human occupation of Aus- edge multimedia technology and innova- tralia within the immense span of deep time. tive architecture, the book seems to be The natural sciences, of course, domi- more of a record of a visit — a reminder or nate the scientific collections of the a souvenir — rather than something to be Museum of Victoria, reflecting both the explored and enjoyed for its own sake. nature of the disciplines and the history of Treasures of the Museum, on the other Review Section 125

hand, offers the twin pleasures of familiar- archivist in any Australian University ity and surprise. Museum-tragics like archive, but the material he and others have myself, who spent happy days wandering catalogued and conserved covers not fifty, amongst the old Swanston Street exhibi- but 150 years. The formal collecting of tions, will discover many favourites amidst archives started in 1913, staffed by honor- the ‘treasures’. One of the goldfield ary archivists, including Maude Yeomans models is included, as well as the wax Fitzhardinge, Australia’s first woman fruits and the working models case. At the archivist. During this period, many photo- same time, you have the sense that you are graphs and other records were kept and peeking behind the scenes, gaining access preserved in addition to official University to wonders rarely seen in public. of Sydney material, including personal The National Museum is committed to materials of some of the University’s dis- telling a diverse range of stories, but this tinguished professors. On the Record is worthy aim does not seem well-served by curated by the University of Sydney archi- Land Nation People. The attempt to down- vists, and Macleay Museum curator, Julian size the exhibitions for book consumption Holland, and showcases a good deal of has taken away any feeling of exploration material of interest to historians of science. or uncertainty — it all seems a little too Harold Cazneaux is a famous photo- controlled. It is precisely this feeling of grapher of Sydney and his splendid 1927 exploration that makes Treasures of the photographs of the University of Sydney Museum so much fun to dip into. There’s — an anatomy class in action and a view of more space here to imagine, wonder and the Physics building — open the display. connect. There is much left unsaid, many Physics features prominently in the exhibi- questions unanswered, and the entries are tion, as Harry Messel, Professor of Physics frustratingly brief. But you are left with the from 1953–1987, in his own words went feeling that there is much more to know, ‘to a helluva lot of trouble’ to organize the many more stories to tell, many more department’s ‘foundation files, council treasures to be revealed. files, black files’ because he believed that ‘this is an institution that goes on forever’. Tim Sherratt History Program, Research School of In addition to the photographs and notes Social Sciences from the Physics departmental files, we Australian National University, Canberra can hear Messel’s charming Canadian cadences from a 1978 interview, supported by digital photographs of his energetic Exhibitions style on an audiovisual loop that also fea- tures zoologist, Elizabeth Pope, anthro- On the Record: 50 Years of the pologist A.P. Elkin and Sir Hermann David University of Sydney Archives. Black, an economist and Chancellor of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney University. There are clearly some great until 23 February 2005. finds to be had in the University of Sydney archives. The personal papers of The Curious Economist: William Stanley Edgeworth David, Professor of Geology Jevons in Sydney. and Antarctic explorer, include his illus- Powerhouse Museum, Sydney (permanent). trated field notebook from the 1908–1909 This exhibition of the University of trip to the South Magnetic Pole, and an Sydney Archives celebrates the anni- entertaining photograph album from his versary of the appointment of 1922 field trip to ‘the roof of Australia’, Mt David Macmillan as the first professional Kosciuszko. 126 Historical Records of Australian Science, Volume 16 Number 1

If you have missed this exhibition, it is needed for assaying gold were also of great still worthwhile visiting the Macleay value to him in the very new subject of Museum’s newly revamped permanent photography, in the 1850s a highly chemi- collections. They remain in traditional cal exercise. The exhibition is rich with his nineteenth century cabinets, but the dis- images of early Sydney. plays themselves have a fresh flavour, as Jevons was known for his development they have been recently renewed. There is a of the concept of ‘utility’ — the idea that single cabinet featuring 150 years of an object’s worth was not intrinsic, but science at the University as told through determined by the extent to which it might scientific instruments, including the rare be desired. He was also a mathematical Caldwell Microtome, invented by Richard logician and developed a ‘logic piano’, Threlfall and built by the Cambridge which anticipated the training devices used Instrument Company in 1884. Another in computer science by about a century. He cabinet features some of the collections of was a keen commentator on the social the 1894 Horn Expedition to Central Aus- structure of early Sydney, and there is a tralia. Colonial Sydney’s scientific institu- voice-over and interactive display inter- tions — the Royal Botanic Gardens, the preting a map of 1850s Sydney with his Australian Museum and the Macleay words. His love of careful measurement Museum — are juxtaposed in another and exact instruments also led him into cabinet, where Gerard Krefft’s famous meteorology. The cabinet featuring ‘Jevons lungfish is the centrepiece. Julian the meteorologist’ contains a reconstruc- Holland’s expertise, particularly with the tion of the cloud chamber he built in 1858 history of scientific instruments, is evident, in Sydney, to explain the patterns of and also his sharp eye for a good story to clouds. It also shows the map he drew in accompany them. 1859 of Australia and New Zealand Don’t miss the small exhibition on inverted over Europe, a graphic representa- polymath William Stanley Jevons in the tion of our ‘upside down’ climate. Jevons’ huge galleries of the Powerhouse Museum. time in Sydney was both productive and Beyond the large train in the main hall of varied. Typical of colonial scientists, he the fourth floor you find this little gem. turned his hands to many tasks, but he was Jevons lived in Sydney from 1854–1859, unusual in that he did all with such distinc- before returning to Britain to take up a tion. His precision training in chemistry distinguished career as a Political Econo- truly found many unlikely applications in mist, first at Manchester, and then in the colony. London. Trained originally as a chemist, he worked in the Sydney mint, the first Libby Robin Canberra outside Britain, at the time when the gold- rushes were at their peak and there was a For another project about the history of real risk that gold itself would become the meteorology in Australia see: currency of the realm. The careful skills he http://www.humanelements.info/

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