PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF VICTORIA VOLUME 117 NUMBER 2 31 DECEMBER 2005 ROYAL SOCIETY’S HALL 9 VICTORIA STREET MELBOURNE VICTORIA 3000 AUSTRALIA ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF VICTORIA The Publications of the Royal Society of Victoria and of the Societies amalgamated with it Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science Transactions and Proceedings, Vol 1, 1854/55. Philosophical Society of Victoria Transactions, Vol. 1, 1854/55. These two Societies then amalgamated and became— Philosophical Institute of Victoria Transactions, Vol. 1-4, 1854/56-1859. The Society then became— Royal Society of Victoria Transactions and Proceedings (Vol. 5, entitled Transactions), Vol. 5-24, 1860-1887. Transactions, Vol. 1,2, 3 (Pt 1 only was published), 4, 5 (Pt 1 only), 6, 1888-1914. Proceedings (New Scries), Vol. 1-82, 1888-1969. Proceedings, Vol. 83 ... 1969 ... (‘New Series' deleted front Title Page) Microscopical Society of Victoria Journal (Vol. 1, Pt 1, entitled Quarterly Journal), Vol. I (Pt 1 to 4), 2 (Pt 1), title page and index [all published], 1879-82. [The society then combined with the Royal Society of Victoria] Note-Most of the volumes published before 1R90 are out ofprint. Vol. 46, Part 2, contains an author index of the Royal Society of Victoria and of the Societies amalgamated with it from 1855-1934. Vol. 73 contains an author index of the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, Vol. 47 (1934/5)-70 (1958). Vol. 84, part 2, contains an author index of the Rroceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, Vol. 71 (1959)-84 (1971). Vol, 99, Part 4, contains an author index of the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, Vol. 85 (1972)- 98 (1986). Vol. 113, Number 1, contains an author index of the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, Vol. 99 (1987)- 112 (2000). Many of the above volumes are available for purchase. All orders should be sent to: The Executive Officer, Royal Society of Victoria, 9 Victoria Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia Tel: (03) 9663 5259 Fax: (03) 9663 2301 Email address: [email protected] PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF VICTORIA INCLUDING TRANSACTIONS OF MEETINGS Volume 117 NUMBER 2 ROYAL SOCIETY’S HALL 9 VICTORIA STREET, MELBOURNE, VICTORIA 3000 © Copyright — Royal Society of Victoria Incorporated, 2005 ISSN 0035-9211 CONTENTS OF VOLUME 117, NUMBER 2 PROCEEDINGS SECTION A: Papers from the Third International Symposium on the Silurian System: The Sir Frederick McMoy Symposium Gregory D. Edgecombe Introduction 149 Douglas McCann & Neil W. Archbold Frederick McCoy and the Silurian System 151 Carlton E. Brett & David C. Ray Sequence and event stratigraphy of Silurian strata of the Cincinnati Arch Region: correlations with New York-Ontario successions 175 James L. Valentine, Silicified Early Devonian (Emsian) Brachiopods from the Murrindal Limestone, Buchan, eastern Victoria 199 John A. Talent, Andrew J. Simpson, Peter D. Molloy, & Ruth Mawson Conodonts from the Wombat Creek Group and “Wibenduck” Limestone (Silurian) of eastern Victoria 265 SECTION B: Other Proceedings Nathalie S. Nagalingum, Andrew N. Drinnan & Stephen McLoughlin A new fossil conifer, Bellarinea richardsii, from the Early Cretaceous Strzelecki Group, southeastern Victoria 295 Neil W. Archbold, Gabriela A. Cisterna & A.F. Sterren Lingulida (Brachiopoda) from the early Permian of Argentina 307 Denis J. Carr Two new Bryophytes in Victoria 319 CORRIGENDA Corrigenda to Proceedings Volume 116 329 TRANSACTIONS Peter N. Joubert Some remarks on the Sydney-Hobart race (reprinted from Vol. 116(2) with corrigenda) ix Greg Mortimer Antarctic tourism — past, present and future xix Phillip Law The jubilee of the establishment of Mawson Station. xxv Adrian Wells Aliens in our waterways xxix Brian Sharp Local Government and Natural Resource Management xxxiii Mark Warne Supplementary notes on the subgenus Loxocythere (Novoloxocythere) Warne and some comparable ostracod taxa (includes corrigenda for Vol. 116(2)) xxxvii Nancy Millis Yvonne Aitken, AM, DAgr Sc, Fellow of Royal Society of Victoria: 17.10.1911 - 29.11.2004 xli Karina Kelly The new dark age of science: how independent thinkers are an endagered species. Address to The Royal Society of Victoria, 10 November 2005 xliii Susan Turner Elizabeth Arnold Ripper 1909-2004: early 20th century Victorian palaeontologist. In Memoriam xlix ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE TWELVE MONTHS ENDING 31ST DECEMBER 2005 lv EDITORIAL POLICY The RSV disseminates new scientific knowledge and encourages scientific debate through the medium of its international journal Proceedings of The Royal Society of Victoria. Each volume of the Proceedings may consist of two sections: The ‘Proceedings’ proper consists of peer reviewed contributions. Each contribution is reviewed by two reviewers and, in the cases of widely divergent reviewer opinions, a third reviewer may be con¬ sulted. The editor's decision, through the Editorial Committee, as to the acceptance or rejection of a submitted or reviewed contribution, is final. The ‘Transactions’ of the Society consists of unre¬ viewed items of scientific interest such as occa¬ sional addresses, articles of debate or discussion or other contributions deemed appropriate by the ed¬ itor and in the public’s interest. The responsibility of the content of such contributions rests solely with the author. The RSV invites contributions for the Proceedings from authors across the various disciplines of the phys¬ ical and natural sciences and on issues concerning technology and the applied sciences. Honorary Editor: Basil Walby Managing Editors: Montague Grover, Craig Robertson PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF VICTORIA Volume 117 NUMBER 2 SECTION A: Papers from the Third International Symposium on the Silurian System: The Sir Frederick McCoy Symposium Orange, New South Wales, July, 2000 v PAPERS FROM THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON THE SILURIAN SYSTEM: THE SIR FREDERICK MCCOY SYMPOSIUM INTRODUCTION THE THIRD International Symposium on the Sil¬ Carlton E. Brett and David C. Ray present a case urian System was held as part of the Palaeontology study in sequence and event stratigraphy for the Sil¬ Down Under congress in Orange, New South Wales. urian in North America that will serve as a model for The congress, organised by the Macquarie Univer¬ field-based sequence stratigraphic studies in other sity Centre for Ecostratigraphy and Palacobiology, parts of the world including Australia. Their paper was attended by 122 participants. A broad spectrum draws correlations between the well-exposed Llan¬ of research themes was explored in five symposia, dovery and Wenlock units in the Cincinnati Arch several of which have resulted in published collec¬ and coeval strata in the Appalachian Basin of New tions of papers (Talent & Mawson in Laurie, 2002). York and Ontario. Broad-scale regional correlations The Silurian Symposium paid tribute to Sir of sequences and their bounding surfaces, integrat¬ Frederick McCoy (c. 1823-1899), an illustrious nat¬ ing event beds and biostratigraphy, suggest that eu- ural historian, in recognition of his decisive role in static sea level controls the development of delimiting the Silurian and documenting its fossils. sequence boundaries over a broad geographic extent The present collection of papers was presented at the on the Laurentian craton. Symposium or explores relevant themes in Silurian- Frederick McCoy was highly regarded for his Devonian palaeontology. monographic taxonomic treatments of Australian McCoy's role in the great Cambrian-Silurian de¬ Palaeozoic fossils. James Valentine’s taxonomic bate of the 19th Century and his pioneering work in study of Early Devonian brachiopods from the recognising the Silurian in Australia are the focus of Buchan Group of eastern Victoria carries on this tra¬ a paper by Doug McCann and Neil Archbold. They dition (indeed, the first palaeontological work on the recount how McCoy’s palaeontological research in Buchan limestones was undertaken by McCoy him¬ Britain provided the breakthrough that allowed self). Valentine documents 35 species of brachio- Sedgwick’s Cambrian System to conclusively be pods from the Murrinda! Limestone, one of the distinguished from Murchison’s all-encompassing richest Devonian brachiopod faunas in eastern Aus¬ Silurian. As a professor at the University of Mel¬ tralia. The taxonomic composition of the silieified bourne and later as Director of the National Mu¬ Mumndal faunas is most similar to Emsian faunas seum of Victoria, McCoy made major strides in from the Taemas-Wee Jasper area of New South demonstrating that the geological time scale devel¬ Wales. oped in Europe was applicable in Australia and is, 1 am indebted to John A. Talent, who inspired indeed, a global phenomenon. our colleagues to contribute excellent papers for this The Silurian rocks of Victoria were scrutinised volume. by McCoy and his colleagues at the then newly- founded Geological Survey. The complex tectonic Gregory D. Edgecombe history of the Victorian Silurian succession remains a lively field of study. John A. Talent and coauthors Talent, J.A., & MAWSON, R. 2002. Preface. In present conodont faunas from carbonate units in the Palaeo Down Under Conference. Papers Silurian of eastern Victoria, and explore the chrono¬ from the conference held at Kinross- logical and tectonic implications of these new data. Walaroi School. Orange, New South Wales, The precise temporal framework provided by the July 2000, Laurie, J.R., ed, Association of conodonts contributes to resolving whether several