The Geological Society on the other side of the world

Abstract

Abstract From its earliest years the Geological Society of London attracted the attention of scientifically- and technically-minded men in Australia and New Zealand. Members ‘at home’ in Britain were also eager for geological information about the antipodes. The publications of the Society acted as a major source of information about the geology of these southern lands, from vertebrate palaeontology and modern glaciation at sea level to ancient glaciations and mineralization (particularly of gold). At least 360 members were active in Australasia in the nineteenth century. Strong antipodean Society membership continued through the twentieth century. What is noteworthy is the number of mining figures, of varying scientific competence, who boasted of their membership. There were significant contributions to the Society's journals on Australasian geology from the 1820s to the early 1900s. Many topographic features on the maps of both Australia and New Zealand are named for Members and Fellows of the Geological Society. The lists of elected and ‘would-be’ antipodean members include a few enigmatic examples of chicanery, fraud and disappearance.