Clive Dudley Thomas Minton, AM (7 October 1934 – 6 November 2019Katie Allen (2019
"Revolutionary in the study of wader birds"
'

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', 11 December 2019. Archived fro
original
on 11 December 2019.) was a British and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n metallurgist, administrator,

management consultant Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultants ...

and amateur

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

. His interest in birds began in childhood.

Early life

Born in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Minton attended

Oundle School Oundle School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire, England. The school has been governed by the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City ...

and went on to complete a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

degree in

Metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. Although involved in studies of various species of birds, his main focus became the migratory

wader 245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflat ...

s. He became the founding chairman of the Wash Wader Ringing Group and was associated with the development of cannon-netting, especially as a means of catching large numbers of waders for banding and

demographic Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as edu ...

studies.

Life in Australia

In 1978, Minton moved to

as managing director of Imperial Metal Industries Australia in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. There he revitalised wader studies through the introduction of cannon-netting to the Victorian Wader Study Group (VWSG), which became one of the most active banding groups in the world. He was also instrumental in the formation of the Australasian Wader Studies Group (AWSG) of which he was founding chair, as well as in the establishment of

Broome Bird Observatory The Broome Bird Observatory is an educational, scientific and recreational facility located 24 km from Broome in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It began operating in 1988 under the auspices of the non-profit organisation Birds Austr ...

. From the early 1980s, Minton led regular, almost annual, wader study expeditions to north-west Australia to catch and study the waders that migrate to and through the coastal strip between

Roebuck Bay Roebuck Bay is a bay on the coast of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Its entrance is bounded in the north by the town of Broome, and in the south by Bush Point and Sandy Point. It is named after , the ship captained by William ...

near Broome,

Eighty Mile Beach Eighty Mile Beach, also spelled Eighty-mile Beach or 80-mile Beach, lies along the north-west coast of Western Australia about half-way between the towns of Broome, Western Australia, Broome and Port Hedland, Western Australia, Port Hedland. I ...

and

Port Hedland A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

in the southern section of the

East Asian – Australasian Flyway East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

. These expeditions, along with data collected in south-eastern Australia by the VWSG, have led to major governmental conservation initiatives through the Flyway, including the

Japan Australia Migratory Bird Agreement Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

(JAMBA), the

China Australia Migratory Bird Agreement China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

(CAMBA) and the East Asian – Australasian Shorebird Site Network. He was also involved in several international wader study expeditions in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Minton served the

Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union The Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU), now part of BirdLife Australia, was Australia's largest non-government, non-profit, bird conservation organisation. It was founded in 1901 to promote the study and bird conservation, conservati ...

(RAOU) on its Research Committee from 1980–1988, and as vice-president from 1989–1995.

Awards and honours

* 1975 – awarded

Bernard Tucker Medal The Bernard Tucker Medal is awarded by the British Trust for Ornithology for services to ornithology. It is named in memory of Bernard Tucker, their first Secretary. It has been awarded since 1954, usually annually although there are some years ...

for services to ornithology * 1998 – elected a Fellow of the RAOU * 2000 – awarded John Hobbs Medal for outstanding contributions to ornithology as an amateur * 2001 – elected a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

for "services to ornithology, particularly in the study of migratory wading birds in Australia" * 2003 – awarded

Australian Natural History Medallion The Australian Natural History Medallion is awarded each year by the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (FNCV) to the person judged to have made the most meritorious contribution to the understanding of Australian Natural History. The idea origina ...

* 2012 – awarded

Eisenmann Medal The Eisenmann Medal is awarded by the Linnaean Society of New York (LSNY) in recognition of the recipient's ornithological excellence and encouragement of amateur efforts in ornithology and birding. The medal commemorates the ornithologist and pro ...

In 2003, British ornithologist Andrew Whittaker commemorated Minton in the species epithet of the

cryptic forest falcon The cryptic forest falcon (''Micrastur mintoni'') is a species of bird of prey in the family Falconidae. It is found in the south-eastern Amazon rainforest in Brazil and Bolivia. While uncommon in its Amazonian range, it remains widespread, a ...

(''Micrastur mintoni''). To honour Minton's role in the establishment of the

, the Clive Minton Discovery Centre opened its doors on the 20 August 2021 after four years of development. The centre displays information about migratory shorebirds, with immersive soundscapes, video footage, and up-to-date scientific information.

References

External links

Clive Minton Discovery Centre at the Broome Bird Observatory
* Jessop, Rosalind; Graham, Doris; Collins, Peter; & Davidson, Rosemary. (2000). John Hobbs Medal 2000: Citation. Clive Dudley Thomas Minton. ''Emu'' 100: 247. * Robin, Libby. (2001). ''The Flight of the Emu: a hundred years of Australian ornithology 1901-2001''. Carlton, Vic. Melbourne University Press. * Wettenhall, H. Norman. (1998). RAOU Fellow: Citation. Clive Minton MA, PhD. ''Emu'' 98: 241. {{DEFAULTSORT:Minton, Clive Dudley Thomas 1934 births 2019 deaths Australian ornithologists British ornithologists Members of the Order of Australia British emigrants to Australia Australian management consultants Alumni of the University of Cambridge People educated at Oundle School

Early life

Life in Australia

Awards and honours

See also

References

External links