Herbert Thomas Condon (27 February 1912 – 12 January 1978) was an Australian museum

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

and

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 ...

. He was born 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 ...

and attended the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

. In 1929, Condon joined the scientific staff of the

South Australian Museum The South Australian Museum is a natural history museum and research institution in Adelaide, South Australia, founded in 1856 and owned by the Government of South Australia. It occupies a complex of buildings on North Terrace in the cultu ...

; he was promoted to Assistant in Zoology in 1935, and became Curator of

Birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

and

Reptiles Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the Class (biology), class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsid, sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, Squamata, squamates (lizar ...

in 1938. He kept this position for the decades through to 1976, broken only by a period of war service with the

RAAF "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

. Condon was Honorary Secretary of the

South Australian Ornithological Association The South Australian Ornithological Association (SAOA), also known as Birds SA, is an Australian birding organisation based in Adelaide, South Australia. The SAOA publishes a journal, the ''South Australian Ornithologist'' as well as the ''Birds ...

(SAOA) from 1938 to 1942, and was later editor of its journal, the ''

South Australian Ornithologist The ''South Australian Ornithologist'' is the scientific journal of the South Australian Ornithological Association (also known as Birds SA). The journal was first published in 1914 and is usually issued twice a year to members of the associatio ...

'' from 1953 to 1964. He was also a member of 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), serving as its President from 1961 to 1962; in addition, he was made a Fellow of the RAOU in 1973 and was Convener of the RAOU Checklist Committee for many years. Apart from numerous published papers in journals, works he authored or coauthored include: * Condon, H.T. (1949). ''Field Guide to the Hawks of Australia''. Bird Observers Club: Melbourne. (Several editions). * Condon, H.T.; & McGill, A.R. (1952). ''Field Guide to the Waders''. Bird Observers Club: Melbourne. (Several editions). * Condon, H.T. (1962). ''A Handlist of the Birds of South Australia, with Annotations''. ''(SA Ornithologist Vol.23, Parts 6–8)''. SAOA: Adelaide. * Condon, H.T. (1968). ''A Handlist of the Birds of South Australia''. SAOA: Adelaide. * Condon, H.T. (1975). ''Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1: Non-Passerines''. RAOU: Melbourne.

References

* Anon. (1973). RAOU Fellow: Citation. Herbert Thomas Condon. ''

Emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus ''Dromaius''. The emu' ...

'' 73: 197. * * Hitchcock, W.B. (1978). Obituary. Herbert Thomas Condon. ''

'' 78: 237–238. * Australian ornithologists University of Adelaide alumni 1912 births 1978 deaths 20th-century Australian zoologists {{Australia-ornithologist-stub