Wilson Roy Wheeler

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

FRAOU (1905–1988), commonly referred to as W. Roy Wheeler, was an Australian postman and professional

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 an active bird bander and was convener of the Altona Survey Group, later part of the

Victorian Ornithological Research Group The Victorian Ornithological Research Group (VORG) is a small project-focused ornithological group of amateurs and professionals based in Victoria, Australia. It was formed in 1962. It publishes a bulletin, ''VORG Notes''. The objectives of th ...

. In 1965 he was awarded the

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 ...

. He was a member of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU), President 1964–1965, and made a Fellow of the RAOU in 1971. He was also very active in the Bird Observers Club (BOCA), serving as President (1951–1954), Honorary Secretary (1954–1971) and Honorary Treasurer (1963–1971). In 2005 he was commemorated, on the occasion of BOCA's centenary, by the creation of a new award, the

W. Roy Wheeler Medallion {{nofootnotes, date=December 2019 The W. Roy Wheeler Medallion for excellence in field ornithology was created on the occasion of the centenary of the founding of Bird Observation & Conservation Australia (BOCA) to commemorate Roy Wheeler MBE, FRA ...

for Excellence in Field Ornithology. In 1979, he set the record for an Australian big year, with 545 species seen, breaking the record previously held by John McKean (535 species). Wheeler's record has since been bettered, in 1982 by Kevin Bartram (607 species), in 1989 by Mike Entwhistle (633 species), and then in 2002 by

Sean Dooley Sean Dooley is an Australian writer. He has written for TV comedies including '' Spicks and Specks''. His first published book was 2005's '' The Big Twitch'', an account of his attempt to break the Australian record for the number of birds see ...

, the current record holder (703 species).

Honours

* 1969 — awarded Member of the British Empire (MBE) for services to nature study and conservation in Victoria *1970 — elected a Fellow of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union

Publications

References

*Robin, Libby. (2001). ''The Flight of the Emu: a hundred years of Australian ornithology 1901–2001''. Carlton, Vic. Melbourne University Press. *Simpson, Ken; & Weston, Mike. (2005). W. Roy Wheeler Medallion. ''Bird Observer'' 836: 3. Australian ornithologists 1905 births 1988 deaths 20th-century Australian zoologists Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire {{Australia-ornithologist-stub