Robert Etheridge (23 May 1847 – 4 January 1920) was a British

palaeontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

who made important contributions to the

Australian Museum The Australian Museum, originally known as the Colonial Museum or Sydney Museum. is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney, William Street, Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, New South Wales. It is the oldest natural ...

.Australian Museum, 2015Walsh, 1981Serle, 1949

Biography

Etheridge was born in

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, the only son of the palaeontologist, Robert Etheridge and his wife Martha, ''née'' Smith. He was educated at the

Royal School of Mines The Royal School of Mines comprises the departments of Earth Science and Engineering, and Materials at Imperial College London. The Centre for Advanced Structural Ceramics and parts of the London Centre for Nanotechnology and Department of Bioe ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, under

Thomas Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist who specialized in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The stor ...

, and was trained as a

by his father. In 1866 Etheridge came to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, working under Alfred Richard Cecil Selwyn on the Victorian geological survey until it was terminated in 1869, and returned to England in 1871. Two years later he was appointed palaeontologist to the geological survey of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, and in 1874 obtained a position in the geology department in the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

at South Kensington. While there in co-operation with P. H. Carpenter he compiled a valuable Catalogue of the

Blastoidea Blastoids (class Blastoidea) are an extinct type of stemmed echinoderm, often referred to as sea buds. They first appear, along with many other echinoderm classes, in the Ordovician period, and reached their greatest diversity in the Mississi ...

. In 1878–1880 with H. Alleyne Nicholson, Etheridge published a ''Monograph of the Silurian Fossils of the Girvan District in Ayrshire''. Etheridge returned to Australia in 1887 and was given a dual position as palaeontologist to the geological survey of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and the

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. While in England he corresponded with his friend Dr Robert Logan Jack who had sent him many fossils from Queensland. From 1881 they worked together, and in 1892 there appeared ''The Geology and Palaeontology of Queensland and New Guinea'', by Robert L. Jack and Robert Etheridge, Junior, an elaborate work with many plates and maps. Etheridge founded ''The Records of the Geological Survey'', and published many papers on the fossils of the older strata. On 1 January 1895 Etheridge was appointed curator of the

, and in his hands the collection was much enriched and better displayed. He initiated the ''Records of the Australian Museum''. As he grew older he enlarged his interests to include

ethnology Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Sci ...

. He wrote much on the manners and customs of the

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...

and gathered together a remarkable collection of native work for his museum. He also extended the usefulness of the museum by having popular science lectures and demonstrations for visitors. He died suddenly of pneumonia on 4 January 1920. His wife predeceased him and he was survived by two sons. Robert Etheridge Jr. is noted for a transition in the study of Australia's vertebrate palaeontology. Prior to the works of Etheridge and fellow scientist Gerard Krefft fossil material was sent to experts overseas, but both these workers were confident they were capable of performing these analyses. Etheridge wrote a large number of scientific papers, around 350 were published. A list of his papers will be found in the ''Records of the Australian Museum'', vol. XV, pp. 5 to 27. He was awarded the Wollaston Fund by the

Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe, with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

in 1877, shared the 1895

Clarke Medal The Clarke Medal is awarded by the Royal Society of New South Wales, the oldest learned society in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere, for distinguished work in the Natural sciences. The medal is named in honour of the Reverend William Branwh ...

with Robert Logan Jack (awarded by the

Royal Society of New South Wales The Royal Society of New South Wales is a learned society based in Sydney, Australia. The Governor of New South Wales is the vice-regal patron of the Society. It is the oldest learned society in the Southern Hemisphere. The Society traces its ...

). Etheridge was also awarded the Mueller Medal by the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science in 1911.ANZAAS > Mueller Medal Recipients (1904-2005)
archive.is Retrieved 12 February 2025. Numerous species of animals, both fossil and recent, were named in his honour, and his name was also given to a goldfield in Queensland, a peak in the Kosciusko plateau, and a glacier in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

References

Sources

* * *G. P. Walsh,
Etheridge, Robert (1846-1920)
, ''

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

'', Vol. 8, MUP, 1981, pp 442-443. Retrieved on 12 October 2008

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Etheridge, Robert 1847 births 1920 deaths British palaeontologists English geologists People from Cheltenham