Stephen Marchant, AM (1912 – August 2003) was born in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, studied geology at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and worked in the oil exploration business in many countries, using the opportunities arising from his postings to study birdlife around the world. He wrote classic papers on the birds of the Red Sea, Nigeria, the Gold Coast, Indonesia, Borneo, Ecuador and Iraq. In 1963 he migrated to Australia where he joined the Bureau of Mineral Resources in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

Biography

Marchant was born in Weston-under-Lizard, a village in the English county of Staffordshire.Davies, Stephen. (2004)
Obituary: Stephen Marchant, 1912-2003
'' Emu'' 104: 89-90. In Australia, Marchant was immediately involved in organised ornithology through the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU) where he was a strong force for what he perceived to be necessary reform. Here he was instrumental in founding the ACT Group of the RAOU, which later became the Canberra Ornithologists Group (COG). He also initiated the RAOU Nest Record Scheme and was a founding member of the RAOU Field Investigations Committee. As part of a reformist makeover of the RAOU, in order to strengthen its scientific rigor and ornithological credibility, in 1968 he became Editor of the RAOU's journal the '' Emu'', which he transformed into an internationally respected scientific journal. Following a 12-year stint as ''Emu'' Editor, he turned his attention to a new project, a comprehensive handbook of Australian birds, an endeavour which expanded in scope to become the '' Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds'' (HANZAB) of which he was the editor-in-chief of the first two volumes. For most of his later years from 1975, he lived at Moruya in the

Eurobodalla Shire Eurobodalla Shire is a Local government in Australia, local government area located in the South Coast (New South Wales), South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire is located in a largely mountainous coastal region and situated ...

of the NSW South Coast. Here, he continued to be active in natural history, helping found the Eurobodalla Natural History Society in 1986, serving as its President as well as editor of its journal '' Nature in Eurobodalla''. Stephen Marchant's earlier ornithological work resulted in the award of the

British Ornithologists' Union The British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) aims to encourage the study of birds ("ornithology") and around the world, in order to understand their biology and to aid their conservation. The BOU was founded in 1858 by Professor Alfred Newton, Henry ...

Medal in 1971 and, later, his election as a Corresponding Fellow of the

American Ornithologists' Union The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

. Appreciation for his service to the RAOU led to him being elected a Fellow of the RAOU in 1975. His contribution to Australian ornithology was recognised by his being made an Honorary Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1994, and by being awarded the RAOU's John Hobbs Medal in 1997. Marchant died in August 2003, at a nursing home between the New South Wales towns of Moruya and

Narooma Narooma is a town in the Australian state of New South Wales on the far south coast. The town is on the Princes Highway, which crosses the Wagonga Inlet to North Narooma. The heritage town of Central Tilba is nearby to the south. The name Naro ...

References

*Anon. (1975). RAOU Fellow: Citation. Stephen Marchant. '' Emu'' 75: 244. *Davies, Stephen. (2004). Obituary. Stephen Marchant, 1912–2003. '' Emu'' 104: 89–90. *Higgins, Peter. (1994). RAOU People. Stephen Marchant. '' Wingspan'' 16: 6–7. *Robin, Libby. (2001). ''The Flight of the Emu: a hundred years of Australian ornithology 1901-2001''. Carlton, Vic. Melbourne University Press. {{DEFAULTSORT:Marchant, Stephen 1912 births 2003 deaths Australian ornithologists Honorary Members of the Order of Australia 20th-century British zoologists 20th-century Australian zoologists

Biography

See also

References