This post is part of BHL at 20: Treasures from the Biodiversity Heritage Library, a series contributed by members of the BHL community, highlighting remarkable works from across the collection in celebration of its 20th anniversary.

In 1849, the first volume of the Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen’s Land launched a tradition of advancing knowledge that continues to this day. Established in 1843, the Society is Australia’s oldest Royal Society, and for more than 180 years its prestigious journal of scientific and cultural history has captured the changing face of Tasmania, initially called Van Diemen’s Land by British colonists.

Cover of the first volume of the Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen’s Land, 1849.

Window to colonial Tasmania

Volume One, published in three parts from 1849 to 1851, is a weighty mix of scientific papers, meeting reports and miscellaneous records. It sets the scene with a detailed analysis of the colony’s diverse population and weather, extending to nearly fifty pages of charts, tables and data. Papers on new building techniques, coal exploration, agriculture and manufacturing provide a fascinating snapshot of colonial enterprise as settlers sought to understand this new land and what it had to offer. In the natural sciences, contributions from a veritable ‘Who’s Who’, including John Edward Gray, John Gould and Frederick M’Coy, helped unravel the mysteries of ancient fossils and remarkable living creatures such as the platypus.

Plate XI from Frederick McCoy’s paper on fossil zoology and botany, V.1, Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen’s Land, 1849.

These early volumes document many of the human-driven changes that typically occur when new lands are seized and colonized. They also contain an invaluable timeline of just how quickly Tasmania’s Indigenous-managed landscape would change and it is the seemingly incidental reports presented at Society meetings that offer the richest insights.

In 1849, Mr Hull described a gigantic blue gum about six miles from Hobart Town, measuring 28 yards (25.6 metres) in circumference and estimated to be 330 feet (100.5 metres) high. Mr Champ donated a small spotted fish preserved in spirits that appeared to possess four legs with finger-like appendages, and Mr Milligan reported that two live thylacines sent to London the previous year had now arrived safely.

Specimens of the fungus known as ‘native bread‘ (Mylitta sp.), eaten by Tasmanian Aboriginal people, were presented for examination, with notes that, when grated and made into a pudding with milk, they were ‘very palatable’. A sample of white resin from the Oyster Bay pine was described as coming from a tree with an extremely restricted distribution, yet one highly suitable for local building and carpentry purposes. Today, the South Esk Pine Nature Reserve protects one of the few remaining stands of this endangered species.

Another insightful paper is by renowned naturalist Ronald Campbell Gunn, who explains how the ‘flying squirrel’ (the sugar glider) became naturalised in Tasmania after first being imported as a pet during the 1830s, quickly escaping and then establishing in the wild. Few at the time could have imagined that this pocket-sized pet would one day threaten Tasmania’s endangered swift parrot by preying on nesting females, eggs and chicks.

Perhaps read with the keenest interest was Captain Charles Stanley’s paper on the practicalities of introducing trout into Tasmania’s waterways. When live fish ova were eventually transported to the Salmon Ponds at New Norfolk and later released, Tasmania’s river systems would forever contain an introduced predator.

Beyond the science

Beyond the scientific papers, early journals also recorded the Society’s own activities: its office-bearers, donations, acquisitions and financial accounts — the administrative details most of us tend to ignore. Yet these records reveal the people who helped shape nineteenth-century Tasmania. The Society’s office-bearers were among the colony’s most influential figures, and meetings regularly attracted generous donations of books, artworks, natural and geological specimens, artefacts and more.

These gifts formed the foundation of collections that are today internationally recognised and housed in the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, and the Royal Society of Tasmania’s own Art and Library Collections. The journal documents not only the birth of these important institutions but also the determination, debate and politics involved in establishing them.

Within forty years of British settlement, Van Diemen’s Land was no longer merely a colonial outpost at the edge of the world. It had grown into an increasingly connected, resourceful and enterprising community pursuing scientific knowledge, economic opportunity and civic benefit. The Papers and Proceedings chronicle that remarkable transformation.

However, journals produced by colonial administrators inevitably reflect privilege and European perspectives and overlook Indigenous voices and other harsh injustices. It is often what is absent from the record, or now challenges contemporary values, that makes these volumes so compelling yet at times uncomfortable, to read.

Illustrations of Lerp and Psyllids associated with eucalypts, from Dobson’s paper, V.1, Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Van Diemen’s Land, 1849.

Where to now?

Today’s Papers and Proceedings continue to focus on Tasmanian and Antarctic natural science but also encourage broader social and cultural themes. Recent volumes have contributed to truth-telling and historical accountability, including the publication of the Royal Society of Tasmania’s joint Apology to Tasmanian Aboriginal people in 2021 and papers arising from the Society’s annual Tasmanian Aboriginal Lecture.

Through the amazing Biodiversity Heritage Library’s open-access repository, researchers can apply computational tools to journals spanning more than 175 years, unlocking hidden insights that manual reading can miss. The complete digitised collection of thePapers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania is freely available through BHL.

In an era increasingly dominated by artificial intelligence and social media, this journal remains as relevant as ever and is one of the Royal Society of Tasmania’s greatest legacies. More than simply words on a page, the Papers and Proceedings is a window into the environments, cultures and politics that continue to shape this unique island.

From the Biodiversity Heritage Library

For 20 years, BHL has made journals such as the Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania freely accessible to researchers and readers around the world. With your support, we can continue preserving these irreplaceable records for generations to come.