Robotic exploration beneath the ice : the challenges, risks and rewards of deploying an autonomous underwater vehicle in Antarctica

Measurements beneath Antarctic ice shelves are critical to our understanding of how the glaciers will change and melt. To access these regions, we rely on autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV), which are free-swimming robots. The Australian Maritime College in Launceston, Tasmania, is leading efforts to deploy these vehicles in some of the harshest environments on Earth. This paper provides an overview of the history and recent Australian efforts in deploying AUVs in under-ice environments and discusses recent advances in mission planning and the ongoing challenges to take measurements from beneath ice shelves

The Report to inform an Apology to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Community by the Royal Society of Tasmania

This paper contains information regarding Aboriginal Ancestral remains that may cause sadness, anger and distress to some people. This information is being shared in the spirit of truth-telling and with the understanding that with knowledge comes obligations. We ask that you treat the information in this paper with dignity and respect to Aboriginal Community members and their wishes about how these stories should be shared. In 2017, the Royal Society of Tasmania (the Society) commissioned a report to inform an apology to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Community. Pakana woman and museum curator Zoe Rimmer and British-born historian Rebe Taylor co-researched and wrote the Report by early 2018. The Report detailed mistreatment of Tasmanian Aboriginal Ancestral remains and mistreatment and misrepresentation of Tasmanian Aboriginal culture and people. The Society presented its Apology in February 2021 at an event at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG). The Society’s Apology was preceded by a Preamble by Tasmania’s Governor and was followed by a ‘paired’ Apology by TMAG. This paper includes all the findings and recommendations included in the original report and differs only in its formatting, style, and some very minor editing.

Channel to the Strait : the geological history of the Tamar Valley–Launceston area

The Tamar Valley occupies the Tamar Graben, a geological structure defined by a series of parallel NW-trending faults which have lowered the dolerite basement to below sea level. The resulting narrow trough, some 50 km long and 5 km wide, has been partially infilled with soft sands, clays and gravels, with intercalated basalt flows in places, of mainly Paleogene (lower Tertiary) age. Low hills of hard Jurassic dolerite define the structure on either side. The graben was formed during the break-up of Gondwana, the separation of Australia from Antarctica, and the making of Tasmania, in the Cretaceous-early Cenozoic period, some 70–140 million years ago (Ma). A spreading ridge had propagated eastwards through the Great Australian Bight but was unable to break through the Bass Strait area, and instead a large wedge of crust containing the future Tasmania was pulled away from the corner of Antarctica on a series of transcurrent faults. The associated crustal stretching in the Bass Strait area resulted in the formation of the deep ‘hole’ of Bass Basin, which had offshoots onto what became Tasmania, including the Tamar Graben. For much of its life, the Tamar River was a major feeder stream into the Bass Basin, carrying large volumes of sediment eroded from the Tasmanian highlands. The course of its major tributary, the South Esk River, within the southern part of the graben was completely blocked by basalt flows near the present Evandale about 35 Ma, forcing it into a new course to the west through the dolerite, to form the Cataract Gorge

Short note : Torres Strait to Tasmania: nationally significant butterfly collection housed at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston

In 2019 the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston received a donation of one of Australia’s largest and most significant private butterfly collections. The Lambkin-Knight collection, containing around 12,000 Australian including Tasmanian specimens, provides an invaluable reference point for butterfly identification, distribution and climate-change related research and has already resulted in over 30 scientific publications

Short note : a brief history of the Central North Field Naturalists.

This paper provides a brief history of the Central North Field Naturalists since its foundation in 1987 as the Deloraine Field Naturalists and lists the many contributions this community group has made to improving nature conservation and education in Tasmania

Van Diemen’s Land and the Great Exhibition of 1851

Imperial authorities questioned whether so distant Van Diemen’s Land could participate in the ‘Great Exhibition’ to be held at London’s Crystal Palace in 1851, but as it transpired, the locals made a notable showing. Aspiring to display the positives of ‘his’ colony, Lieutenant-Governor Sir William Denison was the driving force behind this participation, with Joseph Milligan his chief aide and members of the local Royal Society notably assisting. The range and types of exhibits were remarkable and fascinating. Contributions came from various local quarters, one of interest being an ex-convict with whom Denison had some political liaison, whereas, conversely, Denison’s critics tended to abstain from involvement. Women played a role in contributing exhibition pieces, as did Aboriginal Tasmanians – Milligan no doubt crucial in orchestrating this. Denison was especially concerned to display Tasmanian timber, and other primary produce, but the thrust of the Exhibition was to celebrate human skills, and the contributions of manufactured goods and superior hand-crafted items conformed to that pattern. The world saw exhibits bespeaking an active, achieving society, and although the Vandiemonian contribution won modest notice in the British press, locals gained a share of the many awards granted to exhibitors. Not that the whole story was triumphant – some jealousies resulted and its difficulties and tensions also told of time and plac

Combined index to the UTAS Library Special & Rare Deposits Collection

Combined index to the UTAS Library Special & Rare Deposits Collection. Includes Private deposits, University collection & Royal Society collectio

From iodine deficiency to excess : the Tasmanian thyrotoxicosis epidemic of the 1960s

Even though iodine deficiency in Tasmania had been known since the 1830s no full account of the thyrotoxicosis epidemic of 1966–67 has ever been recorded. This personal narrative tracks the history of this epidemic in Tasmania during the 1960s, when it first appeared as iodine deficiency, then as iodine excess, how it was formally recognised and the events leading to its eventual treatment. The addition of iodine into the diet of Tasmanians, initially in bread and then unwittingly through use of iodophors in the dairy industry, resulted in a sequence of events that required unravelling by medical practitioners new to the field but aided by experts from elsewhere. The Tasmanian thyrotoxicosis epidemic was, and continues to be, cited in the annals of the scientific literature as an important medical case study

Resurrection : the creation history of the Royal Society of Tasmania’s Northern Branch

The date 27 June 1921 holds special significance for those in the north dedicated to the advancement of knowledge as it marks the inaugural lecture of the newly formed Northern Branch of the Royal Society of Tasmania. Yet, as will be demonstrated, this organisation was not undergoing creation but a reincarnation from its earlier counterpart. Knowledge of the first Branch and its activities is poorly known other than it originally flourished then faded into obscurity. Nevertheless, this group of dedicated enthusiasts persisted and today hold a special place in the story of the development of scientific bodies in the north of Tasmania including the nineteenth-century movement towards the establishment of public museums. As with all progressive endeavours, there were pivotal figures who stood out for the part they played in shaping events. Their names can be found in the following discussion

Long-term monitoring of the threatened lesser guineaflower Hibbertia calycina (DC.) N.A.Wakef. (Dilleniaceae) in Tasmania

This paper describes the distribution of the threatened shrub Hibbertia calycina (DC.) N.A.Wakef., a distinctive plant restricted to northeast Tasmania. It compares changes over time in population size and evaluates the species response to disturbance. Results found H. calycina distribution is restricted to isolated clumps on highly insolated ridges and steep upper slopes of fine-grained Mathinna-series sedimentary rocks in dry sclerophyll forest dominated by Eucalyptus sieberi L.Johnson. Nine populations were documented with an estimated area of occupancy of 0.43 km2 and area of extent measuring 95 km2, demonstrating that the current listing of H. calycina as vulnerable is appropriate on Tasmania’s Threatened Species Protection Act 1995. We believe that the distribution of the present population is a result of natural factors (i.e., restricted habitat range and natural fire events) and anthropogenic factors (managed fire regime and illegal firewood cutting). Although frequent fire and roading have the potential to impact populations, H. calycina appears to be stable without active management in a landscape of patchy, regular, low severity fire. Our results indicate susceptibility to the soil-borne pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi is likely less problematic than previously postulated, yet more data and research is required before management is changed