[Editor: This article, about the Gould League of Bird Lovers, was published in The Mercury (Hobart, Tas.), 3 September 1910.]
Gould League of Bird Lovers.
A new society of an interesting and useful nature comes to us with the spring. It is intended that it shall do its work among the youth of the State, and thus the Education Department may have a great influence for good.
A certificate of Australian design will he offered to each boy, setting out that he agrees not to take birds’ eggs, and promises to discourage others from doing so, and further, that he will not destroy any of the useful birds of Tasmania. Such a certificate will cost one penny. There will be the moral as well as the economic outlook. If a blue-wren eats eighty grubs each day of the destructive chafer beetle, surely this is a sufficiently good brief for its further protection. If those useful tomtits, or acanthizæ are worth more than their weight in gold from an orchardist’s point of view, will the son not protect his father’s interests? We are just beginning to learn that the native birds are of infinitely greater value to graziers and agriculturists than was ever thought possible.
The society will be known as the Gould League, in memory of that great ornithologist, John Gould, who spent many months in Tasmania, and several years in Australia, and who did such wonderful work, assisted by his wife, in describing and painting the birds of our country.
The Gould League of Bird Lovers of Victoria was the first to start in Australia. In that state, alone, there are, approximately, 30,000 members. Tasmania is following suit. Other States will come later. In South Australia there are 100 clubs for the protection and observation of birds under the control of the Education Department.
In this day of bird sanctuaries, anti-plumage societies, and the better protection of insect-eating birds, we trust the movement will grow throughout the Commonwealth.
In Tasmania His Excellency the Governor is first patron, supported by the Hon. the Premier, the Chief Secretary, the Minister of Education, the Director of Education, the Curator of the Tasmanian Museum as president, the vice-chairman of the Field Naturalists’ Club and the Curator of the Launceston Museum as vice-presidents, while the hon. secretary of the Bird Observers’ Club of Tasmania, and the secretary of the Australian Ornithologists’ Union were among the committee. The principal of the Training College, Hobart, is the hon. secretary.
The October number of the State School Paper in several States will be entirely devoted to articles dealing with the native birds of Australia and Tasmania.
In Victorian schools a day in October has been devoted to talks on bird life, which day is known as “bird day,” following as it does on arbor day. In South Australia it is proposed to set aside one day, to be known as “bird and arbor day.”
Source:
The Mercury (Hobart, Tas.), 3 September 1910, p. 2
Also published in:
The Daily Telegraph (Launceston, Tas.), 3 September 1910, p. 6, column 6
The Examiner (Launceston, Tas.), 3 September 1910, p. 6, column 7
Editor’s notes:
Commonwealth = the Commonwealth of Australia; the Australian nation, federated on 1 January 1901
Gould League of Bird Lovers = an organisation founded in Victoria, in 1909, with the aim of protecting Australian native birds, to stop the collecting of their eggs, to create bird sanctuaries, and to develop people’s interest in, and knowledge of, native birds; branches were subsequently founded in other Australian states; the organisation was named after John Gould (1804-1881), the renowned ornithologist; the organisation’s name was shortened in 1967 to the Gould League, to reflect the widening of its focus to include other environmental issues
See: 1) “Gould League history”, Gould League
2) “Gould League of Bird Lovers of New South Wales membership”, NSW Schoolhouse Museum of Public Education
3) “Gould League of Bird Lovers”, Museums & Galleries of NSW (NSW Government), 19 August 2016
4) “Gould League”, Wikipedia [includes a high-definition copy of a Gould League of Bird Lovers of Victoria certificate]
See also: “[search results for “Gould League of Bird Lovers”]”, Victorian Collections [results show various items, including several membership certificates for the Gould League of Bird Lovers]
hon. = an abbreviation of “honorary” (in a parliamentary or political context, it is used as an abbreviation of the term “honourable” which is used as a style to refer to government ministers, or as a courtesy to members of parliament)
Hon. = an abbreviation of “honourable”, especially used as a style to refer to government ministers, or as a courtesy to members of parliament (as a style, it is commonly capitalised, e.g. “the Hon. Member”)
John Gould = (1804-1881), ornithologist; he was born in Lyme Regis (Dorset, England) in 1804, spent over a year and a half in Australia (September 1838 to April 1840) studying birds and mammals, and died in London in 1881; based upon his time spent in Australia, he published two multi-volume sets of books, The Birds of Australia (1840-1848) and The Mammals of Australia (1849-1861), both of which were critically acclaimed
See: 1) A. H. Chisholm, “Gould, John (1804–1881)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography
2) “John Gould”, Wikipedia
[Editor: Changed “College, Hobart” to “College, Hobart,” (inserted a comma); “of Australian and Tasmania” to “of Australia and Tasmania”.]
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