Biographical entry Andrews, Ernest Clayton (1870 - 1948)

Summary

Ernest Andrews was Government Geologist, New South Wales 1920-1931 and published two major works on Australian geology entitled "Broken Hill District" (1922) and "Mineral Industry of New South Wales" (1928). He also had an interest in the geological distribution of Australian flora and wrote extensively on the subject, including The Geologic History of the Australian Flowering Plants (1916) and Origin of Pacific Insular Floras (1939). He was a close friend of botanist J.H. Maiden who honoured him in 1904 with the naming of Eucalyptus andrewsii.

Details

Born Sydney, 18 October 1870. Died Sydney, 1 July 1948. Educated University of Sydney (BA 1894). Teacher, Bathurst 1895-98, collected coral reef material and data for Harvard University Museum of Comparative Zoology in Fiji and Tonga 1898, Geological Survey Branch, New South Wales Department of Mines and Agriculture 1899-1930, Government Geologist of New South Wales 1920-30. President, Royal Society of New South Wales 1921, president, Linnean Society of New South Wales 1937, acting president, 1928-30 and president, 1930-32, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, chairman, Australian branch, International Oceanographic Committee of the Pacific; President, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 1929. Australian delegate, second Empire Mining and Metallurgical Congress 1927, leader of Australian delegation to the Pacific Science Congress 1929, 1933, 1939. David Syme prize and medal, University of Melbourne 1915, W.B. Clarke medal, Royal Society of New South Wales 1928, Lyell medal, Geological Society, London 1931, Clarke Memorial Lecture, Royal Society of New South Wales 1942, Mueller medal, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science 1946, honorary fellow, Royal Society of New Zealand.

Events

1894

Education - Bachelor of Arts in Geology (BA) completed at the University of Sydney

1895 - 1898

Career position - Teacher at Bathurst, New South Wales

1898

Career position - Collected coral reef material and data in Fiji and Tonga for the Harvard University Museum of Comparative Zoology

1899 - 1930

Career position - Geologist with the Geological Survey Branch of the New South Wales Department of Mines and Agriculture

1904

Taxonomy event - J.H. Maiden named the Eucalyptus andrewsii

1904

Taxonomy event - Eucalyptus deanei Maiden (1904), of which collected the type, was described.

1915

Award - David Syme Medal received from the University of Melbourne

1920 - 1930

Career position - Government Geologist in New South Wales

1921

Career position - President of the Royal Society of New South Wales

1922

Career position - Broken Hill District published

1927

Career position - President of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

1928

Career position - Mineral Industry of New South Wales published

1928 - 1932

Career position - Acting President (2 years) then President of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS)

1929

Career position - Head of the Australian delegations to the Pacific Science Congresses in 1929, 1933 & 1939

1931

Award - Lyell Medal received from the Geological Society of London

1937

Career position - President of the Linnean Society of New South Wales

1942

Award - W.B. Clarke Medal received from the Royal Society of New South Wales

1942

Career position - Clarke Memorial Lecture presented to the Royal Society of New South Wales

1946

Award - ANZAAS Mueller Medal received (Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science)

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• Australian Botanists - Biographies, MS 064; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details
• Ernest Clayton Andrews - Records, 1925 - 1944, MS 004; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science Exhibitions

• Smith, Ailie, Adolph Basser Library Manuscript Collection, eScholarship Research Centre, 2012, http://www.eoas.info/basser_browse.html. Details

Book Sections

• Walsh, G. P, 'Andrews, Ernest Clayton (1870-1948), geologist', in Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle (eds), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 7, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1979, pp. 67-69. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A070070b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• 'Ernest Clayton Andrews, 1870-1948', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, vol. 77, 1952, pp. 98-103. Details
• Andrews, E.C., 'Obituary: Sir Hubert Murray', Australian Journal of Science, vol. 2, no. 5, 1940, pp. 137-138. Details
• Andrews, E.C., 'The Heroic Period of Geological Work in Australia.', Journal and Proceedings of The Royal Society of New South Wales, vol. lxxvi, 1942, pp. 96-128. Details
• Cotton, Leo A., 'Obituary: Ernest Clayton Andrews', Australian Journal of Science, vol. 11, no. 2, 1948, pp. 48-49. Details
• Walkom, A.B., 'Memorial to Ernest Clayton Andrews', Proceedings Volume of the Geological Society of America Annual Report for 1948, 1949, pp. 117-126. Details

Online Resources

• 'Andrews, Ernest Clayton - Ms 4', in Listing of Adolph Basser Library holdings, Australian Academy of Science, 1994, http://www.science.org.au/basser/manuscript-collection/ms004.html. Details
• 'Andrews, E C', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-628771. Details