Iredale, Tom (1880 - 1972)

Summary

Tom Iredale, after spending a number of years working at the British Museum with G.M. Mathews on Australian birds, was appointed conchologist to the Australian Museum, Sydney 1924 -1944. He published widely on shells (using shell morphology rather than the morphology of the animals in the shells), birds, ecology and zoogeography. Significant numbers of Iredale's collections, especially from the Great Barrier Reef, are in the Australian Museum. The marine gastropod genus Iredalea was named in his honour.

Details

Born Stainburn, Cumberland, England, 24 March 1880. Died Harbord, New South Wales, 12 April 1972. Apprentice to a pharmacist 1899-1901; clerk, Henry Berry & Co., Christchurch, New Zealand 1902-1907; Kermadec Islands 1908, collecting bird and molluscan specimens and field data; visited Queensland 1909, collecting about 300 species of chitons and other molluscs; freelance worker, British Museum 1909-10, working on his collections; assistant to Gregory Mathews (q.v.) on his Birds of Australia 1911-23 (much of the text was written by Iredale, but credited to Mathews); conchologist, Australian Museum 1924-44; Honorary Associate 1944-72; expert adviser Sir Edward Hallstrom on ornithological and avicultural books for a while after his retirement. Fellow, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales 1931; W.B. Clarke medal, Royal Society of New South Wales 1959. President, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales 1937-38. Many species in conchology, ichthyology and ornithology were named after him, as well as several genera. Wrote a large number of technical articles, lectured frequently and wrote popular scientific articles. Under various pseudonyms these appeared in Sydney newspapers and The Australian Cage Bird & Pigeon World (1935), in which he mostly signed himself Garrio (Latin for "I chatter"). Married Lilian Marguerite Medland 8 June 1923.

Chronology

1899 - 1901

Career position - Apprentice pharmacist

1901

Life event - Moved to New Zealand

1901 - 1909

Career position - Clerk, Henry Berry & Co., Christchurch, New Zealand

1909 - 1910

Career event - Freelance worker, British Museum

1909 - 1923

Life event - Resident in the United Kingdom

1924 - 1944

Career position - Conchologist, Australian Museum

1931 - 1972

Award - Fellow, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales

1937 - 1938

Career position - President, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales

1944 - 1972

Career position - Honorary Associate, Australian Museum

1959

Award - Clarke Medal, Royal Society of New South Wales

Related entries

Archival resources

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

• Tom Iredale - Records, 1950, B1561; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

• Gregory Macalister Mathews - Records, 1900 - 1949, MS 1465; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

Private hands (Iredale, R.)

• Tom Iredale - Records, 1880 - 1972; Private hands (Iredale, R.). Details

Published resources

Book Sections

• Kloot, Tess, 'Iredale, Tom (1880-1972)' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds, vol. 9 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1983), pp. 435-436. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090431b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• Chisholm, A. H.; and Serventy, D. L., 'Tom Iredale', Emu, 73 (2) (1973), 74-8. Details
• Iredale, T., 'Solander as an Ornithologist', Ibis (1913), 127-135. Details
• Iredale, T., 'Lhotzky's Lament', The Australian Zoologist, 3 (1922), 223-226. Details
• Iredale, T., 'George Forster's Paintings', The Australian Zoologist, 4 (1925), 48-53. Details
• Iredale, T., 'John Brazier. Conchologist', The Australian Museum Magazine, 4 (1930), 113-114. Details
• Iredale, T., 'John Brazier 1842-1930', Nautilus, 44 (1931). Details
• Iredale, T., 'Obituary Notice: John Brazier', Conchology (London), 19 (1931). Details
• Iredale, T., 'Blandowski.', The Victorian naturalist, 49 (1932), 90-96. Details
• Iredale, T., 'Thomas Skottowe, Naturalist', Emu, 33 (1934), 354-355. Details
• Iredale, T., 'J. R. and G. Forster, Naturalists', Emu, 37 (1937), 95-99. Details
• Iredale, T., 'The Last Letters of John MacGillvray', The Australian Zoologist, 9 (1937), 40-63. Details
• Iredale, T., 'John Gould: the Bird Man.', Emu, 38 (2) (1938), 90-5. Details
• Iredale, T., 'William Anderson, Ornithologist.', Emu, 38 (1938), 60-62. Details
• Iredale, T., 'The Work of Gregory Mathews, Ornithologist', Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales (1940), 31-33. Details
• Iredale, T., 'Jules Verreaux [in Australia]', The Australian Zoologist, 11 (1945), 71-72. Details
• Iredale, T., 'Gregory M. Mathews (1876-1949)', Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, 1948/9 (1948), 16-20. Details
• Iredale, T., 'Bellinghausen in Australia', Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales (1953), 34-36. Details
• Iredale, T., 'James Stuart, Ornithologist', The Australian Zoologist, 12 (1955), 127-128. Details
• Iredale, T., 'John (William) Brazier', Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales (1956), 105-118. Details
• Iredale, T., 'History of New South Wales shells, part 1: Cook and his associates', Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, 1954 (1956), 81-3. Details
• Iredale, T., 'Charles Hedley's Papers Indexed', Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales (1956), 118-139. Details
• Iredale, T., 'Broinowski's Birds and Mammals of Australia', Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales (1956). Details
• Iredale, T., 'History of New South Wales shells, part 2: the settlement years', Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, 1955 (1957), 125-6. Details
• Iredale, T., 'Scientific Societies in Australia. The Sydney University Chemical Society', The Royal Australian Chemical Institute Proceedings, 27 (1960), 216-217. Details
• Iredale, T., 'Charles Hedley', Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, 88 (1967), 26-31. Details
• Iredale, T.; and McMichael, D. F., 'A reference list of the marine molluscs of New South Wales', Memoirs of the Australian Museum, 11 (1962), 1-109. Details
• Iredale, T.; and Troughton, E., 'The Actual Identity of Captain Cook's Kangaroo', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 87 (1962), 177-184. Details
• Iredale, T.; and Whitley, G.P., 'Sir William Dennison as a Conchologist', Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales (1964), 27-30. Details
• Iredale, T.; and Whitley, G.P., 'John Roach, the Budgerigar, and the Unfortunate Officer', Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, 89 (1968), 36-39. Details
• Iredale, Tom; and Hull, A. F. Bassett, 'Monograph of the Australian Loricates (Phylum Mollusca - Order Loricata), IX: appendix C, biography and bibliography', Australian zoologist, 4 (1927), 339-59. Details
• Mathews, G.M.; and Iredale, T., 'Captain Thomas Brown, Ornithologist', The Australian Avian Record, 4 (1922), 176-194. Details
• McMichael, Donald F.; and Whitley, Gilbert P., 'The Published Writings of Tom Iredale with an Index of his Scientific Names', The Australian Zoologist, 12 (1956), 211-250. Details
• Ponder, W. F.; and Whitley, G. P., 'Tom Iredale (1880 - 1972)', Nautilus, 68 (1972), 60-2. Details
• Ward, M., 'In Appreciation of Tom Iredale', Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, 89 (1968), 57-58. Details
• Whitley, G. P., 'Life and Work of Tom Iredale (1880-1972) [includes lists of writings and proposed new names of species]', Australian Zoologist, 17 (2) (1972), 65-125. Details
• Whitley, Gilbert P.; and Ponder, Winston F., 'Obituary Tom Iredale (1880 - 1972)', Journal of the Malacological Society of Australia, 2 (4) (1973), 361-4. Details

Resources

• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/39324335. Details
• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q3530755. Details
• 'Iredale, Tom (1880-1972)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-480736. Details
• Rice, Tom, 'Iredale, Thomas (1897 - 1971)', Shellers from the past and the present, Conchology Inc., Mactan Island, Philippines, 2023, https://www.conchology.be/?t=9001&id=21444. Details

See also

• Beechey, D. L., 'Sydney's Molluscs: from Gentlemen to Malacologists' in The Natural History of Sydney, Lunney, Daniel, Hutchings, Pat A. and Hochuli, Dieter, eds (Mosman, N.S.W.: Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, 2010), pp. 107-24. Details
• Mattingley, Christobel, Seen but Not Heard: Lilian Medland's Birds (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 2014), 207 pp. Details
• Robin, Libby, The Flight of the Emu: a Hundred Years of Australian Ornithology 1901-2001 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2001), 492 pp. Details