Biographical entry Jackson, Sidney William (1873 - 1946)

Summary

Sidney William Jackson worked for many years as curator of the Belltrees Ornithological Collection. His own collection of over 500 Australian bird eggs formed the basis of the H.L. White Egg Collection now in the National Museum of Victoria.

Details

Born Brisbane, 12 June 1873. Died Sydney, 30 September 1946. Educated Toowoomba Grammar School and Grafton, New South Wales. Started collecting birds' eggs at the age of 10. Business in Grafton; commercial traveller; sold his large collection of birds' eggs to H.L. White (q.v.), 1906; collector and curator of White's collections of skins and eggs 1907-27; in Sydney from 1927, writing popular articles on natural history for newspapers and magazines. His nom-de-plume was 'Ajax'. He made very detailed observations, sketched well, wrote neatly and excelled at photography and taxidermy. With his brother Frank he developed techniques for climbing trees, involving the use of leg-spikes and rope-ladders. He also collected land snails and botanical specimens.

Archival resources

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

• Sidney William Jackson - Records, 1895 - 1939, MS 466; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

Published resources

Book Sections

• Gresford, Guy B., 'Jackson, Sidney William (1873-1946), Naturalist', in Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle (eds), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 9, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1983, pp. 459-460. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090449b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• Chisholm, A. H., 'The Diaries of S. W. Jackson', Emu, vol. 58, 1958, pp. 75-76. Details

Online Resources

• National Library of Australia, 'Jackson, Sidney William', Trove, National Library of Australia and the Australian National Maritime Museum Darling Harbour, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-612959. Details

See also

• Robin, Libby, The Flight of the Emu: a Hundred Years of Australian Ornithology 1901-2001, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2001, 492 pp. Details