Verco, Joseph Cooke (1851 - 1933)

Summary

Sir Joseph Verco practised medicine in South Australia from 1878. In 1885 he helped found the Medical School of the University of Adelaide and lectured in medicine 1887-1915. His medical research resulted in publications on hydatids and the prevalence of tuberculosis in South Australia. On retirement he revived his interest in shells. Verco was Honorary Curator of Molluscs at the South Australian Museum from 1914 to 1933, his field work including substantial dredging in the Great Australian Bight. In publishing on molluscs for nearly 40 years he described over 160 new species of marine animals. Verco was generous with his philanthropic donations: to the Adelaide Children's Hospital; to the South Australian Museum, to which he donated his extensive collection of specimens and books in 1926; and to the Medical Sciences Club of South Australia which allowed the inauguration of the Australian journal of experimental biology and medical science. The Sir Joseph Verco Medal has been awarded by the Royal Society of South Australia since 1929 to recognise distinguished scientific investigations carried out by a member of the Society.

Details

Chronology

1874

Education - Member, Royal College of Surgeons, London

1875

Education - MB, University of London

1875

Education - Licentiate, Royal College of Physicians, London

1876

Education - Fellow, Royal College of Surgeons, London

1876

Education - BS, University of London

1876

Education - MD, University of London

1876 - 1878

Career position - House physician, St Bartholomew's Hospital, London

1878 - 1880

Award - Fellow, Adelaide Philosophical Society

1880 - 1933

Award - Fellow, Royal Society of South Australia

1882 - 1912

Career position - Honorary physician to the Adelaide Hospital

1886 - 1887

Career position - President, South Australian Branch, British Medical Association

1887

Career position - President, First Intercolonial Medical Congress of Australasia, Adelaide

1887 - 1919

Career position - Lecturer in Medicine, University of Adelaide

1895 - 1902

Career position - Member of Council, University of Adelaide

1903 - 1921

Career position - President, Royal Society of South Australia

1914 - 1919

Career position - President, South Australian Branch, British Medical Association

1914 - 1933

Career position - Honorary Curator of Mollusca, South Australian Institute

1919

Career event - Retired from medical practice

1919

Award - Knight Bachelor (Kt)

1919 - 1921

Career position - Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Adelaide

1921 - 1928

Career position - Dean, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Adelaide

Related entries

Archival resources

South Australian Museum Archives

• Joseph Cooke Verco - Records, 1914 - 1933; South Australian Museum Archives. Details

State Library of South Australia, Mortlock Library of South Australiana

• Joseph Cooke Verco - Records, 1851 - 1924, PRG 322; State Library of South Australia, Mortlock Library of South Australiana. Details
• Royal Society of South Australia - Records, 1853 - 1969, SRG 10; State Library of South Australia, Mortlock Library of South Australiana. Details

The University of Adelaide Archives

• Joseph Cooke Verco - Records, 1885 - 1915; The University of Adelaide Archives. Details

Published resources

Books

• Verco, J., Combing the Southern Seas (Adelaide: Rigby Ltd, 1935). Details
• Verco, P. W., Masons, millers and medicine: James Crabb Verco and his sons (Adelaide: P. W. Verco, 1976), 159 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Southcott, R. V., 'Verco, Sir Joseph Cooke (1851-1933), Physician and Conchologist' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, John Ritchie, ed., vol. 12 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1990), pp. 318-319. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120355b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• Cotton, B. C., 'Obituary and bibliography of conchological works of Sir Joseph Cooke Verco', South Australian Naturalist, 14 (4) (1933), 121-4. Details
• Macphail, M. K.; and Zeidler, W., 'Additional type shells from Tasmania in the South Australian Museum', The Tasmanian naturalist, 52 (1978), 2-6. Details
• R., W., 'Sir Joseph Cooke Verco', Australian journal of experimental biology and medical science, 11 (1933), 153-5. Details
• Roach, B. S., 'Obituary notice Sir Joseph Verco (1851-1933)', Transactions and report of the Royal Society of South Australia, 57 (1933), v-viii. Details
• Verco, J. C., 'Sir Edward Stirling, Kt, CMG, FRS, MA, MD, FRCS, CMZS. A Note of Appreciation', Medical Journal of Australia, 1 (1919), 298-299. Details
• Verco, J. C., 'A colonial boy-hood: some recollections of Joseph Cooke Verco, 1858 - 1867', South Australiana, 2 (2) (1963), 61-100. Details
• Verco, Jos. C., 'Obituary notice: (Sir E. C. Stirling)', Transactions and proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia, 43 (1919), 1-4. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q6287602. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/93515216. Details
• 'Verco, Jos C (1851-1933)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-572640. Details
• Rice, Tom, 'Verco, Joseph Cooke (1851 - 1933)', Shellers from the past and the present, Conchology Inc., Mactan Island, Philippines, 2023, https://www.conchology.be/?t=9001&id=30908. Details

See also

• Barbalet, Margaret, The Adelaide Children's Hospital, 1876-1976 (Adelaide: The Hospital, 1975), 224 pp. Details
• Hale, H. M., 'The First Hundred Years of the Museum, 1856-1956', Records of the South Australian Museum, 12 (1956), 1-225. Details
• Hughes, James Estcourt, A History of the Royal Adelaide Hospital (Adelaide: Board of Management, Royal Adelaide Hospital, 1982), 240 pp. Details
• Ryan, James, Sutton, Keith and Baigent, Malcolm eds, Australasian Radiology: a History (Sydney: McGraw-Hill, 1996), 542 pp. Details
• Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details