Biographical entry Kershaw, James Andrew (1866 - 1946)

Summary

James Andrew Kershaw joined the National Museum, Melbourne in 1883 as an assistant taxidermist to his father William Kershaw. Over the next 48 years James Kershaw rose through the ranks to become museum Director (1929). Although Kershaw officially retired in 1931, he was appointed the museum's first honorary curator of Zoology. James Kershaw joined the Royal Society of Victoria in 1900 and held many positions within the Society. He was President from 1918-1919.

Details

Events

1 October 1883 - June 1890

Career position - Assistant Taxidermist at the National Museum in Melbourne

1888 - ?

Career position - Member then President of the Field Naturalists' Club Victoria

July 1890

Career position - Taxidermist at the National Museum

c. 1899

Career position - Curator of the Zoological Collection at the National Museum

1900

Career position - Member of the Royal Society of Victoria

1908

Career position - Royal Australasian Ornathologist's Union expedition to Bass Strait

1908 - 1946

Career position - Honorary Secretary of the Wilson's Promontory National Park Committee of Management, Victoria

1909

Career position - Expedition to Bass Strait

1911

Career position - Platypus studies at Hopkins River in Victoria

1913

Career position - Expedition to the Barrier Reef, Queensland

1918

Career position - President of the Royal Society of Victoria

1920 - 1923

Career position - Honorary Secretary of the Royal Society of Victoria

1921

Career position - Expedition to Ooldea, Western Australia

1922

Career position - Trustee of the Royal Society of Victoria

1924 - 1925

Career position - Honorary Librarian of the Royal Society of Victoria

1929 - 1931

Career position - Director of the National Museum

1931

Life event - Retired and appointed Honorary Curator of Zoology at the National Museum

Related entries

Archival resources

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

• Baldwin Spencer - Records, 1880 - 1929, ML MSS 29; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

Published resources

Book Sections

• Prescott, R. T. M., 'Kershaw, James Andrew (1866-1946), Scientist', in Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle (eds), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 9, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1983, pp. 578-579. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090579b.htm. Details

Online Resources

• National Library of Australia, 'Kershaw, James Andrew', Trove, National Library of Australia and the Australian National Maritime Museum Darling Harbour, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1468861. Details