Biographical entry Buddicom, Robert Arthur (1874 - 1951)

Summary

Robert Arthur Buddicom, who changed his name to Bedford when he arrived in Australia in 1915, established the Kyancutta Museum and Library on the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. His major work was on meteorites, and archeocyathinae and related fossils.

Details

Born Shropshire, England, 7 November 1874. Died Kyancutta, 14 February 1951. Educated University of Oxford (BA 1897). Oxford biological scholar, marine biological station, Naples 1897-98; curator, Plymouth Museum and Art Gallery 1900-01; founded and edited a journal, "Life" 1902; market-gardener, Shiplake, Oxfordshire; demonstrator and lecturer, London Hospital Medical College 1906-14; migrated to Australia 1915 as Robert Bedford after a court action in England, settling at Kyancutta, South Australia; various activities in Australia, including working as a physician and veterinary surgeon, sending regular weather reports from Kyancutta to Adelaide, resulting in the recognition of Kyancutta as an official weather-station; experimented with a phonetic system of English; opened the Kyancutta Museum and Library 1929 to house his palaeontological specimens; examined meteorite craters, Henbury, Central Australia 1931-38. Founder, Adelaide Rationalist Society 1920.

Published resources

Book Sections

• Brett-Crowther, M. R., 'Buddicom, Robert Arthur (1874-1951), scientist and local entrepreneur', in Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle (eds), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 7, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1979, pp. 475-476. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A070478b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• Brett-Crowther, M. R., 'Robert Buddicom: prophet and utopist', Shropshire Magazine, Aug, 1974. Details

Online Resources

• National Library of Australia, 'Buddicom, Robert Arthur', Trove, National Library of Australia and the Australian National Maritime Museum Darling Harbour, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1462598. Details