Selwyn, Alfred Richard Cecil (1824 - 1902)

Summary

Alfred Selwyn was appointed Victorian Government Geologist in 1852, taking up his position in early 1853. With the establishment of the Geological Survey in 1855 he was in addition appointed Director of the Survey. His work was to survey the geological resources of Victoria, particularly gold and coal, and, in setting up the Survey, to train geologists and surveyors on his staff. The results of his work included numerous reports and over 60 geological maps printed in colour by highly skilled lithographic printers. He was dogged persistently by the instability generated by frequent changes of government and inadequate resources. Selwyn was one of the casualties of the Victorian Government's retrenchments in 1869, as was the Geological Survey. He lost his job and the Survey was abolished. Selwyn went to Canada and enjoyed a highly distinguished career as Director of the Canadian Geological Survey from 1869 to 1894. A number of the geologists and surveyors on his staff in Victoria themselves went on to distinguished careers in other colonies. The Selwyn Range in the Canadian Rocky Mountains is named in his honour.

Details

Chronology

1845

Career event - Joined the Geological Survey of Great Britain

1852 - 1855

Career position - Government Geologist, Victorian Chief Secretary's Department

1854 - 1855

Career position - Member of Council, Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science

1854 - 1855

Career position - Member of Council, Philosophical Society of Victoria

1855 - 1859

Career position - Member, Philosophical Institute of Victoria

1855 - 1860

Career position - Government Geologist, Victorian Surveyor General's Department

1855 - 1869

Career position - Director, Geological Survey of Victoria

1856 - 1857

Career position - Vice-President, Philosophical Institute of Victoria

1858 - 1860

Career position - Member, Board of Science, Colony of Victoria

1859 - 1869

Career position - Member, Royal Society of Victoria

1862 - 1864

Career position - Member of Council, Acclimatisation Society of Victoria

4 Feb 1868

Career event - Associate (AssocInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers, London [very briefly an Associate]

1869

Career position - Government Geologist, Victorian Department of Crown Lands and Survey

1869 - 1894

Career position - Director, Geological Survey of Canada

1871 - 1902

Award - Fellow, Geological Society, London

1874 - 1902

Award - Fellow, The Royal Society, London (FRS)

1876

Award - Murchison Medal, Geological Society, London

1878

Award - Knight of the Legion of Honour

1882

Award - Elected to the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina

1882 - 1902

Award - Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences

1884

Award - Clarke Medal, Royal Society of New South Wales

1886

Award - Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG)

1894

Life event - Retired

Related entries

Published resources

Book Sections

• Branagan, D. F.; Townley, K. A., 'Selwyn, Alfred Richard Cecil (1824-1902), geologist' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Bede Nairn, ed., vol. 6 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1976), pp. 102-103. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A060117b.htm. Details
• Zeller, Suzanne, 'Alfred Richard Cecil Selwyn,1824-1902' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). Details

Conference Proceedings

• The History of Geology in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century: the Story in Australia, and in Victoria, from Selwyn and McCoy to Gregory 1853 to 1903 edited by Pierson, Roger (Melbourne: Earth Sciences History Group, Geological Society of Australia, 2007), 69 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• Alcock, F. J., 'A Century in the History of the Geological Survey of Canada', Canadian Mining Journal, 68 (1947). Details
• Ami, H. M., 'Memorial or Sketch of the Life of the Late Dr. A. R. C. Selwyn', Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 10 (1904). Details
• Branagan, D. F., 'Alfred Selwyn - 19th century trans-Atlantic connections via Australia', Earth sciences history, 9 (2) (1990), 143-57. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'The Geological Survey of Victoria Under Alfred Selwyn, 1852-1868', Historical Records of Australian Science, 7 (1) (1987), 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9870710001. Details
• Gillbank, Linden, 'The Origins of the Acclimatisation Society of Victoria: Practical Science in the Wake of the Gold Rush', Historical Records of Australian Science, 6 (3) (1986), 359-374. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9860630359. Details
• Lapworth, C., 'Obituary - Alfred Charles Selwyn, C.M.G., LL.D., F.R.S. [In Anniversary Address.]', Proceedings of the Geological Society in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 59 (1903), lxi-lxiii. Details
• Woodward, H., 'Eminent Living Geologists', Geological Magazine, 6 (1899). Details
• Zeller, Susanne and Branagan, David, 'Australian-Canadian Links in a Geological Chain: Sir William Logan, Dr Alfred Selwyn and Henry Y. L. Brown', Special edition of Scientia Canadensis, 17 (1&2) (1994), 71-102. Details

Parliamentary papers

• Board on Claims to Reward for the Discovery of the Building Stone, Building stone (Melbourne: John Ferres, Government Printer, 1858), 9 pp. https://pov.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_GB/parl_paper/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:26038/one. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q2744361. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/42205113. Details
• Geological Society of Australia, Australian geology hall of fame, Earth Sciences History Group, Geological Society of Australia, 2022. https://www.gsa.org.au/Public/Public/Specialist_Groups/ESHG_Sub_Pages/ESHG_Biographies.aspx?hkey=1bfc25ca-efd5-4f91-9536-dabf175139ce. Details
• Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 'Application: 2361, 1868', Civil Engineer Membership Forms, 1818-1930, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/3585/. Details
• 'Selwyn, Alfred R C (1824-1902)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-525312. Details

See also

• Board of Science [Establishment and initial Board members] (Melbourne: Victorian Government, 1858), 1065 pp, https://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/view.cgi?year=1858&class=general&page_num=1065. Details
• Science and the making of Victoria, with Royal Society of Victoria, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/smv/index_s.html. Details
• Enever, Jim, 'A story of human endeavour: the Cape Paterson coal field, Victoria', Journal of Australasian Mining History, 15 (2017), 21-46. Details
• Johns, R.K. ed., History and role of government geological surveys in Australia (Adelaide: South Australian Government Printer, 1976), 111 pp. Details
• Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details