British Association for the Advancement of Science 84th Meeting (1914)

Summary

The British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) held its 84th annual Meeting in Australia in August 1914. It was generally considered the most successful Association Meeting held to date. Remembered for the significant impetus it gave to Australian science, this was an unparalleled opportunity for Australian scientists to interact with some of the leading scientists from United Kingdom. The Australian Government enthusiastically supported the Meeting to the extent of offering £15,000 to fully fund or subsidise the expenses of over 250 British scientists to attend. Delegates also came from Europe, the United States and other Dominions. Officially opened in Melbourne on August 14th , sessions were held in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, with an extensive program of visits to universities, museums and laboratories, and excursions to a considerable number of sites of scientific interest. The arrival of delegates in Australia coincided with the outbreak of WWI. This ultimately resulted in the cancellation of the Tasmanian and New Zealand parts of the program, and the internment of some European delegates as enemy aliens.

Many Australians took central roles in the organisation of the Meeting. Chairman of the organising committee was David Orme Masson. David Rivett, as organising secretary, was responsible for all arrangements for accommodation, venues and transport. Some of Australia's most prominent scientists took on roles as secretaries for their states. Key local officials were named as joint Vice-Presidents of the Association, including the Prime Minister, state Governors and university Chancellors. Many local scientists and interested citizens attended the sessions, which were given prolific coverage in the newspapers.

The Federal handbook, prepared in advance of the Meeting and distributed to delegates before embarkation, provided an extraordinarily complete picture of Australian science before WWI. Although the purpose of the Meeting was to highlight Australian science, Australian-themed topics were limited to one third in each Section (except Anthropology). Issues relating to Australia raised at the Meeting included: the need for an Australian Chair of Anthropology; the establishment of an Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research (the Advisory Council of Science and Industry was established in 1916, leading ultimately to CSIR); the reservation of Kangaroo Island for wildlife protection; and the requirement to complete the building of the Mt Stromlo observatory as necessary for international collaboration on the study of solar radiation.

As the Meeting came to its end, the ships which brought delegates to Australia were requisitioned for troop carriers. These overseas scientists dispersed homeward via a number of routes, their journeys sometimes being far from their comfortable outward passage.

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• British Association for the Advancement of Science, Report of the eighty-fourth meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Australia: 1914 July 28 - August 31 (London: John Murray, 1915), 172 pp, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/95821. Details
• Kenyon, A. S. and Mahony, D. J., Stone implements of the Australian Aborigines: guide to the classified collection in the Australian Room, National Museum, Public Library Buildings, Melbourne, arranged for the Australian meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (Melbourne: Arnall & Jackson, 1914), 15 pp. Details
• King, Bill; McCarthy, Gavan, The Records of Albert Cherbury David Rivett (1885-161) and the British Association for the Advancement of Science Australian Meeting, 1914 (Melbourne: Australian Science Archives Project, 1988), 37 pp. Details
• Laughton, A. M.; and Hall, T. S., Handbook to Victoria: prepared for the members of the 'British Association for the Advancement of Science', on the occasion of their visit to Victoria, under the direction of the Victorian Executive Committee (Melbourne: 1914), 382 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Anonymous, 'Narrative and Itinerary of the Australian Meeting' in Report of the eighty-fourth meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Australia: 1914 July 28 - August 31, British Association for the Advancement of Science, ed. (London: John Murray, 1914), pp. 679-719. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/95821. Details
• Morton, Christopher, 'A diary in the loose sense of the term: Henry Balfour and the 1914 Australian Meeting' in A trip to the dominions: the scientific event that changed Australia, Russell, Lynette, ed. (Clayton, Vic.: Monash University Publishing, 2021), pp. 68-90. Details
• Russell, Lynette, ' A :young and vigorous outpost of empire": the 1914 British Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting congress in Australia' in A trip to the dominions: the scientific event that changed Australia, Russell, Lynette, ed. (Clayton, Vic.: Monash University Publishing, 2021), pp. 1-28. Details

Edited Books

• Knibbs, G. H. ed., Federal handbook prepared in connection with the eighty-fourth meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held in Australia August 1914 (Melbourne: Government Printer, 1914), 598 pp. Details
• Russell, Lynette ed., A trip to the Dominions: the scientific event that changed Australia (Clayton, Vic.: Monash University Press, 2021), 160 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• Anon, 'The British Association in Queensland', Nature, 94 (22 October) (1914), 204-6. https://doi,org/10.1038/094214a0. Details
• Love, Rosaleen, 'The Science Show of 1914: the British Association Meets in Australia', This Australia, 4 (1) (1984), 12-16. Details
• Mooney, J. and Hodge, F. W., 'Anthropologic miscellanea: anthropology at the British Association', American anthropologist, 17 (1) (1915), 210-3. Details
• Robertson, Peter, 'Coming of Age: the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Australia, 1914', Australian Physicist, 17 (2) (1980), 23-27. Details
• Scheckert, John, '"Modern in every respect": the 1914 conference of the British Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting', Journal of the European Association for Studies of Australia, 5 (1) (2014), 4-20, https://moujique.savana-hosting.cz/easa_wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/02_1-Modern-in-Every-Respect-FINAL.pdf. Details

Resources

• King, Bill; McCarthy, Gavan, Albert Cherbury David Rivett and the British Association for the Advancement of Science Australian Meeting, 1914 Guide to Records, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, 2004, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/guides/rive/rivett.htm. Details

See also

• Baracchi, P., 'Astronomy and geodesy in Australia' in Federal handbook prepared in connection with the eighty-fourth meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science held in Australia 1914, Knibbs, G. H., ed. (Melbourne: Government Printer, 1914), pp. 326-90. Details
• Lyndon, Jane, 'Taming the Territory: Baldwin Spencer and Elsie Masson' in A trip to the Dominions: the scientific event that changed Australia, Russell, Lynette, ed. (Clayton, Vic.: Monash University Press, 2021), pp. 91-117. Details
• McNiven, Ian J., '"All memory had perished": salvage ethnography's archaeological blind spot illustrated by Alfred and Kathleen Haddon's visit to Torres Strait in 1914' in A trip to the dominions: the scientific event that changed Australia, Russell, Lynette, ed. (Clayton, Vic.: Monash University Publishing, 2021), pp. 29-67. Details
• Spencer, W. B., 'The Aboriginals of Australia' in Federal handbook : prepared in connection with the eighty-fourth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science Meeting held in Australia, August, 1914, Knibbs, G. H., ed. (Melbourne: Government Printer, 1914), pp. 33-85. Details