Person
Scott, Eric Oswald Gale (1899 - 1986)
- Born
- 23 October 1899
Launceston, Tasmania, Australia - Died
- 1986
Tasmania, Australia - Occupation
- Ichthyologist, Museum director and Teacher
Summary
Eric Scott was an ichthyologist whose career started as a science teacher in schools in northern Tasmania. In 1930 he was appointed Assistant Director of the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, where his father Herbert was Curator. In this role Eric took much of the administrative burden from Herbert, while the two men wrote weekly newspaper articles. Eric ran into trouble in 1942, and resigned from the Museum, because of his pacifist views. While some of his early research was in herpetology, for over 50 years he concentrated on fishes. With Peter Last and Frank Talbot he wrote the landmark Fishes of Tasmania (1983). Scott's connection with the Museum was restored in 1965 when he was appointed Honorary Associate in ichthyology. In 1987 he was awarded posthumously the Royal Society of Tasmania Medal for his distinguished research in zoology.
Details
Chronology
- 1918 - 1923
- Career event - Science teacher, Launceston and Devonport high schools
- 1924 - 1925
- Life event - Travelling in Europe
- 1925 - 1929
- Career position - Science and mathematics teacher, Scotch College, Launceston
- 1930 - 1938
- Career position - Assistant Curator, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
- 1931 - 1937
- Career position - Honorary Secretary, Royal Society of Tasmania
- 1933
- Education - BSc, University of Tasmania
- 1938
- Award - Carnegie Corporation of New York grant to study museum and art gallery methods and developments in the U.S.A., England and Europe
- November 1938 - August 1942
- Career position - Curator, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
- 1939 - 1943
- Career position - Honorary Secretary, Royal Society of Tasmania
- 1949 - 1964
- Career event - Taught language and science at private schools in Launceston
- 1965 - ?
- Career position - Honorary Associate in ichthyology, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
- 1987
- Award - Royal Society of Tasmania Medal (posthumous) for distinguished research in zoology
Related entries
Colleague
Parent
Published resources
Books
- Last, P. R., Scott, E. O. G. and Talbot, F. H., Fishes of Tasmania (Hobart: Tasmanian Fisheries Development Authority, 1983), 563 pp. Details
Journal Articles
- Scott, E. O. G., ' Notes on the gobies recorded from Tasmania, with description of a new genus', Papers and proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, 1934 (1934), 47-62. Details
- Scott, E. O. G., 'Observations on some Tasmanian fishes, part III', Papers and proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, 1935 (1935), 113-29. Details
- Scott, E. O. G., 'A new Hyla from Cradle Valley, Tasmania', Records of the Queen Victoria museum 1:5-11, 1 (1942), 5-11. Details
Resource Sections
- Hamilton, Rhonda, 'Scott, Eric Oswald (1899 - 1986), teacher, museum director, ichthyologist and pacifist', in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 18: 1981 - 1990 L-Z, Melanie Nolan, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Vic, 2012, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/scott-eric-oswald-15908. Details
Helen Cohn
Created: 29 July 2025