The Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS) is an organisation that was founded in 1888 as the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science to promote science. It awarded the Mueller Medal from 1904 until 2006, and continues to award the ANZAAS Medal, which it has awarded since 1965.

History

The Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science was modelled on the British Association for the Advancement of Science. For many years, its annual meetings were a popular and influential way of promoting science in Australia and New Zealand.

Founders of the association in 1887-1888 include Archibald Liversidge and Horatio George Anthony Wright.

It held lectures for the medals and for other named lectures, both nationally and at state level.[citation needed]

It changed its name to Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS) in 1930.[citation needed]

In the 1990s, membership and attendance at the annual meetings decreased as specialised scientific societies increased in popularity. Proposals to close the association were discussed, but it continued after closing its office in Adelaide.[citation needed]

Today

The Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science now[when?] operates on a smaller scale.[citation needed] The annual meetings are no longer held.

Each year it organises Youth ANZAAS, an annual residential scientific forum attended by senior secondary students from Australian schools and high schools.

Awards

The Association has awarded two important medals; the Mueller medal, named in honour of Ferdinand von Mueller, botanist and pioneer environmentalist, and the ANZAAS medal.

Mueller Medal

The Mueller Medal was awarded annually to a scientist who is the author of important contributions to anthropological, botanical, geological or zoological science, preferably with special reference to Australia. It is named after Ferdinand von Mueller, the German/Australian botanist who was Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. Initiated in 1902, it was designed by Walter Baldwin Spencer. It was last awarded in 2006.

Recipients

ANZAAS Mueller Medal (obverse)
ANZAAS Mueller Medal (reverse)

ANZAAS Medal

The ANZAAS medal is awarded annually for services in the advancement of science or administration and organisation of scientific activities, or the teaching of science throughout Australia and New Zealand and in contributions to science which lie beyond normal professional activities.

Sculptor Andor Meszaros designed the Medal, which was first awarded in 1965.

Recipients

ANZAAS medal (obverse)
ANZAAS medal (reverse)

Youth ANZAAS

Youth ANZAAS is an annual residential scientific forum for senior Australasian secondary school students from Years 9, 10, 11 and 12. This event is designed to provide students with a broad perspective on the aims and practice of scientific endeavour, ranging from satisfying curiosity and the drive to discover, to the application of science in the real world. It gives students the opportunity to visit world-class facilities where cutting edge research is undertaken and meet leading scientists.

Recent forums have been:

Youth ANZAAS 2024 – Melbourne, Victoria. Youth ANZAAS 2023 – Melbourne, Victoria. Youth ANZAAS 2022 – Not held due to pandemic Youth ANZAAS 2021 – Not held due to pandemic Youth ANZAAS 2020 – Not held due to pandemic Youth ANZAAS 2019 – Adelaide, South Australia. Youth ANZAAS 2018 – Melbourne, Victoria. Youth ANZAAS 2017 – Melbourne, Victoria. Youth ANZAAS 2016 – Brisbane, Queensland. Youth ANZAAS 2015 – Adelaide, South Australia. Youth ANZAAS 2014 – Melbourne, Victoria. Youth ANZAAS 2013 – Hobart, Tasmania. Youth ANZAAS 2012 – Dunedin, New Zealand. Youth ANZAAS 2011 – Brisbane, Queensland. Youth ANZAAS 2010 – Sydney, New South Wales. Youth ANZAAS 2009 – Melbourne, Victoria. Youth ANZAAS 2008 – Dunedin, New Zealand. Youth ANZAAS 2007 – Perth, Western Australia. Youth ANZAAS 2006 – Adelaide, South Australia. Youth ANZAAS 2005 – Sydney, New South Wales. Youth ANZAAS 2004 – Sydney, New South Wales. Youth ANZAAS 2003 – Melbourne, Victoria. Youth ANZAAS 2002 – Adelaide, South Australia. Youth ANZAAS 2001 – Adelaide, South Australia.Youth ANZAAS 2014 Melbourne Itinerary

Programs

ANZAAS – Australian Synchrotron Inaugural Winter School

The ANZAAS – Australian Synchrotron Inaugural Winter School was launched in July 2009. The four-day program aims to give young researchers – Honours, Masters and early PhD students – an understanding of synchrotron techniques and operation for research purposes. Participants attend lectures, tour the facility and perform beamline experiments that complement their lectures.

Publications

Report of the ... meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, Australia and New Zealand. 1888–1930

1923 ANZAAS Congress in Wellington (NZ).

Report of the ... meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science. 1930–1997

Frontispiece from the report of the association's second meeting, held in Melbourne in January 1890
Estimate of ANZAAS congress attendees. Red points denote congresses held in New Zealand.
  • 21st Meeting ... Sydney, New South Wales. August 1932 – Conference President – Sir John Hubert Plunkett Murray
  • 22nd Meeting ... Melbourne, Victoria. January 1935 – Conference President – Sir Douglas Mawson
  • 23rd Meeting ... Auckland, New Zealand. January 1937 – Conference President – Sir Albert Cherbury David Rivett
  • 24th Meeting ... Canberra, ACT. January 1939 – Conference President – Sir Ernest Scott
  • 25th Meeting ... Adelaide, South Australia. August 1940 / August 1946 – Conference President – Prof. P. Marshall
  • 26th Meeting ... Perth, Western Australia. August 1947 – Conference President – Prof. A. E. V. Richardson
  • 27th Meeting ... Hobart, Tasmania. January 1949 – Conference President – Arthur Bache Walkom
  • 28th Meeting ... Brisbane, Queensland. 1951 – Conference President – Professor Emeritus Sir Kerr Grant
  • 29th Meeting ... Sydney, New South Wales. August 1952 – Conference President –
  • 30th Meeting ... Canberra, ACT. January 1954 – Conference President – Sir Theodore Rigg
  • 31st Meeting ... Melbourne, Victoria. August 1955 – Conference President – Sir Richard van der Riet Woolley
  • 32nd Meeting ... Dunedin, New Zealand. 1957 – Conference President – Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet
  • 33rd Meeting ... Adelaide, South Australia. August 1958 – Conference President – Sir Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant
  • 34th Meeting ... Perth, Western Australia. 1959 – Conference President – Herbert Cole H.C. Coombs
  • 35th Meeting ... Brisbane, Queensland. May–June 1961 – Conference President –
  • 36th Meeting ... Sydney, New South Wales. 1962 – Conference President –
  • 37th Meeting ... Canberra, ACT. January 1964 – Conference President –
  • 38th Meeting ... Hobart, Tasmania. 1965 – Conference President –
  • 39th Meeting ... Melbourne, Victoria. 1967 – Conference President –
  • 40th Meeting ... Christchurch, New Zealand. 1968 – Conference President –
  • 41st Meeting ... Adelaide, South Australia. 1969 – Conference President –
  • 42nd Meeting ... Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. 1970 – Conference President – Prof. Samuel Warren Carey
  • 43rd Meeting ... Brisbane, Queensland. 1971 – Conference President – Sir Gustav Victor Joseph Nossal
  • 44th Meeting ... Sydney, New South Wales. 1972 – Conference President –
  • 45th Meeting ... Perth, Western Australia. 1974 – Conference President – Prof. Eric John Underwood
  • 46th Meeting ... Canberra, ACT. January 1975 – Conference President – The Hon. Mr Justice John Halden Wootten
  • 47th Meeting ... Hobart, Tasmania. 1976 – Conference President – Prof. W.D. Barrie
  • 48th Meeting ... Melbourne, Victoria. 1977 – Conference President –
  • 49th Meeting ... Auckland, New Zealand. 1979 – Conference President –
  • 50th Meeting ... Adelaide, South Australia. 1980 – Conference President –
  • 51st Meeting ... Brisbane, Queensland. 1981 – Conference President –
  • 52nd Meeting ... Sydney, New South Wales. 1982 – Conference President – Sir Zelman Cowen
  • 53rd Meeting ... Perth, Western Australia. 1983 – Conference President – Prof. Ralph Owen Slatyer
  • 54th Meeting ... Canberra, ACT. 1984 – Conference President – Sir Gustav Victor Joseph Nossal
  • 55th Meeting ... Melbourne, Victoria. 1985 – Conference President – Sir Edmund Percival Hillary
  • 56th Meeting ... Palmerston, New Zealand. 1987 – Conference President – Sir David Stuart Beattie
  • 57th Meeting ... Townsville, Queensland. 1987 – Conference President –
  • 58th Meeting ... Sydney, New South Wales. 1988 – Conference President – Prof. Geoffrey Norman Blainey
  • 59th Meeting ... Hobart, Tasmania. 1990 – Conference President – Dr. Brian H. Walker
  • 60th Meeting ... Adelaide, South Australia. 1991 – Conference President – Prof. David Boyd
  • 61st Meeting ... Brisbane, Queensland. 1992 – Conference President – Dr. Robyn Williams AM
  • 62nd Meeting ... Perth, Western Australia. September 1993 – Conference President – The Hon. Barry Owen Jones
  • 63rd Meeting ... Geelong, Victoria. September 1994
  • 64th Meeting ... Newcastle, New South Wales. 1995
  • 65th Meeting ... Canberra, ACT. 1996
  • 66th Meeting ... Adelaide, South Australia. 1997

A 67th Meeting was scheduled for Hobart in 1998 but did not proceed.

  • at Australian Science at Work, accessed 28 February 2007
  • Elkin, A.P. (1962), A Goodly Heritage: ANZAAS Jubilee Science in New South Wales, Sydney, V.C.N. Blight, Government Printer
  • MacLeod, Roy (1988), The Commonwealth of Science – ANZAAS and the Scientific Enterprise in Australasia 1888–1988, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-554683-0.

External links