In Winter 1821, the Philosophical Society of Australasia was established in New South Wales. Renamed the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1866, the organisation celebrates 200 years of engagement with science, art, literature and philosophy! Nexus an exhibition celebrating the Societies intellectual life over the past two centuries will open at the State Library of New South Wales later this year…read more.
Nexus has two meanings – a central point; and a connection linking two or more things. From the beginning, the Society has embodied both definitions, first as a forum for discovery and later as an advocate for some of the major issues confronting humanity today.
With 200 years of history, the exhibition can only showcase a fraction of the Societies archives and achievements in telling the story of its origins, ideas, advances and impacts.
Highlights include:
- Letters from Professor Sir T W Edgeworth David, Antarctic explorer, on sum thaw line observation on the Nimrod (British Antarctic) Expedition 1907 – 1909, led by Sir Ernest Shackleton.
- Two original letters and illustrations by Lawrence Hargrave, a noted aviation pioneer and the first in Australia to fly. Hargrave published 23 papers on aeronautics in the Society’s Journal & Proceedings.
