Journal History
The first volume of “Journal and Proceedings of The Royal Society of Western Australia,” published in August 1915 for five shillings, contained a mathematical paper by M.A. Browne.
The publication was initially printed by the Government Printer and from Volume IX was divided into the Journal and Proceedings. The Proceedings contained news about the Society, while the Journal included contributions from various scientific fields. In the 1990s, the Society began receiving an annual printing subsidy from the State Government after the Government Printer’s closure and moved to the Publications Department of the Western Australian Museum. However, in 2016, the Society decided to publish the Journal exclusively online.
For over 100 years, the Journal of The Royal Society of Western Australia has made significant contributions to promoting and advancing science in Western Australia. The Society’s main areas of focus have been earth sciences, botany, and zoology, with the Journal containing articles on various scientific fields, such as taxonomy, physiology and ecology of animals and plants, palaeontology, mineral science, meteorites, geology, coastal geomorphology, oceanography, archaeology, wetlands, evolution, petrology, genetics, radiometric dating, climate history, and biogeography.