Not just another gentlemen’s club: The origins and significance of the Royal Society of NSW

This event is in partnership with the Royal Society of NSW

Event Date & Time: Wednesday, 16 July 2025 @ 1.00 pm – 3.00 pm

Event Location: History House, 133 Macquarie St, Sydney NSW 2000

Cost: RAHS/RSNSW members $10 | Non-members $15 (includes afternoon tea)

Event Description:

The Royal Society of NSW is a twenty-first-century organisation with a long history in the intellectual culture of Sydney and beyond. In this talk, Anne Coote will discuss the origins of this learned society, its character and social position in nineteenth-century NSW, and the significant contribution it made to the development of an active colonial research community.

About the speaker:

Dr Anne Coote is a professional historian and an associate of Macquarie University’s Centre for Applied History. One of her research interests is the cultural history of science in colonial Australia. Anne has published academically on popular science journalism, the trade in natural history specimens at a local and global level, and the intersection of commercial species collecting with ideas about class. Her book, Knowledge for a Nation: Origins of the Royal Society of New South Wales, was published in 2024.