The Great Barrier Reef of Australia: a popular account of its general nature
First published in 1923 by the Queensland Government Intelligence and Tourist Bureau, this booklet was compiled by the Great Barrier Reef Committee (GBRC), which had been formed in Brisbane the previous year. The majority of the content was written by Charles Hedley, who was at that time perhaps the foremost authority in Australia on matters pertaining to the natural sciences.
 |
| The Great Barrier Reef of Australia: a popular account of its general nature. Photo: JCU Library Special Collections. |
Hedley had decades of field research experience and had published extensively in scientific journals. In 1890 he had accompanied Sir William McGregor on a scientific expedition to New Guinea and in 1896 had participated in an expedition organised by the Royal Society of London to bore the atoll of Funafuti in the Ellice Group of islands. In the two decades between 1900 and 1920, Hedley made many trips to north Queensland to study coastal and reef environments. When this booklet was published, Hedley was working for the Australian Museum in Sydney but by the following year (1924) he was the scientific director of the Great Barrier Reef Committee.
 |
| A portrait of Charles Hedley, published in 1936 by the Linnean Society of New South Wales. Photographer unknown. |
The Great Barrier Reef of Australia: a popular account of its general nature aimed to provide the general public with an understanding of the current state of knowledge about one of the country’s most important natural resources. At this time there was still much to learn about the Great Barrier Reef. Hedley considered that the biggest question that remained without a satisfactory answer was that of how coral reefs were formed. He wrote:
"It is obvious that the structure of the reef depends upon its foundation, and that to study this invisible foundation is like studying the human skeleton within the living body of a man...The foundation of the reef can only be deduced from borings and from physiography of mainland heights and ocean depths".[p.27]
 |
| Pages from The Great Barrier Reef of Australia: a popular account of its general nature. |
As far as the knowledge of the (coral) builders of the reef went, Hedley considered that the best way to study this aspect of enquiry was to study the corals while they were alive. To that end, he advocated for a marine zoological station to be established in the Tropics. Here, Hedley was reinforcing the GBRC’s primary aim, which was to investigate the reef's origin, growth and natural resources. He wrote:
"It is hoped that the establishment of such a station would not only solve questions of abstract scientific interest but also matters of practical utility, and would increase employment and add to the national wealth." [p.27]
Hedley covered a wide range of topics, from geographical descriptions/explanations to marine life and economic resources. A short section devoted to botany, written by Queensland Government Botanist C.T. White, was limited to less than three pages, though this section was expanded in later editions.
 |
| Pages from The Great Barrier Reef of Australia: a popular account of its general nature. |
This publication was a departure from the Queensland Government Tourist Bureau’s usual offerings, in that it contained information of a factual nature with no overt appeals to the potential tourist. The photographs were all in black and white, rather than the garishly over-tinted colour images of corals featured in other booklets on the reef. The Bureau’s previous publications unashamedly focused on Queensland’s scenic attractions and pleasant climate, while this booklet, though still written for a popular audience, was firmly scientific in nature.
Hedley's hope that a marine research station might one day be established in the Tropics was soon to become a reality, if only for a brief time. In 1928, a group of highly-talented young British scientists arrived on a small island off the coast of far north Queensland on a mission to conduct a year-long study of the largest coral reef in the world — the Great Barrier Reef. Through rigorous scientific investigation into the biological and geological complexities of the reef, they hoped to uncover precisely what coral reefs were, and in doing so, to better understand the life cycles of the animal and plant life on the reef and in the surrounding sea. None of them had ever seen a coral reef before. Read more in our Special Collections eBook Expedition to the Great Barrier Reef, written by Trisha Fielding, with contributions from Suzie Davies and Liz Downes.
Comments