From James Thomson   26 July 1889

Royal Geographical Society of Australasia. ¹

Honoured Sir,

On behalf of the above-named Society I beg to acknowledge receipt of your esteemed letter dated the 3rd inst.² addressed to our ex-President, & to inform you that it was duly placed before our Council & carefully considered at its meeting held today.

As your letter, in its conclusion, solicits an expression of opinion upon the substance of its own contents, which, are in effect, the deliberations of your distinguished Council, I am directed in the first instance to place before you a brief summary of previous action in connexion with the proposed establishment of a Fellowship, then to convey to you the opinion of our Council in accordance with your request. —

About twelve months ago this branch recognising in our Australasian Society the absence of a stimulating influence for the reward of meritorious labours & the encouragement of latent talent which would in no way limit individual operations, &, observing that although our learned colleagues representing our sister branches had, in conference assembled, adopted no active means to make such provision further than mere reference thereto, also observing no practical & united efforts by individual or collective branches in that direction, unanimously adopted a resolution at its annual meeting then held, providing for this want. This resolution, which also invited united action & solicited an expression of opinion from our sister branches, was subsequently forwarded to them for their respective consideration. Our Sydney branch acknowledged the receipt & promised attention by its Council. Our Adelaide confreres never acknowledged that nor any subsequent communication, a circumstance which indicates inactivity. Our learned colleagues of the Melbourne branch with their characteristic courtesy duly acknowledged receipt by letter dated August 10. 1888.³ This letter, which, singularly enough, not merely acknowledged but actually promised co-operation, also stated that the importance of the matter had been previously brought before the geographical conference held in Adelaide by the Victorian branch. Although subsequently written about we heard nothing more of the question till about a month ago we quite unexpectedly received a letter from Melbourne dated May 24th,⁴ accompanied by a copy of Diploma of Membership, which, in a slightly altered form we were asked to order from your printer for presentation to all of our members. The compliance with your request, which practically admitted of no choice,⁵ for the order & adoption by us of these Diplomas of membership, which, be it marked, had previously been adopted by you, & actually issued to your members entirely unknown to us, was duly authorised by our Council. — In consideration of this subsequent arrangement for the issue of Diplomas to all classes of members, our Council, which assembled especially for the purpose, considered it necessary to reconstruct its previous resolution, & again submit it to our members for conformation.⁶ This reconstructed resolution having been previously prepared & transmitted to our sister branches, was brought forward at our last annual meeting held on the 15th inst. & I have great pleasure in informing you, unanimously adopted. We are also informed by letter that our Sydney branch has heartily co-operated by unanimously adopting our resolution at its last annual meeting. From the foregoing you will observe that ample time was afforded to all our sister branches for the full consideration of the whole subject.

Having thus summarised past actions, I am directed to convey to you our warm felicitation, & in reply to the suggestions contained in your letter our Council expresses the following opinions. (1) That as no affiliation or obligation exists between the Royal Geographical Society of London & our own we are in consequence, in the future as in the past, dependent upon our own individual or collective resources for development of energy or application of forces, &, that as progressive science & art is entirely dependent upon individual originality & force of character & not by the adoption of current opinion, so will the career of our Society be entirely influenced by the condition of its administrative policy.

(2) That although no distinction may be drawn between members & Fellows in name, the Royal Geographical Society of London possesses in addition to its distinction of honorary & corresponding members various classes of medals, grants, & testimonials which it awards annually as distinctive attributes for distinguished services. —

(3) That the want of these stimulants in our Society is already felt by many who flag in interest, & by others who transfer their labours elsewhere. —

(4) That our distinction of corresponding member is only available to non-residents, & that of Hon. member usually to those who have completed a life of usefulness, both of which preclude activity in the affairs of the Society.

(5) That our adopted resolution anticipates no additional grade of membership. —

Taking into consideration the sum of the foregoing conditions, the Council begs to submit that the time is fully ripe for the generalisation of united & concentrated action by the several branches of our Society in making the necessary provision for the establishment of a limited Fellowship, as a distinctive attribute analogous to the medals, grants, & testimonials awarded annually by our sister societies elsewhere, &, to be as unlike the distinction of Hon. & corresponding membership, as to leave the possessor free to act as an active agent in all matters connected with the Society, to provide a stimulus to the Society, & to foster unity & social intercourse. —

In conclusion I am also directed to state that in so far as this branch is concerned & that of our N. S. Wales sister action is complete, consequently we are unable to further consider negotations⁷ on the subject. Our Council will therefore be glad to receive an intimation that you have taken speedy & hearty co-operative action by the unanimous adoption of the resolution referred to, copy of which is in your possession. —

I am,

Honoured Sir

Yours faithfully

J. P. Thomson

Hon. Sec. & Treasurer.⁸ —

Baron Sir F. von Mueller K.C.M.G., F.R.S. &c.

President

Vic. Branch R.G.S.A.

Melbourne