The Australian Natural History Medallion is awarded each year by the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (FNCV) to the person judged to have made the most meritorious contribution to the understanding of Australian Natural History. The idea originated with J. K. Moir, a book collector and member of the Bread and Cheese Club. Moir wrote to the FNCV in 1939 suggesting that such a medallion should be awarded to a person who had performed, in his words, ‘a signal service’ to the protection of flora and fauna—‘a variation of the Nobel awards’. Nominations for the Medallion are made by field naturalist clubs and kindred bodies from all over Australia, each nomination being valid for a three-year period. The Medallion has been awarded annually since 1940. In that time, recipients have been honoured for their work in every field of natural history studies, and have come from every state and territory in Australia.
The list of Medallionists and the year of the award is as follows:
1940 – Alexander Hugh Chisholm
1941 – Frederick Chapman
1942 – David Fleay
1943 – Herbert Ward Wilson
1944 – John McConnell Black
1945 – Charles P. Mountford
1946 – Heber A. Longman
1947 – Philip Crosbie Morrison
1948 – Ludwig Glauert
1949 – Edith Coleman
1950 – Bernard C. Cotton
1951 – Tarlton Rayment
1952 – John Burton Cleland
1953 – Charles Leslie Barrett
1954 – Herman M. R. Rupp
1955 – Stanley R. Mitchell
1956 – Dominic Louis Serventy
1957 – Charles Ernest William Bryant
1958 – Charles J. Gabriel
1959 – Keith Alfred Hindwood
1960 – James Hamlyn Willis
1961 – Emil H. Zeck
1962 – Norman Arthur Wakefield
1963 – Thistle Y. Stead
1964 – Winifred Waddell
1965 – Roy Wheeler
1966 – J. Ros Garnet
1967 – Gilbert P. Whitley
1968 – Norman Barnett Tindale
1969 – Charles Austin Gardner
1970 – Jean Galbraith
1971 – Alexander Clifford Beauglehole
1972 – Allen Axel Strom
1973 – Edmund D. Gill
1974 – Vincent Noel Serventy
1975 – Alison M. Ashby
1976 – Winifred M. Curtis
1977 – John Russell (Jack) Wheeler
1978 – Allan Roy Sefton
1979 – Helen Aston
1980 – Michael Tyler
1981 – Elizabeth Marks
1982 – Howard Jarman
1983 – Trevor Pescott
1984 – Kevin Keneally
1985 – Jack Hyett
1986 – Graham Pizzey
1987 – Robert G. H. Green
1988 – John Dell
1989 – Bruce A. Fuhrer OAM
1990 – Ellen McCulloch
1991 – Fred J. C. Rogers
1992 – Enid L. Robertson
1993 – Alan J. Reid
1994 – Joan Cribb
1995 – W. Rodger Elliott
1996 – Ken N.G. Simpson
1997 – Geoffrey Monteith
1998 – Peter W. Menkhorst
1999 – Mary P. Cameron
2000 – Dr. Malcolm Calder
2001 – Alan B. Cribb
2002 – Ian D. Endersby
2003 – Clive Dudley Thomas Minton
2004 – David Lindenmayer
2005 – Pauline Reilly
2006 – Ian Fraser
2007 – Jeanette Covacevich
2008 – Ern Perkins
2009 – Richard Shine AM
2010 – Don P. A. Sands OAM
2011 – John Woinarski
2012 – No award made
2013 – Marilyn Hewish
2014 – Tom May
2015 – Margaret MacDonald
2016 – Max S. Moulds OAM
