Edward Athol Rutland Lord (E.A.R. Lord) 1888-1961
As a prelude
to the planned outing to the Murphys Creek area in August, member Jan Veacock
shared her research regarding a past member who, during his short period of
membership, contributed greatly to the Club.
Born at Taroom in the Dawson
River area on 24 December 1888 to parents William Fletcher Lord and Ann Sophia
Lord (Queensland cemetery records) E.A.R. Lord spent most of his life in the
Murphys Creek area where he indulged his passion for Natural History, a passion
which he loved to share. E.A.R. Lord joined our Club in 1952 and remained a
member until his death in 1961. Although unable to attend meetings he led many
outings to Murphys Creek areas such as Paradise Creek, Alice Creek and Fairy
Dell. From the anecdotes of earlier settlers, he always believed that Paradise
Creek was named after the Paradise Parrot, once common in the area.
He was a
regular contributor to our Journal with some 50 articles being attributed to
him. Most, but not all, were related to his observations in the Murphys Creek
area. In November 1953 (Issue 16, p7-16) he gave us his Murphys Creek Bird
census listing some 226 bird species with relevant notes. This contribution
predates by several years his contributions entitled The Birds of the Murphys Creek District, Southern Queensland which appeared in the Emu (Vol 56, May 1956, p100-128).
He also wrote articles for the Queenslander and the Brisbane Courier and was visited by
naturalists from far afield. According to his nephew, Maxwell S Miles, “All of
his innumerable scrap books etc. and field notes…I lodged with the Royal
Australian Ornithologists Union in their archives at the Latrobe University,
Melbourne”.
(Report by Ernie Potts)
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