Alison Alexander speaks about early scientific activity in Tasmania. The foundation of the Royal Society of Tasmania is sometimes seen as the start of scientific activity, but an interest in science was shown much earlier. Individuals did their research and experiments, and from 1827 there were scientific societies, which had their ups and downs - not surprisingly in a small colony.
Alison Alexander has been a long-term member of THRA and is currently editor of its Papers and Proceedings. She has worked as a freelance historian and as a lecturer and tutor in history at the University of Tasmania. Alison has written some thirty books about Tasmania's history. In 2014 she won the Australian National Biography Award for The Ambitions of Jane Franklin.