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J.N. Hobbs Memorial Medal |
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The J.N. Hobbs medal was once a medal awarded by the NSW regional groups of Birds Australia, but since 1999 has been a national award which is conferred for outstanding contributions to Australasian ornithology by an amateur ornithologist. Nominations are made by Birds Australia members and the winner is selected by a committee that includes representatives from Regional and Special Interest Groups and the Research and Conservation Committee (RACC). The committee operates under a  set of guidelines (160kb).
J.N. Hobbs Memorial Medal 2005Graham Pizzey (1930-2001)
Graham Pizzey grew up in Melbourne and forsook an assured career in the family business to become a freelance natural history writer and photographer. He travelled extensively in Australia, observing, writing about, photographing and filming wildlife and its habitats. He wrote for the Melbourne Age (1954—64) and then for the Melbourne Herald (1965—83), and became a household name, a voice for conservation that thousands of people heard and trusted. He also wrote for many overseas journals, including National Geographic, and took part in some early ABC television natural history documentaries.
Graham’s contributions to Australian natural history have been widely recognised. He was a member of the Order of Australia and a recipient of the Australian Natural History Medallion. In 200, RMIT University awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Applied Science. An Honorary Associate in Ornithology at the Museum of Victoria, he served on many boards and councils including stints as a Council member of Birds Australia and the Australian Conservation Foundation.
Graham’s legacy is a better-informed public and a swag of award-winning books that includes the Field Guide to the Birds of Australia. The result of 15 years of research and travels to witness every Australian species himself, the Field Guide to the Birds of Australia was first published in1980 and has been reprinted 15 times, most recently in 2003. Among his other best-sellers are Australian Bird-Garden: Creating Havens for Native Birds (2000), and nature memoirs A Garden of Birds (1988) and Journey of a Lifetime (2000).
It is difficult to think of a more worthy candidate for the John Hobbs Medal. Few have done more to popularise birds, nature and conservation issues. Few have managed a more articulate and accurate description of our birds, informed by a broad yet intimate experience of them. The posthumous award of the Hobbs Medal to Graham confirms Birds Australia’s recognition of his outstanding contribution to Australian ornithology.
(text by Penny Olsen in Wingpsan Vol. 15 No. 4) | | 
Graham Pizzey
J.N. Hobbs Memorial Medallists
2005 Dr. Graham Pizzey AM
2004 Graeme Chapman
2003 Brian Coates
2001 Pauline Reilly OAM
2000 Dr Clive Minton AM
1999 John Courtney
1998 Alan Leishman
1997 Stephen Marchant AM
1996 Dr Durno Murray
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