Ernest James Goddard PhD BA BSc (1883 - 1948)

Born 20 Feb 1883 in Newcastle, New South Wales (Australia)

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah May (Morris) Goddard — married 1910 in Petersham, New South Wales, Australia

Died 17 Jan 1948 at age 64 in Heron Island, Queensland, Australia

Biography

Professor Ernest James Goddard PhD BA BSc was born on 20th February 1880 in Newcastle, New South Wales (Australia). He was the second son of English-born coach painter Alfred Goddard and Irish-born Eliza Cowan. ^[1] He was educated at East Maitland Boys' High School and the University of Sydney, from which he graduated Bachelor Arts (1904) and Bachelor of Science (1906) with honours in of zoology and palaeontology. As Linnean Macleay research fellow in 1908 he carried out superficial work on the Hirudinea and Oligochaeta for which he received in 1910 the university's first doctorate in zoology. His thesis was published as a series of papers in the Journal of the Linnean Society of New South Wales.

On 28th April 1910 Ernest married Sarah Morris in New South Wales. ^[2] They did not have children.

Appointed to the chair of zoology in Victoria College (later the University of Stellenbosch), Cape Province, South Africa, by 1922 he had made his department the largest in the country.

The Goddards returned to Australia in 1922 upon Ernest's appointment as Professor of Biology at the University of Queensland. In 1927 he became the first dean of the faculty of agriculture. Active in establishing faculties of agriculture, dentistry, veterinary science and medicine, Ernest also chaired many societies, including the Royal Society of Queensland, the Queensland Naturalists' Club, the Queensland branch of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science, the Entomological Society of Queensland and the Australian-American Association. From 1936 to 1939 he was seconded to the State Department of Agriculture and Stock as science co-ordinating officer.

While setting up a marine research station on Heron Island, Queensland, on the eve of retirement, Ernest died of coronary occlusion on 17th January 1948. He was almost 68 years of age. ^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ New South Wales Birth Index #26562/1883
2. ↑ New South Wales Marriage Index #6144/1910; registered at Petersham
3. ↑ Queensland Death Index #1948/C/369

See also

• Clarke, E. 'Goddard, Ernest James (1883–1948)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1983; accessed online 31 Jan 2022.