Frederick McCoy

The teaching of geology and palaeontology began at the University of Melbourne following the appointment of Irish naturalist Frederick McCoy as Professor of Natural Sciences in 1854. McCoy arrived in Melbourne in December 1854, and in 1855 began teaching a wide range of subjects including geology, palaeontology, mineralogy, chemistry, botany, zoology and comparative anatomy. He was primarily a palaeontologist and zoologist and although this remained the main focus of his teaching and research he was also involved in many other activities such the establishment of the National Museum of Victoria. He was appointed Government Palaeontologist in 1856 and subsequently Director of the National Museum in 1858.

McCoy persuaded the Victorian government to build the museum in the university grounds and with considerable vigour and administrative shrewdness was able to construct an institution that by the end of the 19^th century was acknowledged as one of the world’s significant natural history museums. McCoy also became embroiled in some long running geological controversies in which in retrospect he did not always distinguish himself. However as professor at the University of Melbourne he mentored an important first generation of Victoria’s geologists and palaeontologists such as T. S. Hall and G. B. Pritchard as well as T. S. Hart, E. G. Hogg, A. W. Cresswell, E. O. Thiele, H. Herman and A. S. Kenyon.

During the 1890s McCoy suffered long periods of illness and much of his geology and palaeontology teaching was carried out by T. S. Hall and G. B. Pritchard. McCoy’s lifelong tenure at the University of Melbourne ended with his death on 13^th May 1899.