Born: 1916 (circa), Australia
Died: 2000
Country most active: Australia
Also known as: Joan Cleland
This biography has been shared from The Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, published by the Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology, under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Joan Paton was a keen amateur ornithologist. In the early 1960s she registered as a Bird-bander to support her son, David’s (q.v.) interest in banding. (He was not allowed to register as he was under 16.) She and David and many others banded extensively in their backyard at Beaumont, as well as further afield.
Details
Daughter of J.B. Cleland (q.v.). Widely known as an amateur ornithologist and an active Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union member. Great supporter of the South Australian Ornithological Association, of which she was Vice-President 1974-79, President 1979-82 and Honorary Member 1990. In about 1930 she won a SAOA junior prize for an essay on bird observations on her holidays. Her Workers’ Education Association and Adult Education classes from the 1950s on bird observing and ornithology brought many supporters to the SAOA. She was also one of the first women to join the Adelaide Ornithologists Club.
Chronology
1979 – 1982
Career position – President, South Australian Ornithological Association
1990 – 2000
Award – Honorary Member, South Australian Ornithological Association
1991
Career position – President, Adelaide Ornithologists Club
2021
Award – Inducted into the South Australian Environment Hall of Fame