Born: 8 April 1896, Australia
Died: 31 August 1966
Country most active: Australia
Also known as: Catherine Mabel Joyce K Allan
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.
Joyce Allan was Australia’s first female conchologist. She wrote extensively on shells and created accurate illustrations of shells for both her own and other people’s publications. Her illustrations were signed Joyce K. Allen. She joined the Australian Museum in 1917 as assistant to the Museum’s conchologist, Charles Hedley. On is retirement in 1924 Joyce was briefly in charge of the Conchology Department until her erstwhile assistant, Tom Iredale, was appointed Curator in 1925. It was only on his retirement in 1944 that Joyce became Curator. In her research Joyce focussed especially on gastropod molluscs formerly known as Ophisthobranchia (sea slugs), including sea butterflies and many of the nudibranchs. Her papers were published in scientific journals such as the Australian zoologist and those published by the Museum, as well as newspapers and popular magazines. Her books included Australian shells, with related animals living in the sea, freshwater and on the land (1950), a highly regarded work and the first to include most of Australia’s known molluscs. In 1943, Joyce became the first woman to be elected a fellow of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales.
Chronology
1916 – 1924
Career position – Assistant (temporary, later permanent), Conchology Department, Australian Museum
1924 – 1925
Career position – Curator, Conchology Department, Australian Museum
1925 – 1944
Career position – Assistant, Conchology Department, Australian Museum
1942 – 1944
Career position – Assistant to the Superintendent of Air Raid Precautions training, National Emergency Services
1943 – 1966
Award – Fellow, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales
1944 – 1956
Career position – Curator of Molluscs, Australian Museum
1956
Career event – Retired
1956 – 1962
Career position – Honorary Zoologist, Australian Museum
1956 – 1966
Career position – Patron, Malacological Society of Victoria
Read more (Australian Dictionary of Biography)
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