Special Commendation

FOR OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS THE PROMOTION OF THE AUSTRALASIAN FOSSIL FAUNA AND ITS CONSERVATION

Michael Archer and Suzanne Hand

Mike Archer is a Professor and member of the PANGEA Research Centre at UNSW. His research focuses on the deep past such as the World Heritage fossil deposits at Riversleigh, the fragile present such as conservation through sustainable use of native resources including having native animals as pets, securing the future based on the wisdom of the fossil record, and trying to bring extinct species back into the world of the living.

Mike has received a range of awards including Fellowships in the Australian Academy of Science, Royal Society of NSW, Royal Zoological Society of NSW (President 1985-86), Australian College of Educators, the Eureka Prize for Promotion of Science, the Romer-Simpson Medal of the Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology and is a Member of the Order of Australia. He has produced over 350 scientific publications including editing or co-authoring 16 books.

Sue Hand is an Emeritus Professor based at the PANGEA Research Centre in the University of New South Wales. She is a vertebrate palaeontologist of world renown researching the history of Australian mammals, continuing climate and environmental change in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania, implications of that change for forest and island faunas, and the biodiversity, global relationships and evolutionary ecology of bats.

Sue is a Fellow of the Royal Zoological Society of NSW (President 1990-91) and has authored or co-authored 262 publications including 11 books and 28 book chapters. Her research covers the areas of evolutionary biology, functional morphology, phylogenetics, and biogeography, with a special interest in fossil and modern mammals.

A key focus of the UNSW PANGEA Research Centre is the study of the fossil-rich Cenozoic faunas of the Riversleigh World Heritage Area in north-western Queensland. These extremely rich 40 square kilometre deposits span the last 26 million years of Australia's extraordinary prehistory and have been described by Sir David Attenborough as one of the four most important fossil deposits in the world. The UNSW research group lead by Mike and Sue has been exploring, processing and studying assemblages from these deposits for over 40 years. Their findings have more than trebled previous knowledge about the diversity of Australia’s terrestrial vertebrates with identification of more than 300 new kinds of animals.

Career-long contributions to publication of books qualify Mike Archer and Sue Hand as outstanding recipients of the Whitley’s Special Commendation for 2023.

Commendations

	Whitley Medal Prehistoric Australasia by Michael Archer, Suzanne Hand, John Long, Trevor Worthy and Peter Schouten (Illustrator) CSIRO Publishing
	Children's Reader Who's Afraid of the Light? by Anna McGregor Scribble (an imprint of Scribe Publications)
	Urban Zoology for Children Peregrines in the City by Andrew Kelly, Sue Lawson and Dean Jones (Illustrator) Wild Dog Books
	Children’s Illustrator On the Trail of the Plains-wanderer: A Precious Australian Bird by Rohan Cleave and Julian Teh (Illustrator) CSIRO Publishing
	Children’s Investigative Zoology Sylvia and the Birds: How the Bird Lady Saved Thousands of Birds and How You Can Too! by Johanna Emeney and Sarah Laing (Illustrator) Massey University Press
	Children’s Natural History Tasmanian Devil by Claire Saxby and Max Hamilton (Illustrator) Walker Books Australia
	Educational Children’s Book and Noel Tait Award for Best Children’s Book Eyes on Flies by Bryan Lessard Pan Macmillan Australia
	Zoology Guide A Guide to Land Snails of Australia by John Stanisic, Darryl Potter and Lorelle Stanisic CSIRO Publishing
	Zoology Resource Wildlife Research in Australia by Bradley Smith, Helen Waudby, Corinne Alberthsen and Jordan Hampton CSIRO Publishing
	Wildlife Photography Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea Edited by Chelsea Maier and Chris Williams New Holland Publishers
	Historical Zoology Thylacine by Branden Holmes and Gareth Linnard CSIRO Publishing
	Conservation Zoology Ahuahu: A Conservation Journey in Aotearoa New Zealand by David Towns Canterbury University Press
	Popular Ecology Koala by Danielle Clode Black Inc
	Cultural Knowledge and Zoology Gurawal the Whale: An ancient story for our time by Max Dulumunmun Harrison and Laura La Rosa (Illustrator) Magabala Books
	Highly Commended Quail, Buttonquail and the Plains-wanderer in Australia and New Zealand by Joseph Forshaw and Frank Knight (Illustrator) CSIRO Publishing