McCULLOCH, Allan Riverstone (1885-1925)

zoologist

son of Herbert Riverstone McCulloch, was born at Sydney, on 20 June 1885. At the age of 13 he began working as an unpaid assistant to E. R. Waite (q.v.), at the Australian museum, who encouraged him in the study of zoology. In 1906 McCulloch was appointed assistant in charge of vertebrates at the museum, and soon afterwards began to specialize in the study of Australian fishes and fish-like animals. His first paper appeared in the Records of the Australian Museum in 1906, and until his death papers by him were published every year in that or some other scientific journal. Though never of robust physique he was a great worker, and made several trips to the Great Barrier Reef and various Pacific islands, obtaining fresh information about his work. In 1922 he made an adventurous journey through Papua with Captain Frank Hurley. His unremitting work undermined his health, which broke down badly in 1923. At the time of his death at Honolulu on 1 September 1925, McCulloch was on 12 months' leave in the hope that rest and change might benefit him. By his premature death, a scientific worker of unusual distinction was lost, who held the first place in his subject in Australia. He was also an excellent organizer and trainer of younger members of the staff of the Australian museum. His Check List of Fishes and Fish-like Animals of New South Wales was published by the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales in 1922, and nearly five years after his death, A Check List of the Fishes Recorded from Australia, prepared from McCulloch's materials, and edited by Gilbert P. Whitley, was published as Memoir V of the Australian museum of Sydney. A monument to his memory was placed on Lord Howe Island, a place held in great affection by McCulloch.

C. Anderson, Records of the Australian Museum, 1926-7, which includes a list of McCulloch's papers; Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 1926, p. VI; Introduction to A Check List of the Fishes Recorded from Australia.