Julian Tenison Woods 1832-1889 : the interaction of science and religion

Abstract

Julian Tenison Woods died in Sydney on 7 October 1889. The various scientific societies lamented the loss of one of their most prolific contributors and eulogised his achievements. Newspapers and journals noted his passing and one obituarist predicted: if young Australia possess any aspirations beyond the development of brawn and the deification of sport, [then the memory of Woods], should shine for many a year to come like a fixed firmamental star secure in the esteem of us all! Yet interest in sport apparently triumphed over other aspirations, for the name of Julian Tenison Woods, scientist, gradually slipped into oblivion. An attempt by Richard Helms to immortalise him in 1896 by naming a spur in the Snowy Mountains, Mount Tenison Woods, failed. The name fell into disuse. Woods, however, eventually received some recognition because in 1975 a 780 metre crest in the D'Aguilar Range north-west of Brisbane received his name. This belated honour resulted from the efforts of the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, a religious Order founded by Woods, not from agitation by a group of scientists. If society at large forgot him, the religious Orders he founded kept alive his memory although, with the circulation of pious reminiscences, it often became less than real.