Robert Etheridge, Junior

Robert Etheridge was a British palaeontologist who made important contributions to the Australian Museum.

Biography

Etheridge was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, the only son of the palaeontologist, Robert Etheridge and his wife Martha, née Smith. He was educated at the Royal School of Mines, London, under Thomas Huxley, and was trained as a palaeontologist by his father.
In 1866 Etheridge came to Australia, working under Alfred Richard Cecil Selwyn on the Victorian geological survey. In 1878–1880 with H. Alleyne Nicholson, Etheridge published a Monograph of the Silurian Fossils of the Girvan District in Ayrshire.
Robert Etheridge Jr. is noted for a transition in the study of Australia's vertebrate palaeontology. Prior to the works of Etheridge and fellow scientist Gerard Krefft fossil material was sent to experts overseas, but both these workers were confident they were capable of performing these analyses.