Royal Zoological Society of NSW - RZS NSW

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The Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales is a non-profit, scientific organisation dedicated to the study and conservation of native Australian fauna

06/11/2026

The 2026 Whitley Award for Children’s Natural History goes to Anahera: The Mighty Kiwi Mama by Ruth Paul, published by Penguin Random House NZ.

05/11/2026

The 2026 Whitley Award for Children’s Conservation Awareness goes to Ningaloo by Tim Winton and Cindy Lane (illustrator), published by Fremantle Press.

04/11/2026

The 2026 Whitley Awards! 🏆
On 20 October, the Royal Zoological Society of NSW celebrated the 2026 Whitley Awards, recognising outstanding publications showcasing the unique wildlife of the Australasian region.

Awarded annually, the Whitley Awards are named in honour of Gilbert Whitley, former Curator of Fishes at the Australian Museum and a longstanding contributor to the Royal Zoological Society of NSW.

Over the coming days, we'll be highlighting this year's award recipients and their outstanding contributions to Australasian zoological literature.

Stay tuned as we celebrate the 2026 Whitley Award winners!

04/11/2026

🪰 Could we ever name every species on Earth?
This November, Wildlife at the Watering Hole takes a closer look at the extraordinary diversity of flies and the challenges of discovering and describing life on our planet.
Join Dr Daniel J. Bickel from the Australian Museum for “Unending Diversity: Can Life on the Planet be Completely Described or does Taxonomy have Limits?”
Explore the world of “dark taxa”: groups so diverse, poorly collected and difficult to classify that even defining their genera can be a challenge.
From biodiversity hotspots to species known from a single specimen, discover why describing every species might be impossible. And why that might not be such a bad thing!
📅 Monday 16 November | 6 pm
📍 Upstairs at the Rose of Australia, 1 Swanson Street, Erskineville
🎟️ Free to attend!
https://rzsnsw.wildapricot.org/event-6903897

Grab a drink and join the Royal Zoological Society of NSW for an evening exploring life’s remarkable diversity.

18/10/2026

🦴 What happens after an animal dies can be just as important as what happens while it is alive.
Scavenging has often been treated as secondary to predation in our understanding of food webs. But growing evidence suggests that scavengers may move enormous amounts of energy and nutrients through ecosystems — potentially even more than predators do.
Join us for “Matters of life and death: how scavenging and predation structure ecosystems” and discover why the ecological story does not end when an animal dies.
📅 19 October
🕕 6:00 pm
📍 Rose of Australia, 1 Swanson St, Erskineville
🎟️ Free to attend
https://rzsnsw.wildapricot.org/event-6870865

12/10/2026

🔬 Meet the speaker: Rhys Cairncross
Rhys Cairncross is an ecologist with a particular interest in community and conservation ecology.
He is currently completing a PhD at the University of Sydney, while also working as a research associate at the University of Technology Sydney and as a consultant ecologist.
His work spans a wide range of species, from plants through to apex predators, with a particular enthusiasm for reptiles and amphibians.
At our next Wildlife at the Watering Hole, Rhys will explore the often-overlooked ecological importance of scavenging, how it interacts with predation, and what these processes can tell us about the way ecosystems are structured.
📅 19 October | 6:00 pm
📍 Rose of Australia, 1 Swanson St, Erskineville
🎟️ Free to attend
https://rzsnsw.wildapricot.org/event-6870865

Follow Rhys on Instagram:
Find him on LinkedIn: Rhys Cairncross

09/10/2026

🦅 Wildlife at the Watering Hole: Matters of life and death
What shapes a food web — predation, scavenging, or both?
Join ecologist Rhys Cairncross for “Matters of life and death: how scavenging and predation structure ecosystems”.
Ecology has traditionally emphasised predation as a major pathway for moving energy and nutrients through food webs. But scavenging may play an even larger role than we once thought, with scavenging behaviour widespread across many animal groups and potentially contributing substantial energy to ecosystems.
In this talk, Rhys will explore how scavenging and predation interact across ecosystems, how these processes help structure ecological communities, and why understanding them matters for conservation.
📅 19 October
🕕 6:00 pm
📍 Rose of Australia, 1 Swanson St, Erskineville
🎟️ Free to attend
https://rzsnsw.wildapricot.org/event-6870865

Presented by the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales as part of our Wildlife at the Watering Hole series.
Follow Rhys on Instagram:

20/09/2026

🌱 When a bandicoot digs up your garden, is it really causing damage—or doing important ecological work?

Bandicoots are prolific diggers, turning over soil as they forage for food. These small marsupials provide valuable ecosystem services, with their digging benefiting soils, plants, fungi and other animals.
But the same behaviour has also brought bandicoots into conflict with people for generations, particularly in farms, suburban gardens and other human-shaped landscapes.
At this month’s Wildlife at the Watering Hole, PhD candidate Annabel will uncover the history of human–bandicoot conflict and ask how we can rethink our relationship with these often misunderstood native mammals.

Discover:
🐾 why bandicoots dig—and why it matters
🌱 how their foraging can benefit ecosystems
🏡 why bandicoots come into conflict with people
📜 how attitudes towards them have changed over time
🤝 how wildlife-friendly solutions could make coexistence easier

Join us for “Bandicoot battlers: Understanding historical and contemporary coexistence between humans and a misunderstood native digging mammal.”
📅 21 September
🕕 6:00 pm
📍 Rose of Australia, 1 Swanson St, Erskineville
🎟️ Free to attend
https://rzsnsw.wildapricot.org/event-6828990

14/09/2026

🔬 Meet the speaker: Annabel
Annabel is a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney’s Behavioural Ecology and Conservation Lab, supervised by Professor Peter Banks and Professor Dieter Hochuli.
Her research focuses on biodiversity conservation in transformed landscapes, with a particular interest in finding new ways to reduce human–wildlife conflict with one of Australia’s native digging mammals: the bandicoot.

Annabel first developed an interest in human–wildlife interactions while studying the invasion ecology of black rats during her Bachelor of Science (Advanced) (Honours) at the University of Sydney. She then built her ecological research experience through roles and internships with government and not-for-profit organisations before returning to undertake her PhD.

At our next Wildlife at the Watering Hole, Annabel will explore the long and sometimes surprising history of conflict between people and bandicoots - and the practical solutions that could help us live alongside them.

📅 21 September | 6:00 pm
📍 Rose of Australia, 1 Swanson St, Erskineville
🎟️ Free to attend
https://rzsnsw.wildapricot.org/event-6828990

04/09/2026

🐾 Wildlife at the Watering Hole: Bandicoot battlers

Bandicoots might be shy, small and native to Australia - but their relationship with people has not always been an easy one.

Join PhD candidate Annabel for “Bandicoot battlers: Understanding historical and contemporary coexistence between humans and a misunderstood native digging mammal”.
Bandicoots are remarkable ecosystem engineers. Their digging helps shape soils and can benefit plants, fungi and other animals, yet their natural foraging behaviour has also brought them into conflict with people-particularly in farms, gardens and other human-modified landscapes.

Drawing on historical and contemporary examples of human-wildlife conflict, Annabel will explore why bandicoots have sometimes been viewed as pests, the pressures they continue to face, and how wildlife-friendly approaches could help people and bandicoots coexist.

📅 21 September
🕕 6:00 pm
📍 Rose of Australia, 1 Swanson St, Erskineville
🎟️ Free to attend
https://rzsnsw.wildapricot.org/event-6828990

Presented by the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales as part of our Wildlife at the Watering Hole series.

Address

Bradleys Head Road
Mosman, NSW
2088

Opening Hours

10am - 4pm

Telephone

+61299784616

Website

http://www.rzsnsw.org.au/

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