Charles Fenner

File:Charles Fenner.png

Fenner was born in the town of Dunach, Victoria (near Ballarat), the fifth child of German born Johannes Fenner and Mary Fenner, née Thomas, of Adelaide. After leaving school he embarked on an apprenticeship as compositor{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129987541 |title=Passing By |newspaper=The News (Adelaide) |volume=46 |issue=7,110 |location=South Australia |date=17 May 1946 |accessdate=10 January 2021 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} with the Talbot Leader{{cite book |author=Lynne Trethewey |title=Australian Dictionary of Biography: 'Fenner, Charles Albert (1884–1955)' |chapter=Fenner, Charles Albert (1884–1955) |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/fenner-charles-albert-6154/text10569 |year=1981 |access-date=10 January 2021}} a local newspaper.

He won a scholarship to attend Melbourne Teachers' College, and graduated BSc with Honours and Dip. Ed. in 1913.

Fenner taught at several Victorian schools before being appointed (joint?) principal of the Ballarat School of Mines in November 1914. He also had charge of the school's Geology department, the teaching of which was favorably commented on by examiners. He paid particular attention to field work, which the students enjoyed, as well as being important to their education.

Fenner also prepared students for the Geology examinations at Melbourne University, with notable success.

In 1916 he accepted the post of Superintendent of Technical Education in South Australia, a position he held until May 1939, when he was appointed acting Director of Education in place of W. J. Adey who was on the eve of retirement.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article30041990 |title=Education Director's Retirement |newspaper=The Advertiser (Adelaide) |location=South Australia |date=23 May 1939 |accessdate=10 January 2021 |page=16 |via=National Library of Australia}}

During that time he completed research work for his D.Sc and from 1929 lectured in geography at the University of Adelaide, and in 1937 went on an extended overseas tour.

In September 1939 he succeeded Adey as Director of Education and held that position until 1946, when he retired due to ill health.{{cite web|url=https://federation.edu.au/about-us/our-university/history/geoffrey-blainey-research-centre/honour-roll/f/charles-fenner-1884-1955 |title=Charles Fenner (1884–1955) |author=Clare Gervasoni |publisher=Federation University |year=2010 |access-date=9 January 2021}}

He worked as a volunteer for the South Australian Museum, pursuing his research into tektites, among other interests, and contributed numbers of articles to Walkabout,{{Cite journal |last=Holmes, O.B.E.. M.C.., F.R.G.S. |first=Charles |date=1 November 195 |title=How Walkabout Began |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-747971298 |journal=Walkabout |volume=25 |issue=11 |pages=9}} until 1954 when he suffered a stroke, and died a year later. His remains were buried in the Centennial Park Cemetery.

Fenner was president of the Royal Society of South Australia in 1931, and a member of the board of governors of the Public Library. Most of his spare time was spent in research and on geology excursions.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129925900 |title=Familiar Figures |newspaper=The News (Adelaide) |volume=XVI |issue=2,390 |location=South Australia |date=16 March 1931 |accessdate=9 January 2021 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}

He was particularly interested in australites, small glassy, often button-shaped, objects found on the Nullarbor Plain and elsewhere in southern Australia, believed to be ejecta from a large meteorite that landed in China.

Fenner won the

• Sachse Gold Medal (awarded by the Royal Geographical Society (Victorian Branch),Fenner, Frank (2006). [https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p34751/html/ch16s13.html Chapter 16. The Scientist and Science Communicator: Prizes for Scientific Work] In: [https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/nature-nurture-and-chance Nature, Nurture and Chance: The Lives of Frank and Charles Fenner] {{isbn|9781920942632}} Retrieved 6 September 2024. named in honour of its president, Arthur SachseBrowne, Geoff. [https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/sachse-arthur-otto-8320 Arthur Otto Sachse (1860–1920)], Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 6 September 2024.) in 1919 for a paper delivered to the Royal Society of Victoria, dealing with the geology of the Werribee River basin.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article210592333 |title=Honoring Dr Fenner |newspaper=The Express and Telegraph |volume=LVI |issue=16,726 |location=South Australia |date=7 May 1919 |accessdate=9 January 2021 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}
• David Syme Research Prize in 1929 for a thesis, Adelaide, South Australia: A Study in Human Geography{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article53466030 |title=David Syme Research Prize |newspaper=The Register News-pictorial |volume=XCIV |issue=27,350 |location=South Australia |date=12 April 1929 |accessdate=9 January 2021 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}
• John Lewis Medal (awarded by the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia) in 1947 for South Australia: A Geographical Study.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article36007624 |title=J. L. Lewis Medal for Dr C. E. Fenner |newspaper=The Advertiser (Adelaide) |location=South Australia |date=31 October 1947 |accessdate=9 January 2021 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}

A portrait of Fenner by Beulah Symes Leicester was a finalist for the 1938 Archibald Prize. A portrait by his friend Ivor Hele was held by Croydon Park College of Further Education.

Fenner was the author of six books, including:

• {{cite book|title=South Australia: A Geographical Study |author=Charles Fenner |publisher=(pub. not known) |year=1931}}
• {{cite book|title=Bunyips and Billabongs : an Australian out of doors |author=Charles Fenner, with a foreword by Frederic Wood Jones |publisher=Angus & Robertson, Sydney |year=1933}}
• {{cite book|title=Australites : a unique shower of glass meteorites |author=Charles Fenner |publisher=Royal Society of South Australia |year=1934}}
• {{cite book|title=An Intermediate Geography of South Australia |author=Charles Fenner |publisher=SA Education Department |year=1944}}
• {{cite book|title=Mostly Australian |author=Charles Fenner, with drawings by John C. Goodchild |publisher=Georgian House, Melbourne |year=1945}}

==Other publications=={{cite web|url=http://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p34751/mobile/ch16s17.html| title=Bibliography of Charles Fenner's Publications on Science |access-date=10 January 2021}}

Royal Society of Victoria:

• Physiography of the Mansfield district, 1913–14Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, vol. 26, pp. 386–402
• Notes on the occurrence of Quartz in Basalt, 1915Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, vol. 27, pp. 124–32
• Physiography of the Glenelg River, 1918.Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, vol. 30, pp. 99–120
• Physiography of the Werribee River Area, 1918.Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, vol. 31, pp. 176–313
• The Bacchus Marsh Basin, Victoria, 1925Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, vol. 37, pp. 144–69

Royal Society of South Australia:

• The craters and lakes of Mount Gambier, 1921Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia, vol. 40, pp. 169–205
• Adelaide, South Australia: a study in human geography, 1927.Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, vol. 51, pp. 193–256
• A geographical enquiry into the growth, distribution and movement of population in South Australia 1836–1927, 1929.Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia, vol. 53, pp. 79–145
• Major structural and physiographic features of South Australia, 1930.Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia. vol. 54, pp. 1–36
• The significance of the topography of Anstey Hill, South Australia, 1939Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, vol. 63, pp. 69–87
• Australites, Part 1, Classification of the W. H. C. Shaw collection, 1934Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, vol. 58, pp. 62–79
• Australites, Part 2, Numbers, forms, distribution and origin, 1935
• Australites, Part 3, A contribution to the problem of the origin of tektites, 1938Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, vol. 62, pp. 62–79
• Australites, Part 4, The John Kennett collection, with notes on Darwin glass, bediasites, etc., 1940
• Australites, Part 5, Tektites in the South Australian Museum, with some notes on theories of origin, 1949Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, vol. 73, pp, 7–21

Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science

• Notes on the advance of physiographical knowledge of Victoria since January 1913 (with Frederick Chapman).Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science Report 15, January 1921, pp. 314–18
• Notes on the advance of physiographical knowledge of South Australia since January 1913 (with L. K. Ward).Australian Association for the Advancement of Science Report 15, January 1921, pp. 323–26
• The physiography of the Adelaide region, 1924.Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, Adelaide, Handbook, pp. 12–14
• The natural regions of South Australia, 1930Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science Report 20, pp. 509–45
• Report of the Research Committee on the Structural and Land Forms of Australia and New Zealand, 1935.Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science Report 22, pp.463–74

Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, S.A. Branch

• The growth and development of South Australia, 1934–35.Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, S.A. Branch, vol. 36, pp. 65–89
• The value of geography to the community, 1937–38Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, S.A. Branch, vol. 39, pp. 61–8
• The Kybunga daylight meteor (with G. F. Dodwell), 1942–3Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, S.A. Branch, vol. 44, pp. 6–19
• The first discoverers of South Australia; the tercentenary of Nuyts, 1925–6.Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, S.A. Branch, vol. 27, pp. 23–8
• Thebarton Cottage—the old home of Colonel William Light, 1926–7.Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, S.A. Branch, vol. 28, pp. 25–45
• Two historic gumtrees associated with the Burke and Wills expedition of 1861, 1927–8Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, S.A. Branch, vol. 29, pp. 58–78
• Colonel Light's last diary, with introductory notes by Charles Fenner, 1933–4.Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, S.A. Branch, vol. 35, pp. 93–129

Others

• Physiography of Victoria, 1923Pan-Pacific Science Congress Proceedings, vol.1, pp. 719–21
• The structural and human geography of South Australia, 1931British Association for the Advancement of Science Report, pp. 413–14
• The Bacchus Marsh Basin, Victoria, 1933Progress in Australia, vol. IV, no. 7, 4 pages
• The Murray River basin, 1934Geographical Review, American Geographical Society of New York, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 79–91
• A sketch of the geology, physiography and botanical features of the coast between Outer Harbor and Sellicks Hill (with J. B. Cleland), 1935)Field Naturalists Section of the Royal Society of South Australia, Publication No. 3, 35 pages
• Geology and physiography of the National Parks near Adelaide, 1936South Australian Naturalist, vol. 17, pp. 16–25
• Aboriginal records near Broken Hill (with A. B. Black) 1945Records of the South Australian Museum, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 289–92
• The origin of tektites, 1933Nature, vol. 132, p. 571
• Australites: A unique shower of glass meteorites, 1938Mineralogical Magazine, London, vol. 25, pp. 82–5
• Sandtube fulgurites and their bearing on the tektite problem, 1949Records of the South Australian Museum, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 127–42
• Chapter 2, Foothills, plains and streams, 1956, pp. 7–10The First Hundred Years: A History of Burnside in South Australia, Corporation of the City of Burnside

For 25 years he wrote an "unbroken series of weekly articles on science for two Victorian newspapers",{{which|date=January 2021}} perhaps alluding to his articles as 'Tellurian' for The Australasian of which [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/141782232 this] and [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/141781809 this] are examples. It appears however, that 'Tellurian' was not one single person.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51856889 |title=Nature and Science |newspaper=The Examiner (Tasmania) |volume=XCII |issue=286 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=13 February 1934 |accessdate=11 January 2021 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Fenner married teacher Emma Louise "Peggy" Hirt in Ballarat on 4 January 1911. Their five children were:

• (Charles) Lyell Fenner (17 August 1912 – 25 May 1997)
• Frank Johannes (later John) Fenner (21 December 1914 – 22 November 2010), famous biologist
• Winifred Joyce "Winn" Fenner (26 August 1916 – ) taught at Walford Anglican School for Girls. She never married.
• Lieut-Cmdr Thomas Richard "Tom" Fenner R.A.N. (18 June 1918 – 21 September 1946) married Margaret Jane Legge Suter on 10 June 1948{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22540911 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=31,755 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=11 June 1948 |accessdate=11 January 2021 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}
• William Greenock "Bill" Fenner (11 March 1922 – ) "Greenock" was named for the volcanic hill behind Charles's boyhood home. Bill was author of Quality and Productivity for the 21st Century

They had a home at 42 Alexandra Avenue, Rose Park. After Fenner's death Peggy moved to 10 Springbank Road, Panorama.{{cite book|author=Frank Fenner |title=Nature, Nurture and Chance: The Lives of Frank and Charles Fenner}}

• [https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/33682/459384.pdf?sequence=1 Nature, Nurture and Chance: The Lives of Frank and Charles Fenner] Free online.

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Category:1884 births

Category:1955 deaths

Category:Australian geographers

Category:Australian geologists

Category:Australian naturalists

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