Frederick McCoy

McCoy was the son of Simon McCoy and was born in Dublin; some sources have his year of birth as 1823, however 1817 is the most likely. He was educated in Dublin and at Cambridge for the medical profession.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

McCoy's interests, however, became early centred in natural history and, especially, palaeontology. At the age of eighteen he published a Catalogue of Organic Remains compiled from specimens exhibited in the Rotunda at Dublin (1841). He assisted Sir Richard Griffith by studying the fossils of the carboniferous and silurian rocks of Ireland, resulting in two publication: A Synopsis of the Character of Carboniferous Limestone Fossils of Ireland (1844){{cite book |last1=McCoy |first1=Frederick |last2=Griffith |first2=Richard |title=A synopsis of the characters of the Carboniferous limestone fossils of Ireland |date=1844 |publisher=University Press |location=Dublin |url=https://archive.org/details/synopsisofcharac00mcco}} and Synopsis of the Silurian Fossils of Ireland (1846).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}{{cite book |last1=McCoy |first1=Frederick|title=A Synopsis of the Silurian Fossils of Ireland |date=1846 |publisher=University Press |location=Dublin |url=https://archive.org/details/mc-coy-1846-a-synopsis-of-the-silurian-fossils-of-ir}}

In 1846 Adam Sedgwick secured his services, and for at least four years he devoted himself to the determination and arrangement of the fossils in the Woodwardian Museum at Cambridge. Sedgwick wrote of him as "an excellent naturalist, an incomparable and most philosophical palaeontologist, and one of the steadiest and quickest workmen that ever undertook the arrangement of a museum" (Life and Letters of Sedgwick, ii. 194). Together they prepared the important and now classic work entitled A Synopsis of the Classification of the British Palaeozoic Rocks, with a Systematic Description of the British Palaeozoic Fossils in the Geological Museum of the University of Cambridge.{{cite book |last1=Sedgwick |first1=Adam |last2=McCoy |first2=Frederick |title=A synopsis of the classification of the British Palaeozoic rocks with a systematic description of the British Palaeozoic fossils in the geological museum of the University of Cambridge |date=1855 |publisher=John W.Parker & Son |location=London}} [https://archive.org/details/synopsisofclassi00sedg Text and descriptions]; [https://archive.org/details/synopsisofclassi02sedg Plates] Meanwhile, McCoy in 1850 had been appointed professor of geology in Queen's College, Belfast.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

McCoy's examination of fossil material preserving the teeth of Thylacoleo, an extinct carnivore, saw him enter the debate on the apparent absence of large predators in Australia's mammalian fauna; McCoy sided with Richard Owen's interpretation of his new species as representing a "marsupial lion".{{cite journal |last1=Mace |first1=Bernard |title=Frederick McCoy - the Challenge of Interpretation of Thylacoleonid Fossil Material |journal=The Victorian Naturalist |date=2001 |volume=118 |issue=6 |pages=287–293 |url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40143569 |publisher=Field Naturalists Club of Victoria.}}

File:Dangerous Snakes of Victoria poster.JPG|access-date=25 November 2014}}]]

In 1854, McCoy accepted the newly founded professorship of natural science in the University of Melbourne, where he lectured for upwards of thirty years.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}Wilkinson (1996b). When McCoy began his work at the university there were few students, and for many years he took classes in chemistry, mineralogy, botany, zoology, comparative anatomy, geology and palaeontology. In endeavouring to cover so much ground it was impossible for him to keep his reading up to date in all these sciences, and he remained most distinguished as a palaeontologist.

In 1857, he took over the National Museum of Natural History and Geology in Melbourne. He convinced the Melbourne University and state Government to house the museum at the university.Wilkinson (1996a). After a new building for it was constructed, it was re-opened as the National Museum of Victoria in 1864.{{cite book|title=Australian Dictionary of Biography: Sir Frederick McCoy|chapter-url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mccoy-sir-frederick-4069|last=Fendley|first=G. C.|chapter=McCoy, Sir Frederick (1817–1899)|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|access-date=2020-04-27}} McCoy built up significant natural history and geological collections for the museum, as well as spending a substantial sum setting up a reference library to assist the scientific research undertaken by the museum's first curators.{{Cite web|url=https://museumsvictoria.com.au/collections-research/library-and-archives/|title=Museums Victoria: Library and archives|language=en|access-date=2020-04-23}} McCoy was in correspondence with several prominent scientists and collectors of the time, including John Gould, from whom he purchased specimens, including mammals, insects, shells, and bird skins, as well as copies of Gould's scientific publications for the museum.{{cite journal|last=Fleming|first=Anthea|date=2001|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/124069#page/214/mode/1up|title=Birds, books and money: McCoy's correspondence with John Gould (1857-1876)|journal=The Victorian Naturalist|volume=118|issue=5|pages=210–218|access-date=2020-04-27}}{{list journal|date=2001|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/124069#page/241/mode/1up|journal=The Victorian Naturalist|volume=118|issue=6|access-date=2020-04-27}}

McCoy, on becoming associated with the Geological Survey of Victoria as palaeontologist, composed the volumes concerning his field as Prodromus of the Palaeontology of Victoria (1874–82).{{Cite book|author=McCoy, Frederick|date=1882|title=Geological Survey of Victoria. Prodromus of the Palæontology of Victoria; or, Figures and Descriptions of the Victorian Organic Remains. Decade VIII|volume=7|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/63413|language=en}} Melbourne and London: George Robertson. (John Ferres, Government Printer. 30 pp.) He also issued the Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria (1885–90).{{Cite book|author=McCoy, Frederick|date=1885–90|title=Natural history of Victoria. Prodromus of the zoology of Victoria; or, Figures and descriptions of the living species of all classes of the Victorian indigenous animals...|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/4821#/summary|language=en}} He was president of the Royal Society of Victoria in 1864 and vice-president in 1861 and 1870.

Frederick McCoy described three species of Australia's venomous snakes during 1878–1879,"McCoy". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org. including Oxyuranus microlepidotus, commonly known as the inland taipan or fierce snake, which is considered to be the world's most venomous snake.Zug, George R.; Ernst, Carl H. (2015). Snakes: Smithsonian Answer Book. Washington, District of Columbia: Smithsonian Books. 182 pp.

McCoy helped to found a society intended to introduce exotic animals to Australia by "acclimatisation", responsible for the release of fish, mammals and flocks of birds with an often disastrous ecological impact; the Acclimatisation Society would later be renamed the Victorian Zoological Society. McCoy sought to replace what he perceived as the silence or unpleasant noises of the Australian bush with sounds of English songbirds, and celebrated the successful introduction of the european rabbit and starling which were already recognised as pests by the colonial farmers.G. C. Fendley, '[http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A050156b.htm McCoy, Sir Frederick (1817–1899)]', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5, MUP, 1974, pp 134–136.

McCoy was a Christian creationist who rejected evolution and natural selection.Mozley, Ann (1967). Evolution and the Climate of Opinion in Australia, 1840-76. Victorian Studies 10 (4): 411–430. He argued that the paleontological record offered evidence of the sudden appearance and disappearance of species. The abrupt appearance of species was the result of supernatural plan. He thus supported a form of progressive creationism.

W. R. Gerdtz, in a 2001 paper in The Victorian Naturalist, noted that "McCoy's belief in the Creator's perfect and universal plan of successive creation appeared to be contradicted by the fossil evidence McCoy himself described."Gerdtz WR (2001). [https://archive.org/stream/VictorianNatura118Fiel#page/230 "McCoy and Sarcophilus harrisii Boitard, 1842 – A Diabolical Relationship"]. The Victorian Naturalist 118 (5): 231-233.

McCoy contributed many papers to local societies, and continued his active scientific work for fifty-eight years – his last contribution, "Note on a new Australian Pterygotus," was printed in the Geological Magazine for May 1899.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

He was awarded the Murchison Medal of the Geological Society of London in 1879, was elected F.R.S. in 1880,{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} and was one of the first to receive the Hon. D.Sc. from the University of Cambridge.{{acad|id=MY887F|name=McCoy, Frederick}}

In 1886, he was made CMG, and in 1891 KCMG. He died in Melbourne on 16 May 1899.{{cite journal |title=Obituary: Professor Sir Frederick McCoy, K.C.M.G., M.A., D.Sc. (Cantab), F.R.S., F.G.S. |journal=Geological Magazine |date=1899 |volume=6 |pages=283–287 |doi=10.1017/S0016756800143213 |url=https://archive.org/details/obituary-mc-coy-1899-geologicalmagazi-4618wood|doi-access=free }}

A species of Australian lizard, Anepischetosia maccoyi, is named in his honour.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. ("McCoy, F.", p. 172).

The McCoy Society for Field Investigation and Research was formed in 1935 at the University of Melbourne,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11864764 |title=Island Camp Life for Science |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=27,869 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=14 December 1935 |accessdate=19 February 2022 |page=23 |via=National Library of Australia}} and emulated in the Ralph Tate Society of the University of Adelaide.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article191419203 |title=The Ralph Tate Society's Visit to Kangaroo Island |newspaper=The Kangaroo Island Courier |volume=XXXIII |issue=8 |location=South Australia |date=23 February 1940 |accessdate=19 February 2022 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}

McCoy's life and career was commemorated by two special issues of The Victorian Naturalist published in 2001.{{list journal|date=2001|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/124069#page/149/mode/1up|journal=The Victorian Naturalist|volume=118|issue=5|access-date=2020-04-27}}

{{botanist|McCoy|border=0}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite DNBSupp|wstitle=McCoy, Frederick |first=Thomas George|last=Bonney}}
• {{EB1911|wstitle=McCoy, Sir Frederick|volume=17|page=206}}
• {{Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=Frederick|Last=McCoy|shortlink=0-dict-biogMc.html#mccoy1}}
• G. C. Fendley, '[http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A050156b.htm McCoy, Sir Frederick (1817–1899)]', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5, MUP, 1974, pp 134–136.
• Wilkinson, Ian R. (1996a), "The Battle for the Museum: Frederick McCoy and the Establishment of the National Museum of Victoria at the University of Melbourne", Historical Records of Australian Science, Vol.1, No.1, (January 1996), pp. 1–11. {{doi|10.1071/HR9961110001}}
• Wilkinson, Ian R. (1996b), [https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2845231615/view?partId=nla.obj-2845275058#page/n57/mode/1up "Frederick McCoy{{em-dash}}First Science Professor at the University of Melbourne"], History of Education Review, Vol.25, No.1, (1996), pp. 54–70.

{{Wikisource author}}

• [http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/caughtandcoloured/McCoy.aspx Caught and Coloured: Zoological Illustrations of Colonial Victoria, Museum Victoria, Melbourne Australia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060914090745/http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/caughtandcoloured/McCoy.aspx |date=14 September 2006 }}
• [http://www.brightoncemetery.com/HistoricInterments/150Names/mccoyf.htm Sir Frederick McCoy (1817/23-1899)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071006151907/http://www.brightoncemetery.com/HistoricInterments/150Names/mccoyf.htm |date=6 October 2007 }} Gravesite at Brighton General Cemetery (Vic)

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Category:1817 births

Category:1899 deaths

Category:Australian paleontologists

Category:Christian creationists

Category:Irish paleontologists

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society

Category:Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George

Category:Australian people of Irish descent

Category:Scientists from County Dublin

Category:19th-century Irish zoologists

Category:19th-century Australian zoologists

Category:Museum administrators

Category:Murchison Medal winners

Category:People from the Colony of Victoria