Bill Lane

Selwyn George "Bill" Lane E.D. R.L. (1922–2000) was an Australian amateur ornithologist who worked for the Sydney County Council for most of life until he retired in 1983.

Career

Bill Lane joined the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU) in 1947, was a State Representative for New South Wales on that body from 1964 until 1967, and a Vice-President from 1968 to 1969. He was elected a Fellow of the RAOU in 1983. He was a founding member and President of the Australian Bird Study Association.

Lane banded Australian birds for half a century (from the 1950s to the 1990s) throughout Australia, and was an early experimenter with cannon netting. He also helped in the training of many of Australia's bird-banders. Lane published numerous articles in the Australian Bird Bander, Corella and Emu. He was instrumental in raising the awareness of the impact urban development has upon the habitat and distribution of Australia's native birds and other animals. He was awarded the inaugural John Hobbs Medal of the RAOU in 1995 in recognition of his contributions to amateur ornithology.

S.G. 'Bill' Lane Award

The S.G. 'Bill' Lane Award is presented annually by the Australian Bird Study Association to the most outstanding student in ornithology at Charles Sturt University. Recipients of the award are: 2001: Cheryl Gole 2002: Helen Stevens 2003: Maria Grazia Bellio 2004: Lara Juliusson, of Denver, Colorado, USA. 2005: Gavin Jackson 2006: Alison Bowling 2007: Jennifer Nicholls, Leonie Daws and Philip Hughes 2008: Simon Robinson 2009: Dr Anne Lehnert 2010: Peter McGregor 2011: Bronwyn McCulloch 2012: Michelle Smart 2013: Mary Thompson 2014: Sara Judge 2015: Kirsty Wilhes 2016: David Smith 2017: Robert Faulconbridge 2018: Louise Williams 2019: Claire Williams 2020: Allison Roberts 2021: Ross McMillan 2022: Sang Tran 2023: Cecile Espigole