Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand

The Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand (1868 - 1961) is one of New Zealand’s most important research publications, particularly for science.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand website

About the Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand

The Royal Society (known as the New Zealand Institute before 1933) was established in 1867 to co-ordinate and assist regional research societies, including the Auckland Institute, the Wellington Philosophical Society and the Otago Institute.

The Transactions cover a wide range of subjects. Science has always predominated but ethnography, agriculture, history and literature also featured in the early days of the publication. By the 1920s the Transactions were exclusively scientific, with particular focus on botany, zoology and geology.

Contributors to the Transactions include James Hector, William Colenso, Charles Fleming, Thomas Hocken, and Ernest Rutherford.

Access items in this collection

All 88 volumes are available online. The full text of the volumes is available for searching, and you can browse and print images. Page images include many full colour versions of illustrations, photographs and maps.

Related resources

For more information about the Transactions and Proceedings see Science, settlers and scholars: the centennial history of the Royal Society of New Zealand, by Charles Fleming, 1987.