The Western Australian Naturalist

The Western Australian Naturalist (also known as the Naturalist), is the peer-reviewed scientific journal of the Western Australian Naturalists' Club. It publishes original research on topics related to the natural history of Western Australia.

It was established in 1947.^[1][2]

Similar publications emanated from groups that were established in other Australian states, the South Australian being a part of the Royal Society in that state^[3] and the Victorian publication was established as early as the 1880s.^[4]

The editor from 1947 to 1980 was Dom Serventy.

At times the publication and contents of the issues of the Naturalist were noted in the local newspaper The West Australian.^[5]

The history of the club was first published in the Naturalist in 1964^{[6][full citation needed]} and subsequently expanded and published separately at a later date.^[7]

George Seddon in his work Sense of Place wrote:^[8]

there are three good local inexpensive journals that should be in every school and public library: The Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, the Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Western Australian Historical Society and The Western Australian Naturalist [...].

The Naturalist was the location of:

• the original description of the short necked tortoise Pseudemydura umbrina
• the details of the rediscovery of the noisy scrub bird Atrichornis clamosus
• the further description and habits of the frog Myobatrachus gouldii
• the further elaborations of the behaviours of the giant ghost bat Macroderma gigas

At various stages offprints have been made of articles on subjects that had not had publication elsewhere,^[9][10][11] or items from The Naturalist have been included in compiled volumes.^[12]