The Royal Society of Victoria is the oldest learned society in the state of Victoria in Australia.
The Royal Society of Victoria (R.S.V.) was formed in 1859 from a merger between The Philosophical Society of Victoria (inaugural president Captain Andrew Clarke) and The Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science (inaugural president Justice Sir Redmond Barry), both founded in 1854. The first president of the R.S.V. was Baron Sir Ferdinand von Mueller, then Government botanist. In 1860 the R.S.V. organised the Burke and Wills expedition.
The Society has played an important role in the life of Melbourne and Victoria including establishing the Melbourne Museum and National Parks, convening the first Australian Antarctic Exploration Committee in 1885, organising the Burke and Wills expedition and establishing the Victorian Institute of Marine Sciences in 1978 (now the Marine and Freshwater Resources Institute from 1996). It continues to be active with monthly meetings throughout the year held in its historic headquarters at 9 Victoria Street in the centre of Melbourne.
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