McCulloch, Allan R. (Allan Riverstone), 1885-1925

Allan Riverstone McCulloch, icthyologist and field naturalist, was born in Concord, Sydney on 20 June 1885. At the age of 13 he began working as an unpaid assistant to E R Waite at the Australian Museum, who encouraged him in the study of zoology. In 1906 McCulloch was appointed assistant in charge of vertebrates at the museum, and soon afterwards began to specialize in the study of Australian fishes and marine animals. His first paper appeared in the "Records of the Australian Museum" in 1906, and until his death papers by him were published every year in that or some other scientific journal.

Though never of robust physique McCulloch was a great worker, and made several trips to the Great Barrier Reef and various Pacific islands, obtaining fresh information about his work. In 1922 he made an adventurous journey through Papua with Captain Frank Hurley. McCulloch's unremitting work undermined his health, which broke down badly in 1923. He was found dead in his room at the Colonial Hotel, Honolulu on 1 September 1925, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He had been on 12 months' leave in the hope that rest and change might benefit him.

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