Welcome to the Philip Spradbery website which covers my professional interests as an entomologist and science communicator and also a variety of extra-curricular activities.

The website provides an entry to the titles of my scientific publications as well as popular science and associated press articles. There are also several stories about sailing and an introduction to the history of boating in Port Moresby. A longstanding interest in motor cars is covered pictorially.

A lifelong passion for painting, printing and sculpture gives me an opportunity to display my wares on the website and also introduce a cousin, Walter E. Spradbery, to those who have not heard of this eminent artist and pacifist.

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I have been a practicing scientist now for more than half a century since beginning my degree course in Zoology at Queen Mary, University of London, in 1956.

After postgraduate studies at Rothamsted Research I became a qualified research entomologist and joined the European-based CSIRO Sirex Woodwasp Biological Control project.

I remained with CSIRO Entomology for 40 years (1963-2003) although the last 15 years were as an Honorary Research Fellow.

More than 100 publications, several books and book chapters later, I am still engaged in full-time research, exploring chemical communication in social wasps, utilizing the abundant and notorious European wasp in Canberra.

My research life has involved working in 35 different countries worldwide, including more than a decade in Papua New Guinea working on screw-worm fly - how fortunate is that for a biologist!

My company, XCS Consulting, manages the European Wasp Awareness and Insect Identification Service for the Australian Capital Territory.

During the financial purges at CSIRO in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the concept of a loose consortium of independent consultants had considerable appeal - as scientist colleagues were rendered redundant, discarded by the organisation, many joined me to form XCS Consulting in 1993.

With up to 70 names on the register at times, the company was competitive with other agencies in bidding for research projects - and without the excessive bureaucracy and overheads of the parent organizations.

My scientific studies began with social wasps and will conclude with them, it seems. Nearly 60 years of studying the social behaviour of wasps and hornets in Europe, Australia and Papua New Guinea has proved a very productive and exciting field of enquiry and with very little competition from other colleagues - an advantage of working with an animal that can cause pain or even death and has modest commercial value! Virtually all my wasp research has been done as a privateer with little or no outside monies, scholarships or consultancy income. The only exception was my postgraduate studies at Rothamsted on an Agricultural Research Council scholarship (thank you, Professor Vincent Wigglesworth!). The European wasp awareness program in Canberra these past six years has helped fund and provide material for my current research.

The WASP book published in 1973 was a significant highlight in my waspish career, but if we can define the chemical identity of the sterilizing pheromone in the European wasp, that will be the pinnacle, the culmination of a lifetime and especially the past 20 years research into queen control of reproductive physiology in social wasps.

The most damaging entomological threat to Australia's livestock industries in the tropics and sub-tropics is the screw-worm fly. The Old World screw-worm fly species (Chrysomya bezziana) is widely distributed in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea at our very doorstep.

If accidentally introduced, costs to the industry, unless a prompt and effective response is taken, have been estimated to be about AUD$1 billion per annum. The pest is also a threat to humans, companion animals and wildlife with all warm-blooded animals susceptible to this flesh-eating fly. The New World screw-worm fly (Cochliomyia hominivorax) of the America's has been eradicated from the USA and Central America, and also from Libya in North Africa in 1991 after an accidental introduction in 1988.

Many people have a dislike or superstition of spiders, but spiders perform a very important ecological role in controlling many insect pests. Someone estimated that the weight of insects eaten by spiders every year is greater than the weight of the total human race!

In Australia, there are about 2,000 different spider species, most unlikely to be seen by us as they are mainly hidden away in the daytime and hunt for their prey at night.

Different media outlets provide a conduit that connects specialists, be they scientists or sailors, car or sports enthusiasts, with an interested and often non-specialized or unqualified public. None of us are specialists at everything - even within our specialized subjects - hence the value of the 'New Scientist' or 'Australian Sailing' magazines, for example.

I have always been a firm believer in talking about my scientific interests with the public, starting with children's TV programs in UK in the early 1960s, talks to community groups and schools, news and current affairs interviews for radio, TV and the print media. Articles for popular journals such as Air Niugini's in-flight magazine, 'Paradise', proved a good vehicle for showing off colour photos (see WASPS).

Running the European Wasp Awareness program for the A.C.T. Government in Canberra for the past six years makes it mandatory for me to get on the box and radio and cajole the local press to run stories on the wasp. By raising awareness and understanding in this way we seem to be having some influence in reducing the adverse impact of this urban pest - but only time will tell how effective we have been.

Serious sailing began for me on arrival in Hobart, Tasmania, in 1971. Buying a 28-foot keel boat and learning to sail was a high point in my life. Sailing with friends on Weeneon the Derwent and beyond was memorable. A honeymoon cruise to Bruny Island on my Naiad III was even more so.

My interest in boats continued in Papua New Guinea with Caprice a 25 footer and then Even a 60-footer and previous Line Honours winner in the 1955 Sydney-Hobart Race. A 21-foot workboat and a Heron dinghy were also added to the owner's list.

I was in different Executive positions at the Royal Papua Yacht Club during my 12 years in PNG. During this time we installed a floating marina, represented PNG in a variety of overseas yachting events and hosted many international regattas in Moresby.

Like any young man living in England I wanted a sports car. I was fortunate to be able to buy an MG TA roadster in 1955 while finishing my degree course in London - thanks to parents who had saved some money for me when times were difficult, although I think their ambitions for Philip's future fund did not include sports cars!

Many different sports and other cars were bought, worked on and exchanged for better ones until I was the proud owner of an Austin Healey 3000 Mk III BJ8 which joined me in Tasmania when I moved to Australia with my CSIRO work in 1971.

My 12 years in Papua New Guinea were a fallow period for sports cars but I now have a bright red MGB roadster in the garage for my maturing years.

Ever since school days when I was given every encouragement to paint and draw I have had an interest in making art. Although my old school's ambition for me to study at the Slade School of Art in London never eventuated, I was able to utilize my abilities, such as they were, to help me as a biologist and amateur journalist.

My school pictures earned some praise from the Royal Drawing Society (so-called 'Children's Royal Academy').

Cartoons and caricatures for student newspapers at Uni were fun as were artworks associated with the theatre and student reviews. I took every opportunity to study at local schools of art from the Art Department at Luton Tech in Bedfordshire to the Tasmanian Art School and the Canberra-based ANU School of Art.

Here is a random selection of artworks that remain in my possession either as originals or as photo images. I must admit that most look better on the small screen than they would on a gallery wall!

Walter E. Spradbery was an artist and pacifist. Refusing to take up arms in the First World War, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps and became a paramedic and stretcher bearer on the Somme battlefield. Here he earned many citations for bravery including the awarding of a Distinguished Conduct Medal. On the day the Armistice was signed, he wrote from the trenches to his Mother:

He went on to produce a significant body of work, much of it for London Transport with his famous posters. Married to opera singer, Dorothy d'Orsay, they lived an idyllic existence at their home, 'The Wilderness' in Epping Forest. I had the pleasure of meeting Walter at 'The Wilderness' when I was a young student in the late 1950s.

The biography of his life and times has recently been compiled and published by his son, John Spradbery.

We live in a dynamic world - anything might happen and often does. This page gives me the opportunity to add late news, the latest happenings in my world and beyond.

It could be entomological, mechanical, aquatic or environmental.

As my European wasp research continues to explore the queen's sterilizing pheromone, perhaps this will become the hot news... wish me luck and the energy to continue the quest for its chemical identity. In the meantime I shall be busy preparing my impromptu remarks following the announcement!

Whether your visit to this site is for the first time, or you are a regular viewer, please click on... Late News.pdf