Bequests

Sir Thomas Elder financed and fitted out the Elder Scientific Exploration Expedition in 1891 at an estimated cost £ 5,000. He also bequeathed £2,000 in 1897 to the Library Trust.

Charles McPherson financed the Barclay expedition in 1901, by an estimated £2,000. In 1904 £400 plus in-kind use of SA Government camels helped fund Barclay's expedition into the north-east of South Australia.

• 1916 R Barr Smith £1,000 endowment fund
• 1918  John Lewis estate bequeathed £400 for the Scholarship Trust
• 1922 Alfred A. Simpson donated President's Chair, made of Australian Blackwood and Australian leather by Messrs Pengelley & Co,  estimated cost £200
• 1929 Thomas Gill (State’s Under Treasurer and RGSSA Hon Treasurer) bequeathed a significant Library (at reduced cost £300) and fittings
• 1929 Alfred A Simpson President in-kind charted RAAF aircraft for RGSSA Member Madigan to survey Simpson Desert and cross it using camels in 1939 estimated cost £3,500
• 1939 Dr Lucas Benham bequeathed a Library and furniture , estimated worth £600
• 1947 John Lewis estate bequeathed  family furniture from Benacre, an oil portrait,  and £800 for the Scholarship Trust
• 1953 Newland Map Cabinet Bequest estimated cost £200

• 1968 Mr Laffer, (previous RGSSA Hon. Treasurer) Bequest £1,000
• 1973  Keith Brock bequeathed $13,000 for the purpose of publishing and supporting the lecture program (Brock Memorial Lecture)
• 1975 Maj Gen G.W. Symes  bequeathed $5,000 in TRUST to support publications about SA and NT history
• 1984/5 Centenary Foundation Fund raised $5,400 from the membership through subscriptions -  put into SCHOLASRSHIP Trust in 2015
• 1990  Dr James Faull bequeathed his local history library (worth an estimated $4,000) and $3,000 cash to the Library Trust
• 1993  Australian Defence Force joint exercise provided in-kind support for Great Sandy Desert Walk, estimated cost $10,000
• 1994 WMC (now BHP) gave $5,000 to the Library Trust to conserve and house the photographic collections, and $20,000 to fund the monograph series publication on the Lake Eyre South Basin

• 2009 BHP donated $3,000 to fund Director RGS London to South Australia.
• 2011 From late Betty Lewis $10,000 for Lewis Fund (Scholarship Trust) plus ad hoc donations $800 at relaunch of Lewis fund, subsequently $2,000 annually for next 4 -5 years from Dick Grant Lewis descendent.
• 2011 Dick Bland bequeathed $45,000 as an unfettered legacy
• 2013 Kevin Griffin Estate $10,000 for Library Trust
• 2014 C Warren Bonython Estate $20,000 bequest
• 2018 Margaret Piper $5,000 in memory of late Bob Piper QC
• 2020 Dorothy Pyatt Estate $146,000 as an unfettered legacy
• 2022 Dennis Shearing $18,500 as an unfettered legacy
• 2022 Grattan and Junelee Wheaton Estate for Library refurbishment book shelves $100,000
• 2023 Roger Brown $1,000 as an unfettered legacy
• 2024 Estate of Stephanie Schrapel books and $53,200 as an unfettered bequest