Career in Australia
Emigrating to Australia in 1870 he was given a position in the accountant's branch of the Launceston and Western District railway. He transferred to the government service in 1872, authoring "Field Memoranda for Tasmanian Botanists" (Launceston, 1874). In 1880 he became chief clerk in the Audit Department, his former railway colleagues presented him with a watch inscribed:
| “ | Presented to ROBERT MACKENZIE JOHNSTON by personal friends, on the occasion of his going from amongst them, in recognition not merely of his scientific attainments, but also of his social worth, and as a token of the high esteem and great regard in which he has been ever hold. Launceston, Tasmania, August, 1880. Invitum sequitur honos. | ” |
In 1882 Johnston was appointed registrar-general and government statistician. Johnston was appointed a royal commissioner to report on the fisheries of Tasmania, being the author of "Descriptive Catalogue of Tasmanian Fishes" (Hobart, 1882). Johnston also did much geological work, and in 1888 the government published his Systematic Account of the Geology of Tasmania. He was president of the economic and social science and statistics section at the meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science held at Melbourne in 1890, and with the coming of federation he was able to influence very much the special problems of finance that were raised. He originated the scheme of per-capita payments by the Commonwealth to the states that was eventually adopted. Johnston was offered and declined the position of government statist for New South Wales, and declined to be a candidate for the position of Commonwealth statist.
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