An direct man with forceful opinions, he left the Acclimatisation Society stating:

As a leading member of the Acclimatisation Society, he stocked almost every lake and river in Canterbury with fish and was instrumental in introducing the bumblebee to New Zealand.

For 22 years, he was secretary of the Acclimatisation Society, during which time he stocked almost every lake and river in Canterbury with fish.

From the late 1860s he was a committee member of the Canterbury branch of the Acclimatisation Society, being active in the introduction to New Zealand of trout and Chinook salmon, among other non-native fauna.

Birds taken mainly from Tasmania and Victoria were introduced into New Zealand by local Acclimatisation Societies of Otago and Canterbury in the 1860s, with the Wellington Acclimatisation Society releasing 260 birds in 1874.

Dobson was president of the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria in 1884, was a fellow of the Linnean Society and member of the Victorian Acclimatisation Society.

In 1880 he was awarded a Silver Medal by the Acclimatisation Society of France "for publications".

With Albert A. C. Le Souef, Frederic Race Godfrey established the Government Reserve at Gembrook for the Acclimatisation Society.

New Scientist review of They Dined on Eland: The Story of the Acclimatisation Societies by Christopher Lever,(1993)

As a member of the Acclimatisation Society of Victoria, Thomas Austin helped to introduce many species from England.