Hodgkinson was involved in what would become the Royal Society of Victoria, which discussed and advised the colonial government on scientific issues. One of his papers discussed at the Philosophical Institute held at the Museum of Natural History was titled "On the favourable geological and chemical nature of the principal rocks and soils of Victoria, in reference to the production of ordinary cereals and wine." Other papers presented included on Hydrometry, and the Geology of the Upper Murray area. Historian Georgina Whitehead has argued that his most notable contribution as a member was to argue, along with Secretary for Mines, Robert Brough Smyth, the need to use Australian rather than European calculations of evaporation and precipitation to site Melbourne’s first reservoir, leading the government to choose Yan Yean.