Born: 26 March 1934, Australia
Died: 26 March 2020
Country most active: Australia
Also known as: NA
This biography has been shared from The Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, published by the Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology, under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Helen Aston is a botanist recognised as an authority on Australian vascular aquatic plants. She started her research in this neglected field after joining the staff of the National Herbarium of Victoria in 1957. Her papers were often illustrated with her own botanical drawings. In 1973 she published the landmark Aquatic plants of Australia. For ten years she was Curator of the Herbarium. Aston is equally well-known as an ornithologist, being an active member of several ornithological organisations and participating regularly in bird population surveys. She published A bird atlas of the Melbourne region in 1978. The genus Astonia was named in her honour.
Chronology
1957
Education – Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of Melbourne
1957 – 1964
Career position – Assistant Botanist, National Herbarium of Victoria
1964 – 1965
Career position – Botanist, National Herbarium of Victoria
1965 – 1982
Career position – Senior Botanist, National Herbarium of Victoria
1971 – 1973
Career position – President, Bird Observers’ Club
1973 – 1974
Career position – Australian Botanical Liaison Officer, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
1978 – 1988
Career position – Editor, Muelleria
1979
Award – Australian Natural History Medallion
1982 – 1991
Career position – Curator, National Herbarium of Victoria
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