Born: 20 November 1925, Australia
Died: 10 July 2016
Country most active: Australia
Also known as: Enid Ashby
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.
Enid Robertson was a systematic botanist whose roles at both the Waite Agricultural Research Institute and the Department of Botany at the University of Adelaide included as curator of their herbaria. Her research ranged from Poaceae and Asteraceae to seagrasses. At the Department of Botany she managed the research infrastructure and an algal culture facility, as well as providing support to Bryan Womersley in his phycological research. She made significant contributions to the revised edition of part 4 of J. M. Black’s Flora of South Australia (1965) and wrote the substantial section on seagrasses for Womersley’s The marine benthic flora of southern Australia, part 1 (1984). In retirement Robertson focussed on conservation issues affecting the flora of the Mount Lofty Ranges, including the threat of invasive species. She lodged voucher specimens of over 1,200 of these weeds in the State Herbarium of South Australia.
Chronology
1946
Education – Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of Adelaide
1947 – 1953
Career position – Systematic Botanist, Waite Agricultural Research Institute, Adelaide
1953 – 1955
Career position – Senior Research Fellow, Department of Botany, University of Adelaide
1987
Award – Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to botany, particularly the conservation and management of native vegetation in South Australia, and to the community
1987
Life event – Retired retired
1992
Award – Australian Natural History Medallion, Field Naturalists Club of Victoria
2023
Award – Inducted into the South Australian Environment Hall of Fame
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Read more (Australian National Botanic Garden)