Born: 13 September 1933, Australia
Died: 18 December 2015
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.
Alison McCusker was appointed first Director of flora programs at the Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS), and was instrumental in turning the Flora of Australia from a hopeful concept into viable project. She convened a national editorial committee, recruited early staff, and established the standards and format. Over 35 volumes of the Flora have been published following the plan devised under her supervision. McCusker’s early career was as lecturer in botany at Universities of New England, Ghana and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. From ABRS McCusker moved in 1984 to the Environment Strategy Division of the Department of the Environment Sport and Territories, where she was involved in the preparation of cases for world heritage listing. As Deputy Director of the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute McCusker had world-wide responsibilities, including for the Institute’s nine research centres in developing countries working to conserve genetic material of important crop plants. She played major role in preparing a report to the F.A.O., State of the World’s Plant Genetic Resources (1996). From 1994 McCusker resumed her contribution to the Flora as a volunteer, writing flora treatments and assisting with editing.
Note from the family: ‘Alison McCusker was the daughter of the late Neal McCusker CBE , who spend 49 years working for the NSW Railways, including 16 years as the NSW Railways Commissioner.’
Chronology
1954
Award – Linnean Macleay Fellowship (Botany), for study at the University of Sydney
1961 – 1964
Career position – Lecturer, Botany Department, University of Ghana
1964 – 1974
Associate Professor and Head of Department, Department of Botany, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
1974 – 1984
Career position – Director of Flora Section, Australian Biological Resources Study
1984 – 1987
Career position – Assistant Director, Environment Strategy Division, Commonwealth Department for the Environment, Sport and Territories
1987 – 1994
Career position – Deputy Director, International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, Rome
2009
Career position – Voluntary Associate Scientist, Australian Biological Resources Study