This year’s Bush Blitz expedition in South Australia targets a large area west of Lake Torrens. Scientists from the State Herbarium of South Australia, the South Australian Museum, Flinders University, The University of Adelaide, Queensland Museum and the National Herbarium of Victoria will explore the area during the next two weeks, surveying plants, fungi, lichens and animals.

The Bush Blitz study area west of Lake Torrens includes five Pastoral Leases.

On Saturday, three Herbarium botanists, Peter Lang, Chelsea Tothill & Chris Brodie, and DEWNR staff member Dave Armstrong departed for the base camp at Andamooka Homestead. Their 4WD vehicles were filled to the brim with gear, survey equipment and plant presses. They are now busy working in the field, even though yesterday’s rain has slowed down progress slightly. The latest images on the Bush Blitz blog show them collecting plants and surveying two standard sites that were established in the two main land systems of the area: sandy dunes and gibber plains.

Work on Standard Survey Site 1, sand dunes. From left to right: Chelsea Tothill, Peter Lang, Remko Leijs (with insect net, South Australian Museum) and Chris Brodie. Photo: Bush Blitz.

Bush Blitz is an innovative partnership between the Australian Government, BHP Billiton Sustainable Communities and Earthwatch Australia. It is the world’s first continent-scale biodiversity survey, providing the knowledge needed to help us protect Australia’s unique animals and plants for generations to come.

Bush Blitz scientists working on Standard Survey Site 2, gibber plains. Photo: Bush Blitz.

The Board of the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium is legally responsible for the State Herbarium of South Australia and the Botanic Gardens of South Australia. However, for over a decade, the State Herbarium has been more closely linked to science-focussed groups in DEWNR. This enabled the institution to forge better links with other scientists in the Department.

With the appointment of Dr Lucy Sutherland as the new Director of the Botanic Gardens of South Australia, announced recently by the Envirionment Minister Ian Hunter, the State Herbarium and the Botanic Gardens will also formally be combined into one Branch. Sandy Pitcher, Chief Executive of DEWNR, stated that this was a great new opportunity for the State Herbarium and its staff. The move would assist them to raise the Herbarium’s profile in line with that of the Gardens, which should bring opportunities that would otherwise not be possible.

The old Tram Barn building on Hackney Road, housing the State Herbarium of South Australia.

Dr Sutherland will be the ninth Director of the Gardens in its 160 year history. She is currently national coordinator of the Australian Seed Bank Partnership, a Visiting Professor at the Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina in Peru and has previously worked as acting director of the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra. She holds a MAppSci (Charles Sturt University) and PhD (London Metropolitan University) in botanic gardens management and has integrated her academic studies in ecology and the social sciences with her practical experience in botanic gardens and protected area management, policy and practice. Dr Sutherland published and presented papers on botanic gardens focusing on such topics as collections management, biodiversity and plant conservation, nature-based tourism, education and interpretation policy and practice. She will take up her appointment in October 2016.

Staff and volunteers at the State Herbarium of South Australia and botanists and conservationists in the Mount Lofty Ranges have been saddened by the news of the passing of Enid L. Robertson, botanist and conservationist.

Born in 1925, Enid celebrated her 90^th birthday late last year. She was born into the Ashby family and following Grandfather Edwin, who established Wittunga Botanic Garden in 1902, and father Keith, inherited the family interest in native plants.  Her Aunt Alison was an artist who rendered hundreds of watercolour paintings accurately, invariably vouchered by herbarium specimens.

Following studies for her B.Sc. at The University of Adelaide (1944-1946), where she was awarded the John Bagot Scholarship in 1944 for her results in Botany 1. Enid was appointed in 1947 as a systematic botanist at the Waite Institute, South Australia. Subsequently with the awarding of a Senior Research Fellowship by the University of Adelaide from 1953‒55, she completed the revision of the fourth volume of the second edition of J.M. Black’s, Flora of South Australia following Black’s death in 1951. In 1967, she took up a key position supporting Bryan Womersley’s world-leading phycological studies at the Botany Department, The University of Adelaide.  She managed the research infrastructure which included a major herbarium and an algal culture facility. During this time, she focussed on seagrasses, writing them up as a Chapter in Womersley’s exemplar, The Marine benthic flora of southern Australia.

On retirement in 1987, Enid spent her many remaining years passionately focussed on conservation in the Mount Lofty Ranges, both in the protection of the native flora and also in the identification and eradication of the ever-growing number of invasive plants.  Such was her presence and passion that she was singular in her ability to stimulate conservation groups in these pursuits and in recruiting many helpers from the general community, particularly in the eradication of weeds.  She took great care in verifying the identity of plants, and with new weeds, often collected vouchers with the note that she had eradicated the plants she had come across. In all, she lodged about 1,250 specimens in the State Herbarium.

Enid was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1997 for services to botany and to the community, particularly the conservation and management of native vegetation in South Australia. She and her Aunt Alison before her, were both honoured with Australian Natural History Medallion for Botany in 1992 and 1975, respectively.

Enid will be remembered as a capable, passionate botanist who made significant contributions to her field. She was a person of integrity who took a genuine interest in others. Her care and support were appreciated by many staff and students of the Botany Department, The University of Adelaide, and the State Herbarium.

Contributed by State Herbarium Manager Peter Canty.