Specht, Raymond Louis (1924 - 2021)

Summary

Raymond Specht was Professor of Botany at the University of Queensland from 1966 to 1989. He has also been an active member of a phenomenal number of scientific bodies and committees and has published widely in the fields of botany, ecology and conservation. Among his many publications were Vegetation of South Australia (1972) and Mediterranean ecosystems of the world (1981, 2nd edition 1988).

Details

Chronology

1942 - 1946

Career position - Student Teacher, then Junior and Secondary Teacher with the Education Department of South Australia

1946

Education - BSc (hons), University of Adelaide

1947 -

Career position - Member of the ANZAAS (Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science)

1947 -

Career position - Member, Royal Society of South Australia

1947

Career position - Grassland Ecologist on a survey of the South-East of South Australia with the Agronomy Department of the Waite Agricultural Research Institute

February 1948 - November 1948

Career position - Botanist, American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory

1949

Education - MSc, University of Adelaide

1949 - 1950

Career position - Senior Research Fellow in Botany, University of Adelaide

1951 - 1952

Career position - Councillor, Royal Society of South Australia

1951 - 1954

Career position - Lecturer in Botany, University of Adelaide

1953

Education - PhD, University of Adelaide

1955 - 1960

Career position - Senior Lecturer in Botany, University of Adelaide

1961 - ?

Career position - Member, Royal Society of Victoria

1961

Award - Sir Joseph Verco Medal, Royal Society of South Australia

1961 - 1965

Career position - Reader in Plant Ecology, University of Melbourne

1964

Career position - Acting-Head of the Department of Botany, University of Melbourne

1964 - 1967

Career position - Member, Planning Committee, International Biological Programme

1964 - 1967

Career position - Australian Convenor, Terrestrial Productivity and Conservation Sections, International Biological Programme

1966 - 1978

Career position - Head of the Department of Botany, University of Queensland

1966 - 1989

Career position - Professor of Botany, University of Queensland

1967 - ?

Career position - Member, Royal Society of Queensland

1968 - 1979

Career position - Member, Queensland Committee, CSIRO

1970

Career position - Visiting Professor in the Department of Forestry, University of Oxford, UK

1970 - 1981

Career position - Member, Committee on Conservation, Australian Academy of Science

1974 - 1975

Education - DSc, University of Adelaide

1975

Career position - Visiting Professor in the Department of Botany, University of Leeds, UK

1976

Award - Royal Society of Victoria Medal for Excellence in Scientific Research

1978 - 1984

Career position - Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the World Wildlife Fund Australia

1979 - 1983

Career position - Member, Advisory Committee, Australian Biological Resources Study

1979 - 1984

Career position - Member, World Wildlife Australian Scientific Committee

1989 - ?

Career position - Professor Emeritus, University of Queensland

2015 - 2021

Award - Life Member, Royal Society of Queensland

2020

Award - Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to science, and to education, in the field of botany, plant ecology and conservation

Related entries

Archival resources

Private hands (Specht, R.L.)

• Raymond Louis Specht - Records, 1946 - 1988; Private hands (Specht, R.L.). Details

Published resources

Books

• Di Castri, Francesco, Goodall, David W. and Specht, Raymond, Mediterranean-type shrublands (Amsterdan: New York: Elsevier Scientific Pub. Co., 1981), 643 pp. Details
• Specht, R. L., The vegetation of South Australia : handbook of the flora and fauna of South Australia (Adelaide: Government Printer, 1972), 328 pp. Details
• Thomas, Martin, Clever men: how worlds collided on the scientific expedition to Arnhem Land of 1948 (Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin, 2025), 452 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Daly, Margot, 'An insider's perspective: Raymond Louis Specht's oral history' in Exploring the Legacy of the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition, Thomas, Martin and Neale, Margo, eds (Canberra: ANU E Press, 2011), pp. 283-310, https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p116081/pdf/ch153.pdf. Details
• McCarthy, Lynne, 'Ecology and the Arnhem Land Expedition: Raymond Specht, a botanist in the field' in Exploring the legacy of the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition, Thomas, Martin and Neale, Margot, eds (Canberra: ANU Press, 2011), pp. 157-69. https://doi.org/10.22459/ELALE.06.2011.08. Details
• Specht, R. L., 'The history of botanical exploration in the Arnhem Land Aboriginal Reserve' in Records of the American Australian Expedition to Arnhem Land, 3: botany and plant ecology, R. L. Specht and C. P. Mountford, eds (Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 1958), pp. 1-8. Details
• Specht, R. L., 'Plants collected by Dr H. Basedow on the Mackay Expedition Arnhem Land, 1928' in Records of the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land, 3: botany and plant ecology, R. L. Specht and C. P. Mountford, eds (Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 1958), pp. 319-25. Details
• Specht, Ray, 'Wood, Joseph Garnett (1900-1959), botanist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 16: 1940 - 1980 Pik-Z, John Ritchie and Diane Langmore, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2002), pp. 578-579. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/wood-joseph-garnett-12064. Details
• Specht, Ray L., 'Gymnospermae and Angiospermae collected on the Arnhem Land Expedition' in Records of the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land, 3: botany and plant ecology, R. L. Specht and C. P. Mountford, eds (Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 1958), pp. 185-317. Details
• Specht, Ray L., 'Climate, geology, soils and plant ecology of the northern portion of Arnhem Land' in Records of the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land, 3: botany and plant ecology, R. L. Specht and C. P. Mountford, eds (Carlton, Vic: Melbourne University Press, 1958), pp. 333-414. Details
• Specht, Ray L., 'Geographical relationships of the flora of Arnhem Land' in Records of the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land, 3: botany and plant ecology, R. L. Specht and C. P. Mountford, eds (Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 1958), pp. 415-78. Details
• Specht, Ray L., 'An introduction to the ethno-botany of Arnhem Land' in Records of the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land, 3: botany and plant ecology, R. L. Specht and C. P. Mountford, eds (Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 1958), pp. 479-504. Details

Edited Books

• Clifford, Harold T. ed., Cambridge - Castlemaine: a Tribute to John Stewart Turner on the Occasion of his 80th Birthday (St Lucia: Botany Department, University of Queensland, 1988), 71 pp. Details
• Doley, David ed., Ray Specht: a retrospective 1948 - 2018 (Brisbane: Royal Society of Queensland, 2018), 62 pp. https://www.royalsocietyqld.org/wp-content/uploads/documents/Members_Collections/Ray_Specht_Retrospective_Jan_2019.pdf. Details
• Specht, R. L. ed., Records of the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land, 4: zoology (Parkville, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 1964), 533 pp. Details
• Specht, R. L. & Specht, A. ed., Personal experiences on the coast of adventure: Arnhem Land reunion, Sydney, 27 - 28th June 1998 ([Coffs Harbour, N.S.W.]: Southern Cross University, 1998), 83 pp. Details
• Specht, R. L. and Mountford, C. P. eds, Records of the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land, 3: botany and plant ecology (Carlton, Vic: Melbourne University Press, 1958), 521 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• McArthur, M.; Mccarthy, F.D.; and Specht, R.L., 'Nutrition Studies (1948) of Nomadic Aborigines in Arnhem Land, Northern Australia', Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 9 (3) (2000), 215-223. Details
• Robertson, David J.; Specht, Raymond L.; and Nurcombe, Barry, 'Assessment of Mental Health in Indigenous Australians: the Role of John Ewart Cawte, a Pioneer in Transcultural Research', Health and History, 16 (2) (2014), 107-14. Details
• Specht, Alison, 'Obituary Raymond Louis Specht, 1924 - 2021', Proceedings of The Royal Society of Queensland, 129 (2021), 129-35. https://doi.org/10.53060/prsq.2021.01. Details
• Specht, Alison, Sattler, Paul, Hynes, Ross, Davie, Jim and Stubbs, Brett, 'Royal Society of Queensland, award of Life Member: Professor Ray Specht invested as Life Member, December 2015', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, 121 (2016), 83-5. Details
• Specht, Alison; and Specht, Raymond L., 'The legacy of the International Biological Program in Australia', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, 218 (2020), 113-24. Details
• Specht, R. L., 'Obituary: Brian Price Billington 24 February 1923 - 6 August 2003', Australian Aboriginal studies (2004), 133, https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.449277610190884. Details
• Specht, R. L., 'American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land (1948): its long-range impact', Open ecology journal, 5 (2012), 53-83. Details
• Specht, R. L. and Specht, M. M., 'History of identification of Queensland plant communities : from Leichhardt (1844-45) to 1995', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, 106 (2) (1997), 17-26. Details
• Specht, Ray, 'Obituary: Desmond Andrew Herbert, C.M.G., D.Sc', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, 89 (1978), 134-5. Details
• Specht, Ray, 'E.O. Teale (formerly Thiele)', Australian Forest History Society Newsletter, 39 (2004), 5, http://www.foresthistory.org.au/afhs_39.pdf. Details
• Specht, Ray L,, 'Obituary: Margaret McArthur Oliver 1919 - 2002', Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 12 (2) (2003), 127-8. Details
• Specht, Ray L., 'Margaret McArthur Oliver', Australian Aboriginal Studies, 2002 (2) (2002), 122-4. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q3277170. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/27126714. Details
• 'Specht, R L (1924-)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-637959. Details

Resource Sections

• 'Emeritus Professor Raymond Louis Specht: Officer of the Order of Australia', in It's an Honour, Australian Awards and Honours Secretariat, Australian Government, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, 2020, https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/2005732. Details

See also

• Ashton, D. H.; Ducker, S. C., 'John Stewart Turner 1908-1991', Historical Records of Australian Science, 9 (3) (1993), 278-290. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9930930278. Details
• Fagg, Murray, 'Specht, Raymond Louis (1924 - 2021)', Australian Plant Collectors and Illustrators, Council of Heads of Australian Herbaria (CHAH), 2010, https://www.anbg.gov.au/biography/specht-raymond-louis.html. Details
• Robson, Alexandra K.; Production Manager and Editor eds, Who's who in Australia 2019 (Southbank, Vic.: AAP Directories, 2018), 1788 pp. Details
• Thomas, Martin and Neale, Margo eds, Exploring the Legacy of the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition (Canberra: ANU E Press, 2011), 471 pp. Details