Person

Williamson, Herbert Bennett (1860 - 1931)

Born
18 June, 1860
Beechworth, Victoria, Australia
Died
30 January 1931
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Botanist and School teacher

Summary

Herbert Williamson was a school teacher and head master in a number of Victorian State Schools over a career spanning 49 years. Interested in botany, he planted Acacias, Eucalypts and many other native species of trees and shrubs in the school grounds, and the schools were noted for their beautiful gardens. Herbert Williamson was highly regarded as an amateur botanist. Knowing Frederick von Mueller (qv) helped him to gain an in-depth understanding of botany. Williamson's detailed studies of the Victorian flora were published in several botanical journals and books, and he was a driving force behind the Victorian Field Naturalist's Club's Census of Victorian Plants (1928). His papers in the Victorian naturalist including the 9-part "Victorian ferns" (1926), while his 5-part revision of the genus Pultenaea (1920 - 1927) was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. Williamson's very extensive private herbarium, comprising over 3,000 specimens, was bequeathed to the National Herbarium of Victoria.

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Details

Chronology

1915
Career position - Member of committee, Ballarat Science and Field Naturalists Club
1921 - 1931
Career position - Assistant Secretary and Librarian, Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria
1922 - 1925
Career position - Headmaster at the Dandenong State School
1922 - 1931
Career position - Headmaster, Dandenong State School
1929 - 1931
Career position - Honorary Keeper, Herbarium, Botany School, University of Melbourne
1929 - 1931
Career event - Honorary Keeper of the Herbarium of the Botany School, University of Melbourne
1934
Taxonomy event - Honoured with Eucalyptus maidenii var. x williamsonii Blakely

Related Corporate Bodies

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

  • Australian Botanists - Biographies, MS 064; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

Journal Articles

  • Daley, C., 'H. B. Williamson - an appreciation', The Victorian naturalist, 46 (1931), 172-5. Details
  • Williamson, H. B., 'A revision of the genus Pultenaea, part i', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 32 (11) (1920), 210-24. Details
  • Williamson, H. B., 'Victorian ferns, part 1', Victorian naturalist, 42 (1926), 219-28. Details

Resources

Theses

  • Kruss, Susan, 'A voice for nature: a history of the Field Naturalists' Club of Ballarat', PhD thesis, Federation University Australia, 2024, 594 pp. Details

See also

  • Hall, Norman, Botanists of the Eucalypts: short biographies of people who have named eucalypts, whose names have been given to species or who have collected type material (Melbourne: CSIRO, 1978), 101 pp. Details
  • Willis, J. H., 'Botanical pioneers in Victoria - II', Victorian Naturalist, 66 (6) (1949), 103-9, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40808755. Details

Rosanne Walker

Created: 30 June 1997, Last modified: 19 May 2026

EOAS ID: biogs/P002763b.htm

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