Keith, Kent (1929 - )

Summary

Kent Keith was a biologist with CSIRO for 25 years, having been appointed to the Wildlife Survey section in 1954. He was involved in studies of cattle tick and mosquitoes causing dengue fever, and assisted Frank Fenner in rabbit control studies, collecting blood samples in the field. However he was mostly concerned with bird studies. In 1956 he went to Macquarie Island for a faunal survey of bird and seal populations, returning with the most comprehensive collection ever made of breeding bird populations. Keith became Senior Preparator with the Australian National Wildlife Collection, assisted in curation of the bird collections. He introduced procedures for curating bird skins which are still used and which drastically reduced damage to specimens. Field surveys continued to be part of his role, including those to the Coral Sea and the Sir Edward Pellew Islands and McArthur River (which he led). Keith retired early due to lung damage from the pesticides and fumigant to which he was exposed during his work.

Details

Chronology

March 1954 - ?

Career position - Technological Officer, CSIRO Wildlife Survey Section

1956

Career position - Biologist, Macquarie Island

1960

Career event - Participated in survey trip to the Coral Sea

1966 - 1979

Career position - Senior Preparator, Australian National Wildlife Collection

1979

Life event - Retired

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Hindwood, K. A., Keith, K. and Serventy, D., Birds of the south-west Coral Sea (Melbourne: CSIRO, 1963), 44 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Schodde, Richard, 'Establishing a national reference collection of birds: the first forty years of the birds of the Australian National Wildlife Collection' in Contributions to the History of Australasian Ornithology [volume 1], Davis, William E., Recher, Harry E., Boles, Walter E. and Jackson, Jerome A., eds (Cambridge, Mass.: Nuttall Ornithological Club, 2008), pp. 305-86. Details