P000313 revised AU-VU:EOAS Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation

All key entry types: Awards; Concepts; Corporate Bodies (Organisations); Cultural Artefacts; People; etc

These key entries are listed separately below with other indexes and lists.

 English AACR2 Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules Person created 1993-10-20 human McCarthy, G.J. & Rosanne Walker updated 2026-04-07 human https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P000313b.htm person Cleland John Burton Kt CBE AACR2 22 June 1878 11 August 1971 Place of Birth Norwood, South Australia, Australia Place of Death Walkerville, South Australia, Australia Pathologist Epidemiologist Ornithologist Botanical collector Sir John Cleland was the first Marks Professor of Pathology at the University of Adelaide (1920 to 1948). With T.D. Campbell and Frederick Wood Jones he formed the Board of Anthropological Research at the University which he chaired for nearly 30 years. Earlier he was Government Pathologist for the Western Australian Department of Public Health (1905-1909) and Microbiologist at the Government Bureau of Microbiology in Sydney (1909-1920).

He was also a passionate naturalist and ornithologist who wrote a two volume book on the larger fungi of South Australia (1934-1935) and presented a collection of nearly 30,000 plants, which included nearly 60 new species, to the South Australian Herbarium. Cleland also donated nearly 1,000 bird-skins to Gregory Mathews for his book, The Birds of Australia (1910-1927), a number of which became type specimens. About 40 species or subspecies of fungi, vascular plants and animals were named after him, as well as a new genus Clelandia in both the plant and animal worlds. John Cleland is also commemorated by the Cleland Conservation Park in the Mount Lofty Ranges, South Australia (opened 1967) and the Cleland Kindergarten in Beaumont, South Australia. He was involved in numerous other activities and was a key instigator of the foundation of the Flora and Fauna Handbooks Committee of South Australia, a one-time president (and founding member) of the Medical Sciences Club of South Australia and President of the Western Australian Natural History Society.

1900 1900 Education - Bachelor of Medicine (MB), University of Adelaide (?) 1900 1900 Career position - House Surgeon, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, New South Wales 1901 1902 Career position - Second Resident Pathologist, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital 1902 1902 Education - Doctor of Medicine (MD), University of Sydney (?) 1903 1903 Career position - Study trip to the London School of Tropical Medicine and to Glasgow 1904 1904 Career position - Cancer Research Scholar, the London Hospital 1905 1909 Career position - Western Australian Government Bacteriologist and Pathologist 1908 1909 Career position - President, Western Australian Natural History Society 1909 1920 Career position - Microbiologist then Senior Microbiologist, Bureau of Microbiology in Sydney 1912 1912 Taxonomy event - Eucalyptus clelandii Maiden, named for John Cleland and his uncle Allan Fraser Cleland 1912 1920 Career position - Member of Council, Linnean Society of New South Wales 1917 1917 Career position - President, Royal Society of New South Wales 1920 1938 Career position - Honorary Pathologist then Honorary Consultant, Adelaide Hospital 1920 1948 Career position - Inaugural Marks Professor of Pathology (including bacteriology), then Professor Emeritus, University of Adelaide 1921 Career position - Foundation Councillor (Pathology), Australian National Research Council 1921 1948 Career position - Founder and Editor of the Royal Adelaide Hospital's Medical and Scientific Archives 1922 1968 Career position - Chairman, Flora and Fauna Handbooks Committee of South Australia 1924 1924 Career position - President, Field Naturalists' Section, Royal Society of South Australia 1926 1926 Career position - Foundation Member and Member of Council, Anthropological Society of South Australia 1926 1956 Career position - Inaugural Member, and Chairman, Board of Anthropological Research 1927 1928 Career position - President, Royal Society of South Australia 1933 1933 Award - Sir Joseph Verco Medal, Royal Society of South Australia 1934 1934 Taxonomy event - Eucalyptus odorata Behr & Schlecht. var. macrocarpa Blakely. Cleland collected the type material 1934 1934 Taxonomy event - Eucalyptus odorata Behr & Schlecht. var. refracta Blakely. Cleland collected the type material. 1935 1936 Career position - President, Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union 1936 1937 Career position - President, Field Naturalists' Section, Royal Society of South Australia 1936 1955 Career position - Chairman, Belair National Park in South Australia 1937 1971 Award - Fellow, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS) 1938 1939 Career position - President, South Australian Ornithological Association 1939 1939 Award - Clive Lord Memorial Medal, Royal Society of Tasmania 1940 1941 Career position - President, Royal Society of South Australia 1949 1949 Award - Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) - Professor of Pathology at the University of Adelaide 1949 1949 Career position - President, Section F (Anthropology), Australian and Nez Zealand Associaiton for the Advnacement of Science 1949 1971 Award - Honorary Life Member, Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union 1949 1971 Award - Honorary Fellow, Royal Society of South Australia (FRS Hon) 1952 1952 Award - Australian Natural History Medallion, Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria 1961 1971 Award - Life member of the South Australian Ornithological Association 1964 1964 Award - John Lewis Gold Medal, Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, South Australian Branch 1964 1964 Award - Knight Bachelor (Kt) - Professor of Pathology at Adelaide University Cleland, Elizabeth Robson (1910 - 2005) Mathews, Gregory Macalister (1876 - 1949) Jones, Frederic Wood (1879 - 1954) Adelaide Hospital (1840 - )

Honorary Pathologist (later Honorary Consultant) 1920 - 1938

 John Lewis Gold Medal, Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, South Australia Branch (1947 - )

Awarded the Medal 1964

 South Australian Ornithological Association (1899 - )

President 1938 - 1939; Life member 1961 - 1971

 Australian National Research Council (ANRC) (1919 - 1955)

Foundation Member (Pathology) 1921 -

 Cleland, William Lennox (1847 - 1918)

William was John's father

 Field Naturalists' Section, Royal Society of South Australia (1883 - 1959)

President 1924, 1937 - 1937

 Paton, David Cleland

John was David's grandfather

 Linnean Society of New South Wales (1874 - )

Member of Council 1912 - 1920

 Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS) (1930 - )

Fellow 1937 - 1971; President, Section F (Anthropology) 1949

 Royal Society of South Australia (1880 - )

President 1927 - 1928 and 1940 - 1941; Honorary Fellow 1949 - 1971

 Myers, Walter Harold (1881 - 1965)

In 1917, J B Cleland, then director Microbiological Bureau, N.S.W. Department for Public Health, and W H Myers, then Assistant Engineer, Electrical Branch, N.S.W. Government Railways, investigated and reported on electrical sterilisation of milk, but the War interferred with progress.

 Royal Society of New South Wales (1866 - )

President 1917

 Australian Natural History Medallion, Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (1940 - )

Awarded the Medallion 1952

 Royal Australasian Ornithologists' Union (1910 - 1997)

President 1935 - 1936; Honorary Life Member 1949 - 1971

 State Herbarium of South Australia (1954 - )

Cleland's collection of nearly 30,000 specimens is in the Herbarium.

 The University of Adelaide (1874 - 2026)

Marks Professor of Pathology 1920 - 1948

 Clive Lord Memorial Medal, Royal Society of Tasmania (1930 - )

Awarded the Medal 1939

 Western Australian Natural History Society [II] (1904 - 1909)

President 1908 - 1909

 Sir Joseph Verco Medal, Royal Society of South Australia (1928 - )

Awarded the Medal 1933

 Board of Anthropological Research (1926 - 1974)

Inaugural Member, and Chairman of the Board for 30 years; participated in over 10 of the Board's expeditions

 Paton, Joan (1916? - 2000)

John was Joan's father

Wikidata

VIAF - Virtual International Authority File

 Cleland, J B (1878-1971)

Trove

 'Cleland, John Burton', in Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology Cleland, John Burton Swinburne University of Technology, Centre for Transformative Innovation Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Book: Return to Uluru: a killing; a hidden history: a story that goes to the heart of the nation McKenna, Mark Return to Uluru: a killing; a hidden history: a story that goes to the heart of the nation Carlton, Vic. Black Inc. 2021 Journal Article: John Burton Cleland. A tribute on his eightieth birthday John Burton Cleland. A tribute on his eightieth birthday 1959 Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 82 339-344 Journal Article: Obituary: Sir John Burton Cleland, 1878-1971 Obituary: Sir John Burton Cleland, 1878-1971 1973 Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 56 3 94-95 Journal Article: Obituary: John Burton Cleland, Kt, CBE, MD, ChM, FRACP Southcott, R. V. Obituary: John Burton Cleland, Kt, CBE, MD, ChM, FRACP 1971 Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 95 4 242-247 Journal Article: Obituaries: Clarence Leslie Lang; John Burton Cleland Obituaries: Clarence Leslie Lang; John Burton Cleland 1972 Emu 72 3 117-118 Journal Article: [Obituary]: Vale...Professor Sir John Cleland [Obituary]: Vale...Professor Sir John Cleland 1971 South Australian Naturalist 46 1 14-15 Journal Article: [Obituary]: Professor Sir John Burton Cleland 1878-1971 Kraehenbuehl, D. N. [Obituary]: Professor Sir John Burton Cleland 1878-1971 1971 South Australian Ornithologist 26 1 2-4 Journal Article: What Professor Cleland Did in his Holidays: Collecting Expeditions to Central Australia as Indigenous Health Research, 1925-1939 Thomas, David What Professor Cleland Did in his Holidays: Collecting Expeditions to Central Australia as Indigenous Health Research, 1925-1939 2002 Health and History 4 2 57-79 Journal Article: Obituary: Richard Sanders Rogers Cleland, J. Burton Obituary: Richard Sanders Rogers 1942 Medical Journal of Australia 1942 1 589-90 Journal Article: Dicksonia in the Mount Lofty Ranges Cleland, J.B. Dicksonia in the Mount Lofty Ranges 1968 South Australian Naturalist 43 Journal Article: The History of Ornithology in South Australia Cleland, J.B. The History of Ornithology in South Australia 1937 Emu 36, 37 197-221; 296-312,133-147 Journal Article: The Archibald Watson Memorial Lecture: the naturalist in medicine with particular reference to Australia. Cleland, J.Burton The Archibald Watson Memorial Lecture: the naturalist in medicine with particular reference to Australia. 1950 Medical Journal of Australia 1 17 549-63 Journal Article: Reminiscences of the Early Days of 'the Field Naturalists' Section of the Royal Society of SA Cleland, J.B. Reminiscences of the Early Days of 'the Field Naturalists' Section of the Royal Society of SA 1969 South Australian Naturalist 44 2 21-23 Journal Article: Obituary: Captain S. A. White (1870 - 1954) Cleland, J. B. Obituary: Captain S. A. White (1870 - 1954) 1954 South Australian ornithologist 21 2/3 34 Journal Article: Obituary: Robert Henry Pulleine Cleland, J Burton Obituary: Robert Henry Pulleine 1935 Medical Journal of Australia 2 11 362-5 Book: Toadstools and mushrooms and other larger fungi of South Australia Cleland, John Burton; illustrated by Rosa Fiveash Toadstools and mushrooms and other larger fungi of South Australia Adelaide Government Printer 1934-1935 Journal Article: Obituary: Frank Tidswell Cleland, J. B. Obituary: Frank Tidswell 1941 Medical journal of Australia 10 May Journal Article: The history of the Aboriginal narcotic, pituri Johnston, H.; and Cleland, J. B. The history of the Aboriginal narcotic, pituri 1933 Oceania 4 201-89 Journal Article: Douglas Mawson, 1882-1958 (Memorial series, no. 17) J. B. C. [ie John B. Cleland] Douglas Mawson, 1882-1958 (Memorial series, no. 17) 1960 Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 84 3 410-414 Journal Article: Presidential address Cleland, J. B. Presidential address 1918 Journal and proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 52 1-165 Journal Article: Samuel Levy Bensusan [obituary, in presidential address by J.B. Cleland] Cleland, J. B. Samuel Levy Bensusan [obituary, in presidential address by J.B. Cleland] 1918 Journal and proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 52 3 Journal Article: Section F - Anthropology. The Australian Aboriginal: the significance of his past, the present, and his future Australia [presidential address] Cleland, J. B. Section F - Anthropology. The Australian Aboriginal: the significance of his past, the present, and his future Australia [presidential address] 1949 Report of the 27th meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science 66-77 Journal Article: First fifty-two names in the medical register of South Australia Cleland, J. B. First fifty-two names in the medical register of South Australia 1938 Medical journal of Australia ii 732-8 Journal Article: John Burton Cleland Southcott, R. V. John Burton Cleland 1972 Medical Journal of Australia 1972 1 192-3 Book: A doctor in the garden: nomen medici in botanicis: Australian flora and the world of medicine Pearn, John Hemsley A doctor in the garden: nomen medici in botanicis: Australian flora and the world of medicine Herston, Qld Amphion Press 2001 Journal Article: Twentieth Century Toxinology and Antivenom development in Australia Winkel, Kenneth D.; Mirtschin, Peter and Pearn, John Twentieth Century Toxinology and Antivenom development in Australia 2006 Toxicon 48 7 738-754 Journal Article: Lionel Bately Bull, 1889-1978 French, E. L.; and Stewart, D.F. Lionel Bately Bull, 1889-1978 1983 Historical Records of Australian Science 5 4 90-110 Journal Article: South Australian anthropological history: the Board for Anthropological Research and its early expeditions Jones, P. G. South Australian anthropological history: the Board for Anthropological Research and its early expeditions 1987 Records of the South Australian Museum 20 71-92 Book: 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 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

Source used to compile entry

 Book: The Clelands of Beaumont: a history of 26 generations of a South Australian family Simpson, E. R. The Clelands of Beaumont: a history of 26 generations of a South Australian family [Adelaide] Beaumont Press 1986 Book: The Flight of the Emu: a Hundred Years of Australian Ornithology 1901-2001 Robin, Libby The Flight of the Emu: a Hundred Years of Australian Ornithology 1901-2001 Melbourne Melbourne University Press 2001 John Burton Cleland - Records National Herbarium, Melbourne John Burton Cleland - Records MSS 1 1931 - 1968 Letters including lists of specimens, written from the University of Adelaide to J.H. Willis and A.W. Jessup about the identification of fungi 1931-47 and 1965-68. John Burton Cleland - Records State Library of South Australia, Mortlock Library of South Australiana John Burton Cleland - Records PRG 5 1626 - 1971 A large volume of correspondence including letter from eminent pathologists, biologists and anthropologists; notes and manuscript articles on medical, natural history and anthropological subjects (Series 15-20) and genealogy (Series 26-34); many photographs from various expeditions c1907-57; private papers of J.B. Cleland and his wife Dora Isabel; overall dates 1626-1971 [partly restricted, PRG 5]. John Burton Cleland - Records Barr Smith Library, Special Collections, The University of Adelaide John Burton Cleland - Records SR 572 C61 1907 - 1972 Extensive correspondence, reprints, notes, reports, newspaper cuttings and copies of papers by others, principally relating to anthropology but also to the history of medicine; papers include a file of letters from 'persons of note' 1907-44, most of which are addressed to Dr E.A. Johnson, a medical colleague of Cleland; overall dates 1907-72 [85 cm, 572/C61 Strongroom]. 0.85 m John Burton Cleland - Records Waite Agricultural Research Institute John Burton Cleland - Records 1950 - 1971 Mycological notes and correspondence [in the J.B. Cleland Mycological Herbarium]. John Burton Cleland - Records Australian Medical Association (Victorian Branch) John Burton Cleland - Records 1935 - 1977 12 items relating to his work including references to anthropology, entomology, zoological nomenclature and pathology including a letter regarding a trip to Alice Springs 1935, an obituary 1971 and biographical notes. 12 items Australian Botanists - Biographies Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science Australian Botanists - Biographies MS 064 Hunt Institute Biographies. Short biographies, averaging 2 pages, of Australian botanists, botanical collectors or artists. 0.24 m, 3 boxes