Seminar Program
The History of the University Unit runs a seminar program featuring the latest research on the University's history. Interested members of the public are welcome to attend, and enquiries may be directed to:
James Waghorne
Tel: 03 8344 4154
Fax: 03 9347 7731
Email: huu-enquiries@unimelb.edu.au
Cambridge to Conservation: John Turner and ecology at the University of Melbourne
Dr Linden Gillbank
The study of ecology developed slowly and sporadically in Australia, with only a little ecological research being undertaken in university botany departments before World War Two.
Ecology was invigorated at the University of Melbourne by an enthusiastic and energetic plant physiologist, Dr John Stewart Turner. Appointed the University’s second professor of botany and plant physiology in 1938, Turner brought ecological interests and expertise that he had developed at Cambridge. After the War, when there were few conservation-oriented groups and no ecological society in Australia, and when little of Victoria’s diverse vegetation had been documented, he initiated, facilitated and supervised ecological research in Victoria.
Turner understood that ecology and conservation were intimately linked, the latter requiring an understanding of the former. He contributed to conservation campaigns and the establishment and efforts of conservation groups. He was midwife to Victoria's first conservation survey, and supported his colleagues' participation in conservation organisations.
Dr Gillbank is an historian of Australian botany, currently preparing a history of the Botany School.
1:00pm, Thursday, 9 Octobeer 2008
Leigh Scott Room, First Floor, Baillieu Library, University of Melbourne.
To download a flier, click here.
For information about previous seminars, please refer to the Seminar Program Archive