Ernest Norman McKie, (1 July 1882 – 19 May 1948) was an Australian clergyman who was also an amateur botanist with a detailed knowledge of the
eucalypts and grasses of the
New England district of
New South Wales. He was born in
Barraba in 1882, entered
St Andrew's College, University of Sydney where he graduated in 1906, then completed his theological studies before being posted to
Manilla in 1908, then
Bendemeer
Bendemeer () is a village of 485 people on the Macdonald River in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. It is situated at the junction of the New England and Oxley Highways. Bendemeer is also famous for producing the number on ...
, later
Guyra in 1912.
McKie was also an amateur botanist and had a detailed knowledge of the
eucalypts and grasses of the
New England district of New South Wales. He kept in contact with
William Faris Blakely and collaborated in the descriptions of several eucalypts and other species in the area, including ''
E. caliginosa'', ''
E. cameronii'', ''
E. tinghaensis'', ''
E. youmanii'' and ''Grevillea sarmentosa'' (now ''
G. scortechinii'' subsp. ''sarmentosa''. He was also the first secretary of the New South Wales Agricultural Bureau and was a member of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science, the
Royal Society of New South Wales
The Royal Society of New South Wales is a learned society based in Sydney, Australia. The Governor of New South Wales is the vice-regal patron of the Society.
The Society was established as the Philosophical Society of Australasia on 27 June ...
and the
Linnean Society of New South Wales, who published papers contributed by him. Blakely published the first formal description of ''
Eucalyptus mckieana
''Eucalyptus mckieana'', commonly known as McKie's stringybark, is a species of tree that is endemic to New South Wales. It has rough, stringy bark on the trunk and branches, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of between ...
'', in honour of McKie, noting his "intimate field and botanical knowledge of the New England Eucalypts".
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKie, Ernest Norman
1882 births
1948 deaths
Botanical collectors active in Australia
Australian clergy