George William Francis Althofer (1903–1993) was an Australian
botanist
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
,
nurseryman
A nursery is a place where plants are propagated and grown to a desired size. Mostly the plants concerned are for gardening, forestry or conservation biology, rather than agriculture. They include retail nurseries, which sell to the general p ...
, author and poet, with a special interest in the mint-bush genus ''
Prostanthera
''Prostanthera'', commonly known as mintbush or mint bush, is a genus of about 100 species of flowering plants in the mint family Lamiaceae, and all are endemic to Australia. Plants are usually shrubs, rarely trees with leaves in oppos ...
'' as well as other Australian native plants, who founded the
Burrendong Botanic Garden and Arboretum
The Burrendong Botanic Garden and Arboretum is located near Mumbil, south-east of Wellington in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1964 as a result of the efforts of George and Peter Althofer, the 167 ha ga ...
.
Life
Althofer was born at Dripstone in the
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
local government area
A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a State (administrative division), state, province, divi ...
of
Central West New South Wales
)
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, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
. He attended school locally, in Dripstone, then Wellington and
Mumbil
Mumbil is a town in the east of central New South Wales, Australia. The town is within Dubbo Regional Council, part of the Orana Region, north west of the state capital, Sydney.
At the , Mumbil and the surrounding area had a population of 421. ...
.
Althofer grew up working on his father's farm and
orchard
An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of larg ...
, becoming an orchardist himself. In 1938 he established a native plant nursery at his property "Nindethana" at Dripstone. Inspired by the American example of the
Arnold Arboretum
The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University is a botanical research institution and free public park, located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1872, it is the oldest public arboretum in N ...
, and assisted by his brother Peter, he lobbied for the establishment of a similar institution with a focus on Australian native plants. As a consequence, the Burrendong Botanic Garden and Arboretum on the foreshore of
Lake Burrendong
Lake Burrendong is a man-made reservoir created by Burrendong Dam. It impounds waters on the Macquarie and Cudgegong rivers, near Wellington, in the central west region of New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales i ...
, near Wellington, opened in 1964.
Publications
Books and collections of poetry by Althofer include:
* 1936 – ''The road to Burrendong and other verses''
* 1937 – ''Drifting''. (Music by Edward H. Tyrrell, words by George Althofer). The Manly Daily: Sydney
* 1956 – ''The story of Nindethana and new and enlarged catalogue of Australian native plants''. Nindethana Nursery: Dripstone
* 1966 – ''Trees to beat the droughts: being a guide to the planting of hardy species on the western slopes and plains''. (With "Blue Gum" of "The Land"). Land Newspaper: Sydney
* n.d. (1970s) – ''The dream of Ronal and other verses''
* 1978 – ''Cradle of incense : the story of Australian Prostanthera''. Stanley Smith Memorial Publication Fund: Australia.
* 1980 – ''Ironbark chips of Stuart Town, Mumbil, Dripstone and the Burrendong region''. Macquarie Publications: Dubbo.
* 1980 – ''The flora of Mt Arthur Reserve, Wellington, N.S.W.'' (Illustrated by G.J. Harden). Trustees of Mt Arthur Reserve: Wellington, NSW.
* 1983 – ''Laughter and tears from the golden years, or, Some more ironbark chips''. Macquarie Publications: Dubbo
* 1985 – ''The Dripstone story : being a comprehensive social history of Dripstone and district, from the earliest times to the present day''. Wellington Historical Society: Wellington, NSW.
* 1992 – ''The collected poems of G. W. Althofer''.
External links
Burrendong Arboretum
References
Notes
Sources
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1903 births
1993 deaths
20th-century Australian botanists
20th-century Australian non-fiction writers
Botanical writers
Australian orchardists
20th-century Australian poets
Australian male poets
Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia
20th-century Australian male writers
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