Ian Cecil Robert Rowley (1926 – 29 May 2009) was an Australian ornithologist of Scottish origin. He was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

and educated at

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: *Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England ** Wellington College International Shanghai ** Wellington College International Tianjin * Wellington College, Wellington, Ne ...

and

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

. Following service in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

during the

second world war World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, he moved to Australia in 1949 and graduated in Agricultural Science from

the University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

under the Commonwealth Reconstruction Training Scheme. From 1952, Rowley worked for many years with the CSIRO on animal ecology. He was well known for his extensive studies on fairy-wrens and co-authored the book ''Fairy-wrens and Grasswrens'' with Eleanor Russell in 1997. He served the

Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union The Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU), now part of BirdLife Australia, was Australia's largest non-government, non-profit, bird conservation organisation. It was founded in 1901 to promote the study and conservation of the native b ...

as Editor of ''

Emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus '' Dromaius''. The emu ...

'' (1990–2000). He was elected a Fellow of the RAOU in 1989. In 1991, he was awarded the inaugural D.L. Serventy Medal, which recognises excellence in published work on birds.

Bibliography

*Rowley, Ian. (1975). '' Bird Life''. Australian Naturalist Library. Collins: Sydney. *Rowley, Ian. (1990). ''Behavioural Ecology of the Galah, ''Eolophus roseicapillus'', in the Wheatbelt of Western Australia''. Surrey Beatty & Sons Pty Ltd: Chipping Norton. *Rowley, Ian; & Russell, Eleanor. (1997). ''Fairy-wrens and Grasswrens''. Bird Families of the World. No.4. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

References

*Davies, S.J.J.F. (1991). D.L. Serventy Medal: Citation. Ian Cecil Robert Rowley. ''Emu'' 91: 130. *Robin, Libby. (2001). ''The Flight of the Emu: a hundred years of Australian ornithology 1901-2001''. Carlton, Vic. Melbourne University Press. 1926 births 2009 deaths Australian ornithologists 20th-century Australian zoologists Alumni of the University of Cambridge University of Melbourne alumni {{Australia-ornithologist-stub