Robert Whyte (born 1955, in Melbourne) is an Australian writer. He was a founding co-owner and director of the Brisbane-based multimedia firm ToadShow. After 2012 he participated in the Australian Government's new species exploration program

Bush Blitz Bush Blitz is a species discovery program conducting scientific surveys in Australian terrestrial and marine environments to document known and new fungi, plants and animals. The program is a partnership between the Australian Government, BHP Su ...

. His works include ''The Creek in Our Back Yard: a practical guide to creek restoration'' (2011)"The creek in our back yard" . Save Our Waterways Now Inc , ABN 78 309 030 727 http://saveourwaterwaysnow.com.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=2340 and second edition revised and expanded June 2013 http://saveourwaterwaysnow.com.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=2423 and ''A Field Guide to Spiders of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

'' for CSIRO Publishing 2017.

Biography

Robert Whyte was born in Melbourne in 1955. His family moved to Brisbane in 1957. In 1976 he was awarded a One Year Young Writer's Fellowship by the Literature Board of the

Australia Council for the Arts The Australia Council for the Arts, commonly known as the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announced in 1967 as the Austra ...

. In 1981 he completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Professional Art Studies at Alexander Mackie CAE (now University of Western Sydney), and was a contributor to Sydney art magazine ''Art Network''. In 1985 he undertook the production of ''Environment Victoria'', the magazine of the Conservation Council of Victoria, now

Environment Victoria Environment Victoria, formerly the Conservation Council of Victoria, is an Australian not-for-profit, charitable group and Victoria's peak non-government environment organisation. It works in collaboration with over 150 groups Australia-wide to p ...

. In 1987 he was founding co-editor of contemporary art magazine ''Eyeline'' with Sarah Follent and Graham Coulter-Smith. Robert Whyte was a co-owner of ToadShow, a multimedia firm in Brisbane, Queensland. As a web designer he was responsible for ''Brisbane Stories'' a collection of web sites revealing stories of hidden Brisbane featuring art, environment and history. Robert Whyte was an editor of ''

The Cane Toad Times ''The Cane Toad Times'' was a satirical humour magazine based in Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland. It was first published in the late 1970s, then revived under the same name by a new team from 1983–1990. The two versions shared personnel and ...

'' from 1985 to 1990. Between 2010 and 2013 he undertook habitat restorations projects in South East Queensland. In 2011 his book ''The creek in our backyard: A practical guide for landholders'' was published, an expanded second edition appearing in 2013 ''A field guide to the spiders of Australia'' for CSIRO Publishing was released 1 June 2017."A field Guide to the Spiders of Australia" for CSIRO Publishing http://www.arachne.org.au

Bush Blitz

Robert Whyte participated in the Australian Government's new species exploration program

from 2012's Fish River Bush Blitz, as a scientist specialising in

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

s and as a scientific photographer. In 2013 he attended the

Henbury Station Henbury Station is a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia. In March 2022 Henbury was purchased by Tim Edmunds for A$32 million, including its 3500 cattle. Description It is situated about south of Alice Springs in the No ...

Bush Blitz in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

. In 2014 he participated as scientist and photographer at the Home Valley Bush Blitz in The Kimberly, Western Australia and in 2015 participated in the

Kiwirrkurra Kiwirrkurra, gazetted as Kiwirrkurra Community, is a small community in Western Australia in the Gibson Desert, east of Port Hedland, Western Australia, Port Hedland and west of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Alice Springs. It had a popul ...

IPA Bush Blitz in the

Gibson Desert The Gibson Desert is a large desert in Western Australia, largely in an almost "pristine" state. It is about in size, making it the fifth largest desert in Australia, after the Great Victoria, Great Sandy, Tanami and Simpson deserts. The ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. In 2017 he attended the Bush Blitz, in Quinkan Country inland from

Cooktown Cooktown is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. Cooktown is at the mouth of the Endeavour River, on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland where James Cook beached his ship, the Endeavour, for repairs ...

Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación ...

, where he photographed and filmed live spiders discovered on the trip. In September 2018 Robert Whyte’s discovered 37 new spider species leading the spider team as part of the fauna, flora and fungi stocktake led by John Sinclair of the Fraser Island Defenders Organisation in conjunction with Cooloola Coast Care.

''A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia''

Whyte and Anderson's ''A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia'' was published in 2017 by CSIRO Publishing (with foreword by

Tim Low Tim Low (born 1956) is an Australian biologist and author of articles and books on nature and conservation ethic, conservation. His seventh book, ''Where Song Began: Australia's Birds and How They Changed the World'', became the first nature book e ...

). The News Network news.com.au report on "Five reasons why you shouldn't be afraid of spiders" was based on the content of the book. On 4 May 2018 Robert Whyte appeared on

Gardening Australia ''Gardening Australia'' is an Australian lifestyle television program which suggests and promotes organic and environmentally friendly ways of gardening. It is created by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and airs on ABC TV, in an hour- ...

as a “My Garden Path” presenter, explaining the link between spider diversity and healthy gardens.

Publishing

In 2019 Whyte started a new venture called h.a.r.p.o. (How About Resisting Powerful Organisations) to publish books featuring

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, especially Brisbane Noir.

Books

* ''Negative thinking'', Brisbane, Planet Press, 1976, 4., Limited edition of 500 copies, * ''Manacles'', Melbourne, Melbourne Paragraph of the Senate of Pataphysical Representatives, 1985 * ''From inside the asylum'', South Sydney, Brou Ha Ha Books, 1980, 8p., * ''The creek in our backyard: a practical guide for habitat restoration'', Second edition revised and expanded June 2013. Save Our Waterways Now Inc, 2013 59 pages, colour illustrations, colour map, colour portraits * ''A field guide to spiders of Australia'', by Whyte, Robert, 1955, and Anderson, Greg Clayton, Vic., CSIRO Publishing, 2017

Taxonomy papers

* Australian jumping spiders of the genus Hypoblemum (Araneae: Salticidae: Euophryini) Peckhamia 180.1 *A new peacock spider from the Cape York Peninsula (Araneae: Salticidae: Euophryini: Maratus Karsch 1878). Peckhamia 177.1: 1-6. * Revision of eastern Australian ant-mimicking spiders of the genus Myrmarachne (Araneae, Salticidae) reveals a complex of species and forms * The first described male Tube-web Spider for mainland Australia: Ariadna kiwirrkurra sp. Nov. (Araneae: Segestriidae) * The Peacock Spiders (Araneae: Salticidae: Maratus) of the Queensland Museum, including six new species * Biodiversity discovery program Bush Blitz yields a new species of goblin spider, Cavisternum attenboroughi (Araneae: Oonopidae), from the Northern Territory * Biodiversity discovery program bush blitz supplies missing ant spider females (araneae: Zodariidae) from Victoria

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whyte, Robert Living people 1955 births 20th-century Australian novelists Australian male novelists Australian non-fiction writers Culture of Brisbane 20th-century Australian male writers Australian scientists Australian arachnologists Male non-fiction writers