William E. Blackall (1876–1941) was a

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 ...

medical doctor who made a substantial contribution to that state's

botany 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 w ...

. Born in

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, he emigrated to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

in 1905. His occupation was in medicine, but he is now best known for his amateur botany. He compiled a personal herbarium of around 5,000 specimens, and was the collector of the type specimen from which '' Acacia daviesioides'' was published. He also began production of an illustrated key to the

flora of Western Australia The flora of Western Australia comprises 10,551 published native vascular plant species and a further 1,131 unpublished species. They occur within 1,543 genera from 211 families; there are also 1,317 naturalised alien or invasive plant species mo ...

in the 1920s, but died before it was complete. On his death in Perth in 1941, his herbarium was deposited at the

Western Australian Museum The Western Australian Museum is a statutory authority within the Culture and the Arts Portfolio, established under the ''Museum Act 1969''. The museum has six main sites. The state museum, now known as WA Museum Boola Bardip, officially re-ope ...

, and eventually ended up at the

Western Australian Herbarium The Western Australian Herbarium is the State Herbarium in Perth, Western Australia. It is part of the State government's Department of Parks and Wildlife, and has responsibility for the description and documentation of the flora of Western Austr ...

. His manuscript was neglected until 1947, when his family asked the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

to complete it. This work was taken up by Professor

Brian Grieve Professor Brian John Grieve (15 August 1907 – 5 September 1997) was an Australian botanist best known for his multi-volume book series '' How to know Western Australian wildflowers''. Born in Allans Flat, Victoria, he was educated at Williams ...

, and resulted in the well-known series '' How to know Western Australian wildflowers''.

References

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External links

Blackall, William Edward - Bright Sparcs Biographical entry
at www.asap.unimelb.edu.au - Bright Sparcs Biography

References

External links

Further reading