Beer, Donald R. (Don)   (1940 - 2022)

Born 16 January 1940; died in Canberra on 4 January 2022.

Don Beer was one of the first 'Canadian Commonwealth Scholars' from Australia and New Zealand in 1961. After graduating in History from the University of Adelaide, SA, he studied at Queen's University and the University of Toronto, Canada, before taking up a lectureship at the University of New England (UNE), Armidale, NSW, Australia, in 1964. He rose to the rank of Associate Professor and retired from the University in January 1999.

His major work was Sir Allan Napier MacNab (1984), a 503-page biography of the pre-Confederation Canadian politician, entrepreneur and soldier. He wrote more than a dozen articles for Canadian learned journals, biographical dictionaries and encyclopaediae, mostly on Upper Canadian politics and comparative Canadian-Australian history.

Upon retirement from the University of New England he moved to Canberra and became a member of the Friends of the Australian National Botanic Gardens, (ANBG). He served as a Friends Council Member, and was Convenor of the Gardens' Volunteer Guides. More recently he devoted some thousands of hours researching the history of the Gardens, culminating in the publication in 2020 of the 330 page book: 'Miracle on Black Mountain - A History of The Australian National Botanic Gardens'.

Source: Extracted from:
https://www.iccs-ciec.ca/pages/6_prizes/iccsmerit/dbeer.html#:~:text=Don%20Beer%20was%20one%20of,of%20New%20England%20in%201964.
pers.com. Neville Page, 10/1/2022
Portrait Photo: 2020, M.Fagg.