Bostock, Peter D.   (1949 - )

Peter was born in Ipswich, QLD, in 1949.

During his teenage years, after moving with his family to an acreage at Riverview he developed a strong natural history interest, wich included accumulating a large number of pet snakes and lizards.

His involvement in computers developed during University Christmas vacation employment with the Weapons Research Establishment in South Australia.

He was also a member of the Queensland Naturalists' Club in his youth. Thus his interest in Natural History preceded his professional career as a botanist. After graduating in Science from the University of Queensland with a major in mathematics, he worked in the Main Roads Department in computer systems analysis and design. He developed an interest in ferns and completed a Master of Science degree in botany and was employed at the Queensland Herbarium in 1989 where he holds the position of Senior Botanist.

Peter has over 20 years experience in botanical taxonomic research, particularly in ferns which are notorious for their complex taxonomy. He is an invaluable resource among taxonomic botanists interested in identifying ferns and fern allies throughout Australia and is recognised as such by all the Australian Herbaria.

His duties at the Queensland Herbarium include the curation of some 20 angiosperms and over 40 fern families. These duties also require him to keep taxonomic and nomenclature records.This has led him to become the computer data expert at the Queensland Herbarium, responsible for the computerisation of the herbarium database.

Peter has written a set of free-ware programs which enable botanical latin text to be interpreted in english and various foreign languages. He is a member of the team undertaking the LUCID key to Australian grasses at Queensland Herbarium necessitating a knowledge of digital imaging and graphical storage.

He won the The Queensland Natural History Award in 2012.

Source: Extracted from:
http://www.qnc.org.au/QNHA/qnha2012_PeterBostock.htm
http://anpsa.org.au/fernSG/fern100.pdf
Portrait Photo: 2001, M.Fagg (APII H.220).

Collecting localities for 'Bostock, P.D.' from AVH (2022)

Data from 1,275 specimens