Brittlebank, Charles Clifton (1862 - 1945)

Born at Snitterton & Wensley, Derbyshire, England, on 1 January 1863; emigrated to Australia from London, England on 3 May 1875 with his parents and siblings on the Sam Mendel, arriving at Brisbane, Qld, on 28 July 1875; died at Caulfield (Melbourne), Vic, on 2 November 1945.
[Note: Charles was buried at the Bacchus Marsh Cemetery (Maddingley, near Myrniong, Vic)]

Dairy farmer, illustrator, naturalist, mycologist.

Arrived Qld 1870s, then moved to Tas, then Myrniong near Bacchus Marsh, Vic, c. 1890 and collected in area incl. Werribee Gorge. Active in Field Naturalists Club.

Studied Loranthus exocarpi (Proc. Linn.Soc. NSW 33: 650-656, pis XV-XX, 1908). In 1908 became assistant to D. McAlpine; made large collection of fungi. In 1913 became Govt Plant Pathologist, Vic; Biologist in Charge, Dept of Agriculture, Vic. 1924-28.

Illustrated C.French, Destructive Insects of Victoria (1891-1911). In retirement prepared list of all Australian records of fungi and fungal diseases of plants (index held by CSIRO), and folio of fungal records (held by University of Melbourne).

Specimens at CANB, MEL, VPRI.

Collection of watercolours of orchids at MEL.

Source: 'Passions in Ornithology: A century of Australian Egg Collectors' (2020), Mason & Pfitzner, Canberra.
George, A.S. (2009) Australian Botanist's Companion, Four Gables Press, WA. [consult for source references]
Portrait Photo: 'Passions in Ornithology: A century of Australian Egg Collectors' (2020), Mason & Pfitzner, Canberra.

"Born in Derbyshire. England, in 1863, he came with his father to the New Hebrides, and established a plantation there in the days when the natives were still cannibals. Later, he acquired a farm at Bacchus Marsh, Vic. and, while there, discovered the first evidences of glaciation in the Werribee Gorge. Together with Professor Sir Edgeworth David and Mr George Sweet he published many papers on the ice age of that area, which is now one of the famous Australian localities for the study of glacial geology. As early as 1890 he was producing illustrations for "Destructive Insects," and in 1913 he was appointed Plant Pathologist to the Victorian Department of Agriculture. In 1924 he became Government Biologist, and, after his retirement in 1928, he compiled a host and fungus index of Australian fungi, which is still in manuscript - one copy is at Canberra and the other in the Burnley Research Laboratory of the Victorian Department of Agriculture. His wife and only son predeceased him."

Source: Obituary: Crosbie Morrison (1945), Wild Life Vol.7: p.378

Herbarium collection localities for Charles Brittlebank, from AVH (2013), 182 specimens