Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria Australian National Herbarium Biographical Notes

Crawford, Alexander Robert (1840-1912 )

Crawford was born in Dublin, Ireland, on 21 February 1840 and died at Moona Plains near Walcha, N.S.W., on 27 March 1912.

It is not known when he left Ireland but in his younger years he managed Cunderang Station for an uncle, and he later collected for F. Mueller (q.v.). Mueller was very satisfied with his work and asked him to make a special trip to Western Australia, but Crawford did not wish to make the journey. After the death of Mueller in 1896, J. H. Maiden (q.v.) contacted him and the many specimens Crawford secured for him are in the National Herbarium, Sydney. Of him Maiden wrote —

‘I found him a critical observer, and he made many critical observations, particularly on grasses and eucalypts.’

Crawford discovered the existence of one of the blue gums (then referred to as Eucalyptus globulus) in the New England district of New South Wales.

Source: Extracted from: Hall, N. (1978) Botanists of the eucalypts. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Melbourne