Cusack [sometimes "Cusick"], William Michael (1871–1965)

William Michael Cusack was born on 12 November 1871 and died on 24 March 1965.

The Forests Department of Western Australia has records of W.M.Cusack who was a forester stationed at Kalgoorlie 1918–25. William Michael Cusack was employed by the Forests Department of the State from 1914 to 1936.

William Michael Cusack is possibly the collector of the type of Eucalyptus melanoxylon Maiden (1923). Westonia, where the original material was collected in 1921 and 1922, is about midway between Perth and Kalgoorlie. The collector's initials given in Maiden's protologue are "J.M.", but this has been subsequently changed on all the NSW and PERTH herbarium sheets to "W.M.".

The J. S. Battye Library of West Australian History records refers to a "J.P." Cusack who was a Forest Ranger at Kalgoorlie. This is James Patrick Cusack, a cousin of William.

Sources: Hall, N. (1978) Botanists of the eucalypts. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Melbourne
Maiden, J.H. (1923), A Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus 6(7): 351, Pl. 234 (2-3). William Applegate Gullick, Sydney.
Type specimens of Eucalyptus melanoxylon Maiden consulted online via JSTOR Plants https://plants.jstor.org/search?filter=name&so=ps_group_by_genus_species+asc&Query=eucalyptus+melanoxylon [accessed 11 May 2016]
email correspondence re: James Patrick Cusack from Pam Caddy. received 9 May 2016