Donaldson, Stuart Robert   (fl. 1980s - 2010s)

Stuart started working as a horticulturist for the Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG) on 14 November 1977.

In his early years he was based for most of the time at the Top Depot.

He had a broad view of the Gardens' role and formed constructive networks with researchers at the Herbarium and the Australian National University and the National Insect Collection at CSIRO.

He was later promoted to 'Planting Officer' at the Gardens and again formed networks with other institutions to fill the gaps in the collection, especially for endangered species.

He was joint author in several papers with Ish Sharma on fungal pathogens of Australian native plants.

He joined botanist Jim Croft on expeditions to Macquarie Island and Heard Island in 1989 and 1993 and set up a living collection in cold-rooms at he Gardens. He planted out some of the collections into a small subantarctic garden at the Black Mountain site, paving the way for the studying their commercial development by plant physiologist Iain Dawson.

He officially retired from the Gardens on 17 April 2008.

Source: Pers.Comm. Murray Fagg (2024)
Portrait Photo: March 1993, Heard Island, by Jim Croft.

Collecting localities for 'Donaldson, S.' from AVH (2024)

Data from 4,701 specimens