Hartley, William   (1906 - 2000)

Born on 23 November 1906 in Bingley, Yorkshire, England; died on 15 March 2000 in Canberra, Australia, aged 93.

William (never 'Bill') was described as a vertically-challenged but irrepressibly humorous Yorkshireman.

He came to Australia, and Canberra, in 1930, soon after being appointed 'Junior Plant Introduction Officer' in the then CSIR's Division of Plant Industry.

He had been recruited directly from Cambridge University where he had recently graduated with degrees in Arts and Agricultural Science. He was to remain with plant introduction – a significant specialty in that era – until 1961.

In the earty days of Canberra, CSIRO staff were prominent in many local activities. That William was no exception is indicated by the fact that as well as being president of the CSIRO Officers Association and the ACT branch of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science, he was also president of the ACT branch of the Australan Institute of International Affairs and of the Canberra Repertory Society.

After a year at Kew Gardens (1938/39), William recognised the need to help Australian plant scientists to use the currently correct Latin binomial names for the species they investigated, to which end he produced periodic editions of 'Standardised Plant Names'.

In the course of his work he made more than 30,000 plant introductions to Australia, mostly of pasture grasses and clovers, and conducted the first Australian plant-collecting mission to South America in 1947. Grasses were his specialty and he published widely on their phytogeography.

William's final role, on leave from the Division from 1961 to 1969, was as CSIRO's Chief Scientific Liasion Offcer, first in the USA and from 1963 to 1966 in London before returning to Washington. In this role he helped many Australlan scientists and students.

On his retun to retirement in Canberra he was made an Honorary Research Felow in the Division, working in the Herbarium and producing the invaluable 'Checklist of Economic Plants in Australia' (1979).


An oral history interview with William can be listened to at: https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-214841813/listen

Source: Extracted from:
Evans, Lloyd, CSIRO Obituary 'William Hartley - OBE' media release 12/5/2000
Canberra Times, Bruce Judery, Obituary, 'Pioneer of Plant Introduction', 31 March 2000, p.11
Portrait Photo: 1960s, USA, and with President Lyndon B. Johnson, CSIRO archive photos.

Collecting localities for 'Hartley, W.' from AVH (2024)

Data from 1,875 specimens