Hill, Gerald Freer   (1880 - 1954)

Born at Dandenong Road, Prahran, Melbourne, Victoria on 16 February 1880; died at Liverpool hospital, NSW, on 18 January 1954.

Perhaps better known as an entomologist/zoologist, Hill was an all-round naturalist and collector. He collected in north-western Australia in 1909-1910, and in 1911-1912 was a member of Captain Henry V. Barclay's expedition to the Macarthur River and the Gulf of Carpentaria. These latter collections formed much of the basis for Ewart & Davies' The Flora of the Northern Territory (1917). Hill's collections were acquired by Ewart through both donation and purchase, and are now at MEL, with duplicates in NSW.

"Although Gerald was employed as a naturalist and photographer on the Barclay Expedition in 1911-1912, Alfred Ewart (Government Botanist of Victoria) offered to pay five shillings for every new plant species he collected on the journey. Taking up the offer with enthusiasm Gerald collected some 600 plant specimens, of which about 30 species were undescribed".
(Mason & Pfitzner)

He became Government Entomologist in the Northern Territory from 1912 working on mosquitoes and termites until his resignation in 1917. After time at Melbourne University and National Museum of Vict he joined CSIR (later CSIRO) as an entomologist from 1926 until his retirement in 1941.

Source: Extracted from: A.E.Orchard (1999) A History of Systematic Botany in Australia, in Flora of Australia Vol.1, 2nd ed., ABRS. [consult for source references]
'Passions in Ornithology: A century of Australian Egg Collectors' (2020), Mason & Pfitzner, Canberra. [Consult for source refernces]
Portrait Photo: from Mason & Pfitzner book ex ANIC, CSIRO, Canberra

Collecting localities for 'Hill, G.F.' from AVH (2021)

Data from 1,521 specimens