Jackson, Eric Norman Shannon   (1922 - 1997)

Born 14 June 1922 at Tusmore, Burnside City, SA; died on 16 July 1997 (aged 75) at Adelaide, SA.

He was educated at St Peters College, Adelaide, in the 1930s and undertook some Adelaide University courses in economics and maths in the early 1940s, but appears not to have completed a Degree.

In 1976 he married Agnes Elizabeth (née Jordan) (1932-2007).

Eric was a man of independent means who worked in the State Herbarium of South Australia as a Technical Officer from 1958 to 1986, and, following his retirement, was a member of the Tuesday brigade of volunteers. Eric's particular work on Tuesdays was to continue on with the updating of the [Public] Reference Herbarium (which he had established) and it is fitting that this facility now bears his name.

During his working life Eric was part of some of the longer SA Herbarium field trips to Western Australia and the Northern Territory and was a regular participant in the annual Nature Conservation Society of South Australia field camps. His c. 7000 collections therefore are predominantly from these three states.

One Australian Systematic Botany Society (ASBS) field trip in which he participated with his wife Agnes, was in 1980, when a river boat was hired in order to collect along the Murray River and plan a potential field trip for the Sydney Botanical Congress in 1981. Nothing came of the Congress field trip but all participants had a most enjoyable and productive few days.

Eric was an active member of many societies dealing with natural history and conservation - Field Naturalists, Bushwalker's, National Parks and Nature Conservation Society of SA to name a few. All of them benefited in some way from his generosity and 'behind the scenes' participation.

Eric was a bibliophile of long standing, he could always be relied on to table copies of the latest books on natural history, or copies of old books for interest. He was extremely generous with his books and made many contributions to the Adelaide Botanic Gardens library. He also supported their publication. With respect to ASBS he made up a last minute short fall in funds for the publication of Barker & Greenslade (1982) 'Evolution of the Flora and Fauna of Arid Australia' and offered support for other ASBS publications.

Source: Extracted from:
Barker, R. (1997), Obituary: 'Eric N.S. Jackson', ASBS Newsletter, No. 92 SEPT. 1997;
The Ryerson Index (viewed 11/1/2024);
www.findagrave.com/memorial/199870387/eric-norman_shannon-jackson;
Portrait Photo: 1978, George Chippendale, (ANBG Photo Collection)

Collecting localities for 'Jackson, E.N.S.' from AVH (2024)

Data from 7,654 specimens