Lander, Nicholas Sean (Nick)  (1948 - )

Born: Redruth, Cornwall, UK, 15 September 1948;

Lander's parents migrated to Australia as "Ten pound Poms" (children were free).

He graduated with a BSc from The University of Sydney in 1971, majoring in botany and genetics.

In early 1971 he was appointed as a Scientific Officer at the National Herbarium of NSW, Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, where he worked as a botanist before moving to Perth in 1977. At NSW he curated a number of plant families, notably the Amaranthaceae, Asteraceae, Fabaceae, and Malvaceae.

During this period he was mentored by Don McGillivray who had just returned from his stint as ABLO. Although his first publications concerned the Celastraceae, Lander's research interests quickly gravitated to the Asteraceae, in particular members of the Tribe Astereae.

In late 1977, be was appointed an extension botanist at the Western Australian Herbarium.

He was 36 when he took up his one-year appointment as ABLO in Kew, UK, and with his partner, Lorna Robertson, Lander flew from Perth to UK in late August 1984.

On his return to Perth, the focus of Lander's duties shifted from extension work to research. He continued working on Asteraceae, subsequently publishing a series of papers on Olearia and its relatives.

He later gained a Graduate Diploma in Public Service Management at Curtin University.

He retired from the WA Herbarium in 2014.

Source: Extracted from:
George, Alex (Ed), The Australian Botanical Liaison Officer scheme at Kew, 1937-2009, Four Gables Press, Perth, 2023.
Portrait Photo: 2001, M.Fagg

Collecting localities for 'Lander, N.S.' from AVH (2023)

Data from 1,787 specimens