Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria |
Born in Australia, 1 January 1927; died on 24 May
at Coffs Harbour, NSW, aged 78 years.
OBITUARY - Vale Stirling Macoboy
Stirling (Bill) Macoboy's grandfather was a professional
nurseryman who migrated to Australia in the 1850s. Despite
this strong horticultural background, his grandfather's love of
plants took some time to emerge in Bill who had started his career as
an advertising copywriter, eventually becoming a director of television ads.
While working in the US Bill began writing stories on indoor plants for The Australan
Women's Weekly. He illustrated these articles with some of the wonderful horticultural
photographs he had taken. Gradualy his collection of photographs became more
extensive.
In 1969 Bil used more than 1000 of these photographs in the first edition of What Flower
is That? The publication of this book represented a significant breakthrough because it
was so different to the existing gardening books (which concentrated heavily on
information and were light on for pictures).
Advances in publishing and, most importantly,
reduced printing costs now meant that greater emphasis could be placed on pictures
rather than words (although Bill's writing skills added to the book's success). What
Flower ls That? became an international publishing phenomenon and has been reprinted
numerous times.
In the late 1970s Bill became the garden editor of the popular Better Homes & Gardens
magazine. Although he was now living back in Australia, he continued to travel widely and
to add to his extensive collection of plant photographs.
Eventually Bill reduced his involvement with Better Homes & Gardens and concentrated
more on travelling and collecting photos. Because of his interest in warm climate plants
he introduced Australians to a wealth of plant material that until then, with our inherited
European gardening traditions, had largely been ignored.
In the following years Bill continued writing, photographing and producing more books
and he has more than fifteen horticultural publications to his credit. He has always had a
particular love of camellias and one of his best-loved books is the magnificent Colour
Dictionary of Camelias.
Bill finally settled in Coffs Harbour, where he was able to surround himself with the
subtropical plants he admired so much.
His work lives on and his contribution to
Australian gardening is of immense significance. He has inspired generations of gardeners
and has mentored some of today's most recognised members of the horticultural media.
Judy Horton, HMA, NSW.
September 2005
Source: Extracted from: Obituary - Vale Stirling Macoboy, HMA News, p.2, September 2005
Portrait Photo: 1986, photo: Jack Lee, What Flower is That?, back dust-jacket flap.