Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria |
Born: Melbourne, Victoria, 16 January 1896,
Died: Armadale, Victoria, 11 January 1974
Frank Morris joined the staff of the National Herbarium of Victoria, Melbourne
Botanic Gardens, on 22 August 1913 and remaining with the institution for the next 48 years - until retirement on his 65th birthday (16 Jan. 1961). He became the Senior Botanical Officer. His special interests
were grasses, pasture plants and weeds, but much of his time was taken up with
routine work.
Early in his
professional career he worked under
Professor A. J. Ewart.
He never married,
but lived for many years with his
widowed mother and single sister at 6 Mandeville Crescent, Toorak, until they successively died.
He joined the Field Naturalists
Club of Victoria in June 1918, was President in
succession to P. Crosbie Morrison during a difficult war year (July
1943 - June 1944) and was elected to honorary membership in April 1959.
Outside office hours, he
was a most enthusiastic member of the
Banks Rowing Club, regularly coaching crews on the Yarra River.
Always interested in youth welfare
work, he would annually collect toys
and do them up for distribution to
children's homes.
Morris was selected to succeed Nancy Burbidge as ABLO in Kew from 1956 but only remained in Kew for 8 months, returning to Australia early due to family circumstances.
One anecdote recalled by Desmond Meikle, one of the Kew staff, was that he was
"incessantly loquacious, always telling us how much better Australia was than the
U.K. and trying to persuade us to emigrate. I don't think this mission met with
much success." (Meikle in letter to Keeper, Kew, 28 Jan. 2005).
As noted above, he retired from the Herbarium in Victoria four years after returning from Kew and pursued other
interests.
Source: Extracted from:
Willis, J.H. (1974), The late Patrick Francis Morris (1896-1974), The Victorian
Naturalist Vol.91, p. 205-206
George, Alex (Ed), The Australian Botanical Liaison Officer scheme at Kew, 1937-2009, Four Gables Press, Perth, 2023.
Portrait Photo: Victorian Naturalist, Vol.61, Plate IV. 1944
Data from 710 Australian specimens