Perry, Rayden Alfred (Ray)  (1925 - 2004)

Born: 2 July 1925 at Port Noarlunga, SA; died: 4 January 2004, WA

Ray Perry was an environmental scientist whose expertise was in rangeland management.

He joined CSIR, later CSIRO in 1947 in the Division of Soils.

In 1954 he was made Senior Research Officer in the CSIRO Division of Land Research and Regional Survey. This involved major plant collecting across northern Australia.

In 1967, CSIRO's involvement in Alice Springs was enhanced with the establishment of the Rangeland Research Programme, which developed in 1969 into a separate Rangeland Research Unit, led from Canberra by Ray Perry.
Recruitment of staff to the central Australian office began that same year.

From 1973 - 1982 he was Chief of CSIRO Land Resources Management.

After a 40-year career spent largely with CSIRO divisions concerned with rangelands research, he retired in 1986 as Chief of the Division of Groundwater Research.

During this time he pioneered methods of surveying land forms, geology and vegetaion which were essential for land use planning.

He was active in scientific societies, being a founding member and President of the Australian Rangelands Society, and President of the Ecological Society of Australia.

Perry made significant collections of plant specimens in the northern and arid areas of Australia, distributed in herbaria around Australia.

In retirement he organised research into the failure of nacre development in the cultured pearl industry in WA.

Major herbarium specimen collections (aprox):
Aust National Herbarium (CANB): = 5,500
Qld Herbarium: = 2,500
WA Herbarium: = 1,300
NSW Herbarium: = 1,300
Vic Herbarium: = 1,300
SA Herbarium: = 1,000

Source: Extracted from:
https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P004558b.htm
https://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/biogs/P004558b.htm
https://doi.org/10.1071/HR22006
Portrait Photo: 1970's CSIRO Archives

Collecting localities for 'Perry, R.A.' from AVH (2023)

Data from 14,984 specimens