Rose, Steven David   (1950 - 2015)

Born on 16 January 1950; died on 12 June 2015.

Steve Rose was raised in Bedford Park, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia.

Steve was a keen collector and grower of Australian terrestrial orchids and carnivorous plants.

Steve married Lesley and as a true visionary, they lived what we now call 'a sustainable lifestyle'. They moved to northern Queensland living in sustainable communities before returning to Perth to live in an early settler's house on a vineyard in Guilford with Lesley and his daughters.

This is where he built his first greenhouse to house his rapidly growing collection of native terrestrial orchids and Australian carnivorous plants. He and Lesley ran a business growing native plant tube lines that were sold onto nurseries in Perth.

With friends they ventured further afield throughout south west Western Australia. Steve's botanical method was to walk in a semi-circle out and back to the road side as a friend did the same on the opposite side of the road. They covered a lot of ground with this surveying method and discovered many new species of carnivorous plants.

He established a formula to select the right soil types to use when growing carnivorous plants and terrestrial orchids in cultivation.

He undertook an expedition to Sumatra, travelling from Padang to Lake Toba exploring mountains and roadsides along our way.

It was about this time Steve was also getting very interested in the idea of gold prospecting. He and his family soon moved to Kalgoorlie where they continued gold prospecting. He made some very good gold discoveries and did business with larger mining companies.

He was a self-taught geologist and with his skills recognized he became a professional prospector and was hired to conduct gold surveys between Kalgoorlie and Hopetoun. Principally prospecting in the no man's land region of Forrestania.

Steve's prospecting career took him to the highlands of Papua New Guinea while prospecting for an American mining company. This often entailed being lowered by helicopter into the jungle where he would gather rock samples and complete area surveys. During these adventures into prospecting, he was never far away from his love of plants.

Steve's prospecting career also took him to China and parts of SE Asia.

Source: Extracted from:
Alen Lowrie, 'In Memory of' Steven David Rose',
Carnivorous Plant Newsletter, Volume 45 March 2016
https://cpn.carnivorousplants.org/articles/CPNv45n1p9_11.pdf
Portrait Photo: 1980, article above.

Collecting localities for 'Rose, S.' from AVH (2024)

Data from 61 specimens from PERTH and CANB