Vestjens, Wilhelmus Jacobus Maria (Wim)   (1927 - 1979)

Born on 2 December 1927 in Budel, Holland; died on 7 August, 1979, in Canberra, Australia.

He served with the Royal Dutch Forces in Indonesia 1946-49.

He migrated to Australia 1956, and started immediately with CSIRO at Gunghalin, ACT, where he continued to work until his death.

He was a technician (and later experimental scientist) with the CSIRO Division of Wildlife Research based in Canberra.

Most of his work was on birds, especially waterfowl, and he published extensively, in collaboration with others, on the diet of birds in Australia, (which helps to explain his herbarium plant collections, many of which are waterplants). He also undertook work on birds as a potential safety risk to aircraft at airports.

In later life he had a close association with Daramalan Catholic College in Canberra where he shared his work at CSIRO with generations of students, not only through his collection of geological and animal exhibits which he mounted, re-arranged and maintained, but also in his series of lectures which he began in 1967 and continued weekly for nearly five years.

On his death his widow presented this private collection, long on display at Daramalan, to the College as a memorial to her husband.

Source: Extracted from:
Pers. comm. Brendan Lepschi (2024)
Ryan, John J. in 'Daramalan 1980', yearbook of Daramalan College, Dickson, ACT.
Portrait Photo: date unknown, from: 'Daramalan 1980', above.

Collecting localities for 'Vestjens, W.' from AVH (2024)

Data from 192 specimens