Pryor plaque in front of Eucalyptus leucoxylon subsp. pryoriana (2010) [click to enlarge]

Lindsay Pryor Plaque

On Sunday 22 October 1995, a special ceremony was held to honour Lindsay Pryor as the 'founding father' of the Gardens.

As the Canberra Times reported the following day:

"A large group had gathered to celebrate the 25th anniversay of the Australian National Botanic Gardens, the 50th year since the first unofficial plantings, the fifth anniversary of the inauguration of the Friends of the Gardens, and to celebrate the 80th birthday of Lindsay Pryor"

The ceremony, with a range of speakers, was held in the Crosbie Morrison Building in the presence of Lindsay Pryor. It was organised by the Friends of the Australian National Botanic Gardens.

Pouring rain marred the event, but during a lull, all those present walked up to Section 5 in a procession under umbrellas. There Dr Lawrie Johnson, representing the scientific botanical community, unveiled a plaque recognising Lindsay Pryor's contribution to the foundation and development of the Australian National Botanic Gardens. The plaque was fixed to a rock placed beneath a Eucalyptus pryoriana tree, a species that Lawrie Johnson had described to honour Lindsay Pryor and his contributions to the understanding of the genus Eucalyptus.

In 1996 the name of this taxon was changed to Eucalyptus viminalis subsp. pryoriana by Ian Brooker and Andrew Slee, both then at the Australian National Herbarium.

Unfortunately on Wednesday 19 February 2014 this tree was blown down in a severe storm. It was the only representative of this taxon in the Botanic Gardens at the time.

Read the full Canberra Times article from 23 October 1995

---

---