[Taxacom] Ken Hill's work

[Karen Wilson]

You're quite right, Paul, that I should have mentioned Ken's work on conifers, including the famed Wollemia! 

I guess that my thinking automatically focuses more on the eucalypts, which are foremost in nearly all Australians' thinking because they are such a big group and in just about every habitat in Australia. Ken was an author for the names of about 300 of the >800 species of eucalypt, mostly jointly with Lawrie Johnson. 
As Ken wrote in his Eucalink pages) on our PlantNET website: 
'The eucalypts (the genera Angophora, Corymbia and Eucalyptus) are a botanical phenomenon unique to the Autralian continent. Nowhere else in the world does a single genus of trees dominate the vegetation of an entire continent, and nowhere else does a single genus adapt and diversify into the totality of habitats as seen across the wide diversity of the Australian countryside.'

Ken did not get to finish his set of eucalypt webpages (http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/PlantNet/Euc/index.html), intended to be analogous to the Cycad Pages that he set up with Dennis Stevenson and others, before he had to stop work. However, what is there is still useful, including an online key to the eucalypt species known up to 6 years ago. 

Karen W

-----Original Message-----
From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Paul van Rijckevorsel
Sent: Friday, 6 August 2010 8:34 PM
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Death of Ken Hill, eucalypt and cycad specialist

I would have assumed that the discovery of Wollemia nobilis was the
high point of his career, but apparently that is too narrow a point of
view...

Even a  very brief search leads quickly to The Cycad Pages, which look
quite impressive, at http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/PlantNet/cycad/
("Written and maintained by Ken Hill").

A distinguished botanist indeed,
Paul

From: "Karen Wilson" <Karen.Wilson at rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au>
Sent: Thursday, August 05, 2010 10:22 AM

> Australian botany has suffered another sad loss: Ken Hill has died after
> an extended and debilitating illness.
>
> Ken had a long career here at NSW as a botanist, having previously been a
> geologist. He  worked closely with the late Lawrie Johnson on eucalypts,
> and became a world authority on them and cycads, with interests also in
> other groups such as Hoya. He took a keen interest in electronic
> presentation of data from the late 1980s, and was adept at writing
> programs and putting together websites. He played a key role in setting up
> PlantNET as our web-based way to deliver plant information
> (http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au).
> Sadly, Ken's declining health meant that he had to retire early, in 2004.
> He died yesterday, two days before his 62nd birthday.
>
> As one close colleague put it, Ken represented 'that mixture of humility,
> scientist and tech geek the world needs'.
> We will all miss his quiet, amiable presence.
>
> Karen Wilson
> __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
> Karen L. Wilson AM  |  Senior Research Scientist  Plant Diversity Section
> |  National Herbarium of NSW  |  Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney, Mrs
> Macquaries Road, SYDNEY NSW 2000, AUSTRALIA
>
> Adjunct Assoc Prof, University of New England
> Secretary-General XVIII IBC Organising Committee - to take place in
> Melbourne July 2011 -  www.ibc2011.com
> Phone: +61 2 9231 8137  |  Fax: +61 2  9251 7231  |  email:
> karen.wilson at rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au  |  website: www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au
>
>
> The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust is part of Department of
> Environment, Climate Change and Water  (NSW).
> This email is intended for the addressee(s) named and may contain
> confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended
> recipient, please notify the sender and delete it immediately. Any views
> expressed in this email are those of the individual sender except where
> the sender expressly and with authority states them to be the views of the
> Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (NSW) or the Botanic
> Gardens Trust Sydney.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This email is intended for the addressee(s) named and may contain
> confidential and/or privileged information.
> If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender and then
> delete it immediately.
> Any views expressed in this email are those of the individual sender
> except where the sender expressly and with authority states them to be the
> views of the Department of Environment, Climate Change & Water NSW.
> _______________________________________________
>
> Taxacom Mailing List
> Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom
>
> The Taxacom archive going back to 1992 may be searched with either of
> these methods:
>
> (1) http://taxacom.markmail.org
>
> Or (2) a Google search specified as:
> site:mailman.nhm.ku.edu/pipermail/taxacom  your search terms here
>


_______________________________________________

Taxacom Mailing List
Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom

The Taxacom archive going back to 1992 may be searched with either of these methods:

(1) http://taxacom.markmail.org

Or (2) a Google search specified as:  site:mailman.nhm.ku.edu/pipermail/taxacom  your search terms here
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This email is intended for the addressee(s) named and may contain confidential and/or privileged information. 
If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender and then delete it immediately.
Any views expressed in this email are those of the individual sender except where the sender expressly and with authority states them to be the views of the Department of Environment, Climate Change & Water NSW.