Brittlebank, Charles Clifton (1862 - 1945)

Summary

Charles Brittlebank was a much-respected plant pathologist and naturalist. He came to Australia with his family via the New Hebrides, Queensland and Tasmania, settling at Myrniong near Bacchus Marsh in Victoria in the early 1890s. Here he was a farmer with his brother Thomas. In 1908 he joined the Victorian Department of Agriculture in 1908 as Assistant to Daniel McAlpine, and succeeded him as Government Pathologist in 1913. He retired in 1928 as Biologist in charge of the Department's Science Branch. While at the Department he published over 24 papers and established a diagnostic service for farmers. He was the first person to describe the destructive tomato spotted wilt disease. In the latter years of his career he lectured in plant pathology at both the Burnley School of Horticulture and the School of Agriculture, University of Melbourne. While his principal research was in fungi, he was also a keen geologist and ornithologist. With Thomas, he made extensive studies of the natural history and geology of the Werribee Gorge district to the west of Melbourne. They made the first comprehensive list of the birds of the area, while Charles was was involved in the discovery of evidence of Ice-age glaciation in Victoria in the Gorge. Charles Brittlebank was a noted natural history illustrator. His illustrations were published in: Handbook of the destructive insects of Victoria, by Charles French (1891 - 1911); Nests and eggs of Australian birds, by Archibald. J. Campbell (1900); and Fungus diseases of citrus trees in Australia and their treatment, by McAlpine (1899). Brittlebank was a member of the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria. His collections and illustrations are in Museum Victoria, as are the egg collections of his brother, Thomas.

Details

Chronology

c. 1893

Life event - Settled in Victoria

1908 - 1913

Career position - Assistant, Victorian Department of Agriculture

1913 - 1924

Career position - Government Plant Pathologist, Victorian Department of Agriculture

1923 - 1928

Career position - Lecturer on fungal diseases of fruit, Burnley School of Horticulture

1924 - 1928

Career position - Biologist-in-Charge, Science Branch, Victorian Department of Agriculture

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• Australian Botanists - Biographies, MS 064; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

National Herbarium, Melbourne

• Charles Clifton Brittlebank - Records; National Herbarium, Melbourne. Details

Published resources

Journal Articles

• Brittlebank C. C., 'Birds of Myrniong and surrounding districts', Victorian naturalist, 16 (1899), 59-61. Details
• Geering, Andrew D. W., 'The discovery of tomato spotted wilt disease', Historical records of Australian science, 35 (2) (2024), 190-7. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR23015. Details
• Hewish, Marilyn, 'Historical Notes on Charles and Thomas Brittlebank, Pioneer Naturalists in the Werribee Gorge District, West of Melbourne', The Victorian naturalist, 123 (5) (2006), 314-317. Details
• McCann, Doug, 'Charles Brittlebank and the Bacchus Marsh Glacial Sediments', Newsletter (Earth Sciences History Group), 36 (2006), 17-22. Details
• McEvey, A., 'Literary notes no. 2: some Brittlebank bird paintings', Emu, 66 (1966), 189-90. Details
• Morrison, C., 'Obituary Mr C. C. Brittlebank', Wild life, 7 (1945), 378. Details
• Pescott, E. E., 'The late Charles C. Brittlebank', Victorian naturalist, 62 (1946), 189-91. Details
• Ryley, Malcolm J., 'Wattle gall - the quintessential Australian plant disease', Historical records of Australian science, 35 (2) (2024), 116-29, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR23006. Details
• Sweet, G. and Brittlebank, C. C., 'The glacial deposits of the Bacchus Marsh district', Report of the meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 5 (1893), 376-89. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q21506500. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/94182689. Details
• 'Brittlebank, C C (1862-19451102)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-606213. Details

See also

• Campbell, Archibald James, Nests and eggs of Australian birds: including the geographical distribution of the species and popular observations thereon, 2 vols (Sheffield, 1099). Details
• Fagg, Murray, 'Brittlebank, Charles Clifton (1862 - 1945)', Australian Plant Collectors and Illustrators, Council of Heads of Australian Herbaria (CHAH), 2010, https://www.anbg.gov.au/biography/brittlebank-charles-clifton.html. Details
• French, C., A handbook of the destructive insects of Victoria : with notes on the methods to be adopted to check and extirpate them, 5 vols (Melbourne: Government Printer, 1891-1911). Details
• McAlpine, D., Fungus diseases of citrus trees in Australia and their treatment (Melbourne: Government Printer, 1899), 132 pp. Details