Corporate Body
Tasmanian Herbarium (1976 - )
- From
- 1976
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia - Functions
- Collection Management, Conservation or Environment, Herbarium, Plant Science and Taxonomic botany
- Website
- https://www.tmag.tas.gov.au/collections_and_research/tasmanian_herbarium
- Location
- College Road, University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay, Tasmania
Summary
The Tasmanian Herbarium is the state's collection of preserved botanical specimens. Administratively it is part of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. It's principal function is the development, management,, maintenance and research on these collections. Geographically the Herbarium focuses on Tasmania, but does include material from Australia and the southern hemisphere in general. The earliest specimens date from c.1830. Research undertaken by Herbarium staff and research associates includes: the classification and relationships of the Tasmanian flora; ecology and distribution of weeds; bryophytes and lichens as monitors of forest health; and the conservation status of Tasmania's lichens. The Herbarium is a member of the Council of the Heads of Australian Herbaria (CHAH), a collaborative association of Australia's principal herbaria, and contributes specimen information Australia's Virtual Herbarium, an initiative of CHAH.
Major collections held by the Herbarium include those of Ronald Gunn, Leonard Rodway, Geoffrey Bratt (lichens) and William Weymouth (bryophytes); Winifred Curtis, Dennis Morris and Janet Somerville (which underpinned the preparation of The student's flora of Tasmania); Rodney Seppelt (Antrctic and Subantarctic); and the lichen, bryophyte and subantarctic vascular plant collection which was transferred from the Australian Antarctic Division.
Details
The Tasmanian Herbarium was formally established in 1976 with the amalgamation of herbaria of the Tasmanian Museum (which had at various times been under the management of the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens) and the University of Tasmania. The Museum's collections were started by Leonard Rodway, Tasmanian Government Botanist, in 1928: the Museum was at that time located in the Botanical Gardens. The University's herbarium was started as a teaching herbarium, while the Museum's herbarium was transferred to the University on long-term loan during Winifred Curtis's tenure as curator. In 1950 the Museum and Botanical Gardens were administratively separated. The Tasmanian Herbarium is now administratively part of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, and located on the Sandy Bay campus of the University of Tasmania.
Honorary Curators of the herbarium collections, held variously at the Museum, the Botanic Gardens and the University, were:
Leonard Rodway 1928 - 1932;
Olive Rodway 1932 - 1941;
Winifred Curtis (part-time) 1941 - 1946;
Janet Somerville 1957 - 1963.
Related entries
Participates in
Superior
Published resources
Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions
- McCarthy, Gavan; Smith, Ailie; Moje, Christine; Rigby, Rebecca, The Study of Australian Eucalypts, eScholarship Research Centre, 2013, http://www.eoas.info/eucalypts/index.html. Details
Resources
- Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-529815. Details
See also
- Cowley, K. J.; West, J. G, Resources of Australian Herbaria: a Guide to Herbaria Located in Australia (Canberra: Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, 1999), [84] pp. Details
- Cowley, K. J.; West, J. G, Resources of Australian Herbaria [online], with Council of Heads of Australian Herbaria, Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, 2002, http://www.anbg.gov.au/chah/resources/intro/index.html. Details
Christine Moje and Helen Cohn
Created: 10 July 2012, Last modified: 20 March 2025
- Foundation and Current Supporter - Bjarne K Dahl Trust