Person

Bick, Ernest Walter (1870 - 1949)

Born
1870
Long Ashton, Somerset, United Kingdom
Died
5 April 1949
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Occupation
Horticultural botanist and Landscape gardener

Summary

Ernest Bick worked as a nurseryman, including at the Queensland Acclimatisation Society's Bowen Park, before becoming gardener at Government House in 1906. As Head gardener when the Governor's official residence was moved to Fernberg in 1910, he was responsible for laying out the new garden. In 1911 he accompanied the Governor, William MacGregor, on a collecting trip to Torres Strait and the Gulf of Carpentaria. Between 1912 and 1917 Bick was collector of botanical and entomological specimens for the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Stock, working for Government Botanists, Frederick M. Bailey and John F. Bailey. Appointed Curator of the Brisbane Botanic Garden in 1917, Bick engaged in an extensive program of botanical exchange with other botanic gardens, landscape improvements (including drainage works), and horticultural experimentation. His wider horticultural activities included designing the Sherwood Arboretum, planting the Anzac Memorial Avenue, and raising plants for the grounds of the new University of Queensland.

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Details

Chronology

1884
Life event - Migrated to Queensland
1886 - ?
Career position - Foundation Member, Queensland Horticultural Society
1886 - 1894
Career position - Gardener, Bowen Park, Queensland Acclimatisation Society
1894 - 1906
Career position - Propagator and foreman, Bowen Park, Queensland Acclimatisation Society
1906 - 1912
Career position - Gardener (later Head Gardener), Government House
1912 - 1917
Career position - Botanical and entomological collector, Queensland Department of Agriculture and Stock
1917 - 1940
Career position - Curator, Brisbane Botanic Gardens
1922 -
Career position - Member, Royal Society of Queensland
1932 -
Career position - Member, Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science

Published resources

See also

  • Aitken, Richard and Looker, Michael eds, The Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2002), 700 pp. p. 88. Details
  • Batianoff, George N.; and Dillewaard, Hans A., Port Curtis district flora and early botanists (Indooroopilly, Qld: Queensland Herbarium and Society for Growing Australian Plants (Queendland Region), 1988), 121 pp. Details
  • Fagg, Murray, 'Bick, Ernest Walter (1870 - 1949)', Australian Plant Collectors and Illustrators, Council of Heads of Australian Herbaria (CHAH), 2010, https://www.anbg.gov.au/biography/bick-ernest-walter.html. Details

Helen Cohn

Created: 20 December 2022

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