Lothian, Thomas Robert Noel (Noel) (1915 - 2004)

Summary

Noel Lothian was Director of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens from 1948 to 1980, during which time he rescued the Gardens from the decline of the early years of the 20th century. Before coming to South Australia, he worked and studied in gardens and horticulture in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and Munich. After attaining the National Diploma of Horticulture in New Zealand after WWII, he was appointed Senior Lecturer in Horticulture, at Lincoln Agricultural College, near Christchurch. Here he established horticultural diploma and degree courses in the two years before coming to Australia. On arriving in Adelaide, Lothian instituted a program of rejuvenation which included: restoring existing buildings and garden structures (including the glasshouses and the Museum of Economic Botany); ensuring the Gardens's administration and the State Herbarium of South Australia (which he resurrected) had suitable accommodation; establishing a 4-year training course for trainees at the Gardens; creating special collections and display gardens such as the Horticulture Garden. The two regional Gardens at Mt Lofty and Wittunga were instigated during Lothian's tenure. In addition, his extension program included an advisory service for the public; 25 years on radio gardening shows; and consulting with South Australian government agencies and rural communities on suitable plantings in their areas. During the 1950s and 1960s Lothian made a number of field trips into remote regions of Australia: specimens collected on these trips are largely in the Herbarium. Lothian was actively involved (including serviing terms as President) of a number of local scientific organisations, including the Royal Society of South Australia, the Field naturalists Club of South Australia, and the National Parks Commission during a period of considerable expansion of the parks system in South Australia.

Details

Chronology

c. 1946 - 1947

Career position - Senior Lecturer in Horticulture, Lincoln Agricultural College near Christchurch, New Zealand

1948 - ?

Career position - Councillor, Royal Agricultural Society of South Australia

1948 - 1980

Career position - Director, Adelaide Botanic Gardens

1950 - 1974

Career position - Editor, South Australian naturalist

1952 - 1954

Career position - Chairman, Field Naturalists Club of South Australia

1956 - 1958

Career position - Chairman, Field Naturalists Club of South Australia

1958 - 1960

Career position - President, Royal Society of South Australia

1961

Award - Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)

1975

Award - Veitch Medal, Royal Horticultural Society, United Kingdom

1978 - 1982

Career position - Member of Council, University of Adelaide

1987

Career position - Member of Council, University of Adelaide

1987 - 1988

Career position - President, Kew Guild, United Kingdom

1987 - 1990

Career position - President, Friends of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Fiveash, Rosa, Australian orchids: a collection of paintings by Rosa Catherine Fiveash; with text by Noel Lothian (Adelaide: Rigby, 1974), 149 pp. Details
• Lothian, Noel, The practical home gardener; a guide to the cultivation of plants in Australia, with special details for the drier regions (Melbourne: Lothian, 1955), 353 pp. Details
• Lothian, Noel and Holliday, Ivan, Growing Australian plants (Adelaide: Rigby, 1964), 168 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• McAlister, Ed, 'A slide odyssey: the Noel Lothian collection', Australian garden history, 24 (2) (2012), 19-21. Details

See also

• Draper, W.J. ed., Who's who in Australia 1983 (Melbourne, Victoria: Herald and Weekly Times Ltd, 1983), 960 pp. Details
• Fagg, Murray, 'Lothian, Thomas Robert Noel (Noel) (1915 - 2004)', Australian Plant Collectors and Illustrators, Council of Heads of Australian Herbaria (CHAH), 2010, https://www.anbg.gov.au/biography/lothian-thomas-robert-noel.html. Details