Person

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

OBE

Born
25 December 1915
Mont Albert, Victoria, Australia
Died
24 September 2004
Townsville, Queenland, Australia
Occupation
Botanic gardens director and Horticulturist

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.

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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
1949 - 1951
Career position - Chairman, Field Naturalists' Section, Royal Society of South Australia
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

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

Helen Cohn

Created: 11 July 2024

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