Morris, Dennis Ivor (1924 - 2005)

Summary

Brian Morris had a unrivalled knowledge of Tasmania's exotic flora. He developed this while serving for nearly 25 years as Weed Officer for the Tasmanian Department of Agriculture. Before joining the Department he had a varied career as army officer, surveyor and park ranger. During his time with the Department Morris published extensively of Tasmanian weeds, and participated in the Department's extension services. His expertise was called upon by other Tasmanian Government agencies (including the police), researchers at the University of Tasmania, and the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service. Despite having no formal training in botany, Morris became a highly skilled and greatly respected taxonomist, adept in plant nomenclature, and specialising in monocotyledons, particularly grasses and sedges. His publications, and those of his colleagues, were often illustrated with his high quality, ink drawings: these are now in the Tasmanian Herbarium. In the 1960s Morris became acquainted with Winifred Curtis, botanist with the University of Tasmania. They worked together on The student's flora of Tasmania, an influential and fundamental text on Tasmanian botany. The Tasmanian Herbarium holds over 2,500 specimens collected by Morris.

Details

Chronology

1942 - 1947

Military service - Served in the British and Indian Armies

1947 - 1950

Career position - Worked in U.K. in forestry and on farms

1950

Life event - Migrated to Australia

1951? - 1952

Career event - Surveying job in British Columbia, Canada

1952 - 1954

Career position - Surveyor, Hydro-Electric Commission of Tasmania

1954 - 1961

Career position - Park Ranger at Mount Field, Tasmanian Scenery Preservation Board

1961 - 1985

Career position - Weed Officer, Tasmanian Department of Agriculture

1985

Life event - Retired

January 1985 - 2005?

Career position - Honorary Botanist, Tasmanian Herbarium

1987

Award - Australian Institute of Agricultural Science (AIAS) Award for contribution to the Advancement of Agriculture in Tasmania

1999

Award - Council of Australian Weed Science Societies (CAWSS) Leadership Medal

2003

Award - DSc honoris causa, University of Tasmania

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Curtis, Winifred M.; and Morris Dennis I., The student's flora of Tasmania, 4 vols (Hobart: Government Printer, 1956-1994). Details
• Hyde-Wyatt, B. H. and Morris, D. I., The noxious and secondary weeds of Tasmania (Hobart: Tasmanian Department of Agriculture, 1980), 148 pp. Details
• Hyde-Wyatt. B. H. and Morris, D. I., Tasmanian weed handbook: a guide to the identification of the main broad-leaf weeds of crops and pastures in Tasmania. (Hobart: Tasmanian Department of Agriculture, 1975), 110 pp. Details
• Lane, P., Morris, D. I. and Shannon, G., Common grasses of Tasmania: an agriculturalists' guide (Hobart: Tasmanian Environment Centre, 1999), 83 pp. Details
• Munday, B. L. and Morris, D. I., Tasmanian plants toxic for animals (Hobart: Tasmanian Department of Agriculture, 1978), 101 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• Baker, Matthew, 'Dennis Morris awarded an honorary Doctor of Science', Australian Systematic Botany Society newsletter, 117 (2003), 21-2. Details
• Hovenden, M. J. and Morris, D. I., 'Occurrence and distribution of native and introduced C4 grasses in Tasmania', Australian journal of botany, 50 (6) (2002), 667-75, https://doi.org/10.1071/BT01093. Details
• Kantvilas, Gintaras, 'Vale Dennis Morris, 1924-2005', Muelleria, 22 (2005), 113-8. Details
• Morris, D. I., 'New taxa and a new combination in Tasmanian Poaceae', Muelleria, 7 (1990), 147-71. Details
• Rozefelds, A. C. F., Cave, L., Morris, D. I. and Buchanan, A. M., 'The weed invasion in Tasmania since 1970', Australian journal of botany, 47 (1) (1999), 23-48. Details

See also

• Fagg, Murray, 'Morris, Dennis Ivor (1924 - 2005)', Australian Plant Collectors and Illustrators, Council of Heads of Australian Herbaria (CHAH), 2010, https://anbg.gov.au/biography/morris-dennis.html. Details