George William Francis Althofer (1903–1993) was an Australian botanist, nurseryman, author and poet, with a special interest in the mint-bush genus ''

Prostanthera ''Prostanthera'', commonly known as mintbush or mint bush, is a genus of about 100 species of flowering plants in the mint family Lamiaceae, and all are endemic to Australia. Plants are usually shrubs, rarely trees with leaves in oppos ...

'' as well as other Australian native plants, who founded the Burrendong Botanic Garden and Arboretum.

Life

Althofer was born at Dripstone in the

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

local government area of central west

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. He attended school locally, in Dripstone, then Wellington and

Mumbil Mumbil is a town in the east of central New South Wales, Australia. The town is within Dubbo Regional Council, part of the Orana Region, north west of the state capital, Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of A ...

. Althofer grew up working on his father's farm and orchard, becoming an orchardist himself. In 1938 he established a native plant nursery at his property "Nindethana" at Dripstone. Inspired by the American example of the

Arnold Arboretum The Arnold Arboretum is a botanical research institution and free public park affiliated with Harvard University and located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale, Massachusetts, Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston. Established in 1872, it is the ...

, and assisted by his brother Peter, he lobbied for the establishment of a similar institution with a focus on Australian native plants. As a consequence, the Burrendong Botanic Garden and Arboretum on the foreshore of

Lake Burrendong Lake Burrendong is a man-made reservoir created by Burrendong Dam. It impounds waters on the Macquarie and Cudgegong rivers, near Wellington, in the central west region of New South Wales, Australia Australia, officially the Common ...

, near Wellington, opened in 1964.

Publications

Books and collections of poetry by Althofer include: * 1936 – ''The road to Burrendong and other verses'' * 1937 – ''Drifting''. (Music by Edward H. Tyrrell, words by George Althofer). The Manly Daily: Sydney * 1956 – ''The story of Nindethana and new and enlarged catalogue of Australian native plants''. Nindethana Nursery: Dripstone * 1966 – ''Trees to beat the droughts: being a guide to the planting of hardy species on the western slopes and plains''. (With "Blue Gum" of "The Land"). Land Newspaper: Sydney * n.d. (1970s) – ''The dream of Ronal and other verses'' * 1978 – ''Cradle of incense : the story of Australian Prostanthera''. Stanley Smith Memorial Publication Fund: Australia. * 1980 – ''Ironbark chips of Stuart Town, Mumbil, Dripstone and the Burrendong region''. Macquarie Publications: Dubbo. * 1980 – ''The flora of Mt Arthur Reserve, Wellington, N.S.W.'' (Illustrated by G.J. Harden). Trustees of Mt Arthur Reserve: Wellington, NSW. * 1983 – ''Laughter and tears from the golden years, or, Some more ironbark chips''. Macquarie Publications: Dubbo * 1985 – ''The Dripstone story : being a comprehensive social history of Dripstone and district, from the earliest times to the present day''. Wellington Historical Society: Wellington, NSW. * 1992 – ''The collected poems of G. W. Althofer''.

External links

Burrendong Arboretum

References

Notes

Sources

* * * 1903 births 1993 deaths 20th-century Australian botanists 20th-century Australian non-fiction writers Botanical writers Australian orchardists 20th-century Australian poets Australian male poets Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia 20th-century Australian male writers {{Australia-botanist-stub