Trevor Clifford (18 April 1927 – 4 May 2019) was an Australian botanist and taxonomist, distinguished for his work on the hybridisation of species and palaeobotany.

Early life

Harold Trevor Clifford was born in

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung/ or ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most-populous city in Australia, after Sydney. The city's name generally refers to a metropolitan area also known ...

on 18 April 1927. His father owned a furniture shop and later worked as a green grocer in Perth and Melbourne during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. After the completion of school, he took employment with the Victorian Department of Education which offered a scholarship to obtain a teaching degree. He was awarded a Dafydd Lewis scholarship and began his study at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

in 1945. Part of his school studies had been in geology and Clifford considered becoming a geology teacher. He graduated with a science degree in 1948, having majored in geology and botany. Clifford took up employment as a part time tutor in the Department of Botany after graduation and commenced research toward a master's degree on the distribution of

eucalypt Eucalypt is any woody plant with Capsule (fruit), capsule fruiting bodies belonging to one of seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australia: ''Eucalyptus'', ''Corymbia'', ''Angophora'', ''Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...

s in the

Dandenong Ranges The Dandenong Ranges (commonly just the Dandenongs) are a set of low mountain ranges in Victoria, Australia, approximately east of the state capital Melbourne. A minor branch of the Great Dividing Range, the Dandenongs consist mostly of rol ...

. He also worked in the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens. After meeting with

R. A. Fisher Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher (17 February 1890 – 29 July 1962) was a British polymath who was active as a mathematician, statistician, biologist, geneticist, and academic. For his work in statistics, he has been described as "a genius who ...

from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

to discuss his research, he was encouraged to prepare a paper for publication which led to him being awarded a scholarship to travel to

Durham, England Durham ( , locally ) is a cathedral city and civil parish in the county of County Durham, Durham, England. It is the county town and contains the headquarters of Durham County Council, the unitary authority which governs the district of Count ...

in 1952 to undertake studies toward a PhD for 2 years. Professor David Valentine was his supervisor at

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

Career

Clifford was offered the position of lecturer in agricultural botany at the University College in Ibadan, Nigeria. In 1958, he and his family returned to Australia to take up a position at the

University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...

. He was awarded a fellowship of the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature collec ...

in 1965. He and Professor

William Stephenson Sir William Samuel Stephenson (born William Samuel Clouston Stanger, 23 January 1897 – 31 January 1989) was a Canadian soldier, fighter pilot, businessman and spymaster who served as the senior representative of the British Security Coord ...

collaborated on the book ''An Introduction to numerical classification'', an early textbook on

multivariate analysis Multivariate statistics is a subdivision of statistics encompassing the simultaneous observation and analysis of more than one outcome variable, i.e., '' multivariate random variables''. Multivariate statistics concerns understanding the differ ...

. Clifford was steadily promoted within the department and retired in the early 1990s as an Emeritus Professor. He published over 200 articles and books. Boxes of his papers are held in the Fryer Library of the University of Queensland. Clifford took up work at the

Queensland Museum The Queensland Museum Kurilpa is the state museum of Queensland, funded by the government, and dedicated to natural history, cultural heritage, science and human achievement. The museum currently operates from its headquarters and general museu ...

in his retirement, collaborating on a project with Mary Dettmann.

Personal life

Clifford married Gillian Farley in Melbourne in 1953. They had three children. He died in Brisbane on 4 May 2019.

Memberships and awards

*Honorary Life Member of the

Royal Society of Queensland The Royal Society of Queensland was formed in Queensland, Australia in 1884 from the Queensland Philosophical Society, Queensland's oldest scientific institution, with royal patronage granted in 1885. The aim of the Society is "Progressing scie ...

*Order of Australia Medal, for services to botany and tertiary education

References

External links

Suzanne Mulligan Oral Histories Archive ca. 1939-2017: Trevor Clifford 2014 Oral History and Interview Documents

State Library of Queensland State Library of Queensland (State Library) is the state public reference and research library of Queensland, Australia, operated by the Government of Queensland, state government. The Library is governed by the Library Board of Queensland, whi ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clifford, Trevor 1927 births 2019 deaths 20th-century Australian botanists Australian taxonomists University of Melbourne alumni Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Academic staff of the University of Queensland Alumni of St Cuthbert's Society, Durham