Sir John Burton Cleland

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(22 June 1878 – 11 August 1971) was a renowned Australian

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

microbiologist A microbiologist (from Greek ) is a scientist who studies microscopic life forms and processes. This includes study of the growth, interactions and characteristics of microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, fungi, and some types of par ...

mycologist Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their taxonomy, genetics, biochemical properties, and use by humans. Fungi can be a source of tinder, food, traditional medicine, as well as entheogens, poison, and ...

and

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

. He was Professor of Pathology at the University of Adelaide and was consulted on high-level police inquiries, such as the famous

Taman Shud Case The Somerton Man was an unidentified man whose body was found on 1 December 1948 on the beach at Somerton Park, South Australia, Somerton Park, a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. The case is also known after the Persian language, Persian phr ...

in 1948 and later. He also studied the transmission of

dengue virus Dengue virus (DENV) is the cause of dengue fever. It is a mosquito-borne, single positive-stranded RNA virus of the family ''Flaviviridae''; genus '' Flavivirus''. Four serotypes of the virus have been found, and a reported fifth has yet to be ...

by the mosquito Stegomyia fasciata (

Aedes aegypti ''Aedes aegypti'' ( or from Greek 'hateful' and from Latin, meaning 'of Egypt'), sometimes called the Egyptian mosquito, dengue mosquito or yellow fever mosquito, is a mosquito that spreads diseases like dengue fever, yellow fever, malar ...

Early life and education

John Burton Cleland was born in

Norwood, South Australia Norwood is a suburb of Adelaide, about east of the Adelaide city centre. The suburb is in the City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters, whose predecessor was the oldest South Australian local government municipality. The Parade, Adelaide, The Parad ...

a grandson of

John Fullerton Cleland John Fullerton Cleland (1821 – 29 November 1901) was a Protestant Christian missionary who served with the London Missionary Society during the late Qing dynasty China. He emigrated to South Australia, where he and his wife founded a family of co ...

and son of Dr William Lennox Cleland (1847–1918) and Matilda Lauder Cleland née Burton (1848–1928) a daughter of

John Hill Burton John Hill Burton FRSE (22 August 1809 – 10 August 1881) was a Scottish advocate, historian and economist. The author of ''Life and Correspondence of David Hume'', he was secretary of the Scottish Prison Board (1854–77), and Historiogra ...

FRSE. He attended

Prince Alfred College Prince Alfred College is a private, independent, day school, day and boarding school for boys, located on Dequetteville Terrace, Kent Town, South Australia, Kent Town, near the Adelaide city centre, centre of Adelaide, South Australia. One of th ...

and the universities of Adelaide and

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, graduating in medicine in 1900.

Marriage and family

Cleland married Dora Isabel Paton (1880–1955) a daughter of Rev

David Paton David Paton (; born 29 October 1949) is a Scottish bassist, guitarist and singer. He first achieved success in the mid-1970s as lead vocalist and bassist of Pilot, who scored hits with " Magic", "January", "Just a Smile" and "Call Me Round" b ...

DD (1841–1907), minister of

Chalmers Presbyterian Church Chalmers may refer to: People * Chalmers (surname), a Scottish surname * Thomas Chalmers, Scottish minister, theologian and political economist * Chalmers Tschappat, American football player * David Chalmers, Australian philosopher * Mario C ...

, North Terrace, Adelaide, and Isabella Ann McGhie née Robson (1847–1933) and they had four daughters and a son. He encouraged them in the sciences: * Dr Margaret Burton Cleland MRCS FRACP (1909–2004) who married Dr John Patrick Horan (1907–1993) MD FRCP FRACP; * Dr William Paton 'Bill' Cleland MB FRCP FRCS (1912–2005), who married Norah Goodhart (1914–1994), became a cardio-thoracic surgeon; * Joan Burton Cleland (c. 1915–2000) who married Erskine Norman Paton (1922–1985) became an ornithologist; * Elizabeth Robson Cleland (16 October 1910 – 31 January 2005) married (Alfred) Moxon Simpson (1910–2001) on 3 August 1938. Moxon was a son of

Alfred Allen Simpson Alfred Allen Simpson (15 April 1875 – 27 November 1939) was an industrialist in South Australia and a partner in the firm A. Simpson & Son, founded by his grandfather Alfred Simpson. He was the mayor of Adelaide from 1913 to 1915. Histor ...

. Elizabeth Simpson was author of ''The Hahndorf Walkers'' and ''The Clelands of Beaumont'' * Barbara Burton Cleland (1913–?), a mathematics graduate who married Prof Andrew John La Nauze (1911–1990) Sir Donald MacKinnon Cleland CBE (1901–1975), administrator of Papua New Guinea, was his cousin, the son of Elphinstone Davenport Cleveland (1843–1928) and his second wife Anne Emily MacKinnon (1870–1944).

Career

He worked as a microbiologist in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

and

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 ...

for several years. He was appointed as a full Professor of

Pathology Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...

at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

, and taught generations of students.Caroline Richmond, "Obituary of William Paton Cleland (1912–2005)"
''British Medical Journal'', 2005, 330; 1212 Cleland was elected President of the

Royal Society of South Australia The Royal Society of South Australia (RSSA) is a learned society whose interest is in science, particularly, but not only, of South Australia. The major aim of the society is the promotion and diffusion of scientific knowledge, particularly in re ...

1927–1928, and again in 1941. He became a member of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU) in 1902, and served as its President 1935–1936. In 1934–35, he published a two-volume monograph on the fungi of South Australia, one of the most comprehensive reviews of Australian fungi to date. Along with Charles Duguid and Constance Cooke, he was a board member of South Australia's Aborigines Protection Board after its creation in 1940, established by the ''Aborigines Act Amendment Act (1939)'' and "charged with the duty of controlling and promoting the welfare" of Aboriginal people. Cleland led a

anthropological expedition to Nepabunna Mission in the northern Flinders Ranges in May 1937, whose members included Charles P. Mountford as ethnologist and photographer, botanist Thomas Harvey Johnston, virologist Frank Fenner, and others. Cleland was the pathologist on the infamous

, in which an unidentified man was discovered dead on a beach 1 December 1948. While Cleland theorised that the man had been poisoned, he found no trace of it. The man was never identified. Cleland became increasingly interested in wildlife conservation and served as commissioner of the Belair National Park in 1928 and as chairman in 1936–65. He chaired the Flora and Fauna Handbooks Committee of South Australia, and with them oversaw the production of a series of descriptive biological manuals, and other books related to flora, fauna and geology.

Legacy and honours

*1949, he was elected an Honorary Life Member of the RAOU. *1952, he was awarded the Australian Natural History Medallion. *1963, he is commemorated by the Cleland Wildlife Park (now within Cleland National Park). *The J.B. Cleland Kindergarten in St Georges, South Australia is also named after him.

References

* Condon, H.T. (1972). Obituary. John Burton Cleland. ''Emu (journal), Emu'' 72: 117–118. * Robin, Libby. (2001). ''The Flight of the Emu: a hundred years of Australian ornithology 1901–2001''. Carlton, Vic. Melbourne University Press.

External links