Robert Henry Anderson (1899-1969) was

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

who in 1945 became the first Australian-born director of the Royal Botanic Garden in

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 ...

. He remained director until his retirement in March 1964.

Early life

Anderson was born in

Cooma, New South Wales Cooma is a town in the south of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south of the national capital, Canberra, via the Monaro Highway. It is also on the Snowy Mountains Highway, connecting Bega, New South Wales, Bega with the Riverina. ...

on 12 March 1899, to Rev. William Addison Smyth Anderson and his wife Jane, née Thompson. He is the brother of Sir William Hewson Anderson. Andserson grew up in Cooma, Bowenfels,

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and Arncliffe in

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 ...

while his father (an ordained

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

minister) moved from

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

to parish. Anderson and his brother were educated at

Fort Street Boys' High School Fort Street High School (FSHS) is a Education in Australia#Government schools, New South Wales government run, Mixed-sex school, co-educational, Selective school (New South Wales), academically selective, secondary school, secondary day school, ...

Petersham, New South Wales Petersham is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia. Petersham is located 6 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Inner West Council. Petersham is known ...

Writings

Anderson is the author of ''Tree Planting on the Farm'' (1931) and ''The Trees of New South Wales'' (1932).

Career

* Botanical assistant, National Herbarium of New South Wales (1924) * Botanist and curator, National Herbarium of New South Wales, (1936) * Chief botanist and curator, National Herbarium of New South Wales and Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney (1945) * Director and chief botanist, National Herbarium of New South Wales and Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney (1960)

References

1899 births 1969 deaths People from Cooma Australian botanists {{Australia-academic-bio-stub