John Burton Cleland

Sir John Burton Cleland CBE (22 June 1878 - 11 August 1971) was a renowned Australian naturalist, microbiologist, mycologist and ornithologist. He was born, and went to school, in Adelaide, South Australia, and attended the Universities of Adelaide and Sydney, graduating in Medicine in 1900. He worked as a microbiologist in Western Australia and New South Wales before becoming Professor of Pathology at the University of Adelaide.

Cleland became a member of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU) in 1902, and served as its President 1935-1936. He was elected an Honorary Life Member of the RAOU in 1949. 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. In 1952 he was awarded the Australian Natural History Medallion. He is commemorated by the Cleland Conservation Park in the Mount Lofty Ranges of South Australia, and the J.B. Cleland Kindergarten in Beaumont, South Australia.

Cleland was the pathologist on the infamous Taman Shud Case.

[edit] References

Condon, H.T. (1972). Obituary. John Burton Cleland. 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. ISBN 0-522-84987-3