William D. Francis

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William Douglas Francis was born 6 March 1889 in Bega, New South Wales at the age of 17 he moved with his father Alfred and brother Frederick from Wollongong, New South Wales were he attended Wollongong Superior Public School, to Kin Kin, Queensland.It was here that he was able to satisfy his strong interest in natural history while helping his father and brother on the farm. In 1919 he was appointed Assistant Government Botanist at the Queensland Herbarium, by 1950 he was appointed Government Botanist at the Queensland Herbarium. He retired in 1954 and died 5 years later on 2 January 1959. He contributed enormously to the classification and identification of Australian Rainforest species and is probably best remembered for his book Australian Rainforest Trees first published in 1929 it has since gone through numerous reprints. An Aboretum established at Kin Kin in the 1990's is dedicated to his memory.^[1][2]

[edit] References

1. ^ William D. Francis biography, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Undated (accessed 18 February 2007)
2. ^ Noosa Shire Historical Cultural Heritage Kin Kin,www.noosa.qld.gov.au, July 2002 (accessed 14 January 2007)

[edit] External Links

• Spiral systems in the organization of living material