Robert Whyte

For the composer, see Robert White (composer).
Robert Whyte delivering a paper on invertebrate biodiversity Photo: Mark Crocker[1] at the Brisbane City Council's 2010 Biodiversity Forum

Robert Whyte (born 1955 in Melbourne), is an Australian scientist, author, editor and journalist.

Biography

His works include the novel Manacles (1985), influenced by Irish authors James Joyce and Flann O'Brien,[2][3] and a practical guide to creek restoration, The Creek in Our Back Yard (2011).[4]

In 1976 he was awarded a One Year Young Writer's Fellowship by the Literature Board of the Australia Council for the Arts. In 1978 Planet Press, Brisbane, published the 64-page Negative Thinking, a book of short prose pieces and drawings with poems by Peter Anderson.[5]

In 1980, under the name Robot Wireless, he produced three small experimental books published by Australia's New Poetry editor Cheryl Adamson's Brou Ha Ha Books, From Inside the Asylum (500 copies), Life and works of Robert Wireless (100 copies) and A 3D Glimpse of the Hearing Process (with Cheryl Adamson and Hugh Ramage).[6] In 1985 he was responsible for editing, design and layout of "Environment Victoria", the magazine of the Conservation Council of Victoria, now Environment Victoria. In 1987 he was founding co-editor of contemporary art magazine "Eyeline" with Sarah Follent and Graham Coulter-Smith.[7]

Robert Whyte is a co-owner of ToadShow Pty Ltd, a multimedia firm Brisbane, Queensland.[8] He has taught new media and writing at Griffith University, University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology. During the 1980s and 90s he was a lecturer at the Australian School of Journalism, teaching the freelance journalism component.[9]

As a web designer he was responsible for "Brisbane Stories" a collection of web sites revealing stories of hidden Brisbane featuring art, environment and history.[10]

Robert Whyte was an editor of the The Cane Toad Times from 1985 to 1990. Since 2002 he has been an active environmentalist, photographer and nature writer and has written and presented on biodiversity, including Spidiversity, an article published in Australasian Arachnology.[11] In 2010 he was appointed to the position of Director, Save Our Waterways Now, a community environmental organisation restoring habitat in Brisbane's west.[12] Between 2010 and 2013 he undertook habitat restorations projects in South East Queensland as owner and CEO of Creek Rescue and Catchment Care (CRACC) [13]

References

  1. "Take a closer look: observations of a digital naturalist" http://www.saveourwaterwaysnow.com.au/_dbase_upl/spidiversity_005-lo.pdf
  2. Dever, Maryanne, Ash, Jennifer, “The Politics of Publishing and Postmodernism: Robert Whyte’s Manacles”, Southerly: A Review of Australian Literature (Australia), 48:2, June 1988, pp. 212-223.
  3. Manacles / a novel by Robert Whyte National Library Record http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1907975
  4. "The creek in our back yard" ISBN 978-0-646-55158-6. Save Our Waterways Now Inc | ABN 78 309 030 727 http://saveourwaterwaysnow.com.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=2340 and second edition revised and expanded June 2013 ISBN 978-0-646-90214-2 http://saveourwaterwaysnow.com.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=2423
  5. Anderson, Peter, & Whyte, Robert, 1980 Negative thinking / [by Peter Anderson and Robert Whyte] Planet Press, Brisbane http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1478643 ISBN 0-908193-02-5
  6. National Library of Australia Catalogue http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Search/Home?lookfor=author:%22Robot%20Wireless%22&iknowwhatimean=1
  7. Queensland Artworkers Alliance. 1987 Eyeline National Library
  8. Jordan, Peter 2007 Career FAQs Digital Media ISBN 1-921106-49-2
  9. Australian School of Journalism http://www.threeplus.com.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=29
  10. Brisbane Stories http://www.brisbane-stories.webcentral.com.au/
  11. "Spidiversity" http://www.saveourwaterwaysnow.com.au/_dbase_upl/Australasian_Arachnology_80.pdf
  12. Director, Save Our Waterways Now, Inc http://saveourwaterwaysnow.com.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=1912
  13. Creek Rescue and Catchment Care (CRACC)

External links