Calaby, John Henry   (1922 - 1998)

Born 19 October 1922 in Victoria; died 19 September 1998 in ACT.

He was an Australian mammalogist, but also collected a few herbarium specimens of plants.

Calaby's early career began in the CSIRO, engaged in the rabbit control program adapting the myxoma virus as a means of eradicating the pest species in Western Australia.

His works include co-authorship in the first national survey of Australian mammals, undertaken in the 1960s, a biography of Walter Baldwin Spencer, So Much That is New (1985), and a 200-page volume on the kangaroos in 1969.

His special interest in mammals was also engaged through the foundation of the Australian Mammal Society and as editor of its bulletin.

He became Senior Principal Research Scientist at the CSIRO section studying wildlife and later as Assistant Chief scientist of the Wildlife division.

Calaby was responsible for assembling what would become the Australian National Wildlife Collection, formally designated in 1976, in which he had provided vouchers for over 45,000 animal specimens.

Calaby's contribution to biology has been commemorated in the names of thirty animal species.

Source: Extracted from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Calaby
Portrait Photo: in Robin, L. (2001),'The Flight of the Emu - a Hundred Years of Australian Ornithology' MUP, p.247

Collecting localities for 'Calaby, J.H.' from AVH (2024)

Data from 80 specimens