Petrie, Arthur Hill Kelvin   (1904 - 1942)

Born in Sydney, Petrie's father was Dr. James M. Petrie, who for many years was Linnean Macleay Fellow of the Linnean Society of New South Wales.

The young Petrie absorbed his father's interest in science and graduated from the University of Sydney with a degree in botany in 1925, having especially concerned himself with ecology and studies of the plant communities of the Blue Mountains.

He then joined the staff of the University of Melbourne and began to develop his expertise in plant physiology.

He had two periods at Cambridge University, as '1851 Scholar' from 1927 to 1929 and again in 1936-37.

His earliest Investigations related to the ecology of Austrailan rain forests, but from 1927 he devoted himself to the study of the growth and development of plants, particularly those of agricultural importance.

After returning to Melbourne, he was appointed assistant lecturer in botany and served as acting senior lecturer in 1930.

He moved to Adelaide in 1931, on receiving an invitation to join the Waite Institute as a plant physiologist.

On account of his special knowledge of agricultural plants he was asked by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to make a special study of quality in tobacco, and of the way in which the character of Australian grown tobacco is affected by soils and climate. This was a long investigation which he was completing at the time of his death.

Petrie died on 10 January 1942 at the age of 38, having completed only two chapters of this book.

He had been awarded a D.Sc. by the University of Adelaide in 1938 with a thesis titled 'Studies in plant nutrition'.

Source: Extracted from:
https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.person.bm000362976
The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA) Fri 16 Jan 1942 Page 12 OBITUARY - Dr. A. H. K. Petrie
https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/3766549?keyword=Arthur%20Hill%20Kelvin%20Petrie
Portrait Photo: The Advertiser obituary above.

Collecting localities for 'Petrie, A.H.K.' from AVH (2026)

Data from 100 specimens