Schodde, Richard (1936 - )
Born 23 September 1936 at Unley (Adelaide), South Australia;
His parents were Norman and Eunice (née Boehm) Schodde.
Atended Unley High School where he matriculated with subjects including Latin and Botany.
He studied at the University of Adelaide, where he received a BSc (Hons) [Millotia, Asteraceae] in 1960 and a PhD in taxonomic botany in 1970.
His PhD Dissertation was:
'A monograph of the family Atherospermataceae R.Br.',
Schodde, Richard., submitted 1969.
In the early 1960s he moved to Canberra as a botanist with the CSIRO Division of Land Research and Regional Survey (Canberra) working in Papua New Guinea. In the late 1960s he returned to Adelaide University and did his PhD with Hansjoerg Eichler as a supervisor.
From 1970 he had a complete career change, switching to zoology and becoming one of Australia's authorities on birds, not only of Australia but also the world.
He became the foundation Curator/Director of the Australian National Wildlife Collection, CSIRO, Division of Wildlife and Ecology (1970-1998). He later became a Research Fellow there.
From around 1970 to 2000 Schodde led the bird and vegetation surveys that helped set up Kakadu National Park and produced the biogeographical grounding in birds that contributed significantly to the designation of the wet tropics of northeast Queensland as Australia's first World Heritage Area.
Overall the surveys under his direction lead to the collection of almost 50,000 specimens, plus 15,000 samples of cryo-frozen tissue for molecular study. Schodde built it into the most comprehensive and research-effective collection of Australian birds in the world.
Source: Extracted from:
Chronicle (Adelaide, SA)
Thu 1 Oct 1936, Page 25, Family Notices
The Advertiser (Adelaide) Tues 19 January 1954, Leaving Exams, Unley High School
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Schodde
Portrait Photo: 1980s, CSIRO Archives, no neg no.
Plant collecting localities for 'Schodde, R.' from AVH (2024)
Data from 4,262 specimens
