Story, Robert (Bob)   (1913 - 1999)

Born 19 August 1913 Fort Beaufort, South Africa; Died 19 February 1999 in Canberra, Australia.

His father was a farm manager who had studied at Edinburgh University and obtained a Diploma in Agriculture.

After spending 1926-30 at Grey High School in Port Elizabeth, Sth Afica, Robert attended Rhodes University from 1931-33 where he obtained a B.Sc., after which he enrolled at Witwatersrand University from 1934-35 where he graduated with an M.Sc. and was later awarded a D.Sc.

His first appointment was to the Leeuwkuil Pasture Research Station near Vereeniging, Sth Africa, in 1936.

During World War II he saw service in Madagascar, North Africa and Italy.

in 1945 he was transferred to the Botanical Survey Section of the Division of Botany and stationed at Grahamstown. Here he carried out a botanical survey of the Keiskammahoek District and it was published as 'Botanical Survey of South Africa Memoir No. 27' in 1952.

Robert Story with his wife Sybil and daughters emigrated to Australia in July 1959 where he took up a position in Canberra with the Land Use Research Division of CSIRO as ecologist and botanist.

He, Nancy Burbidge, Alec Costin and a few other botanists were instrumental in the 1960 founding of the National Parks Association of the Australian Capital Territory.

He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1989 for "service to conservation and national parks".

His specimens numbers were in the 6,000s by the time he arrived in Australia, and had been collected in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.
In Australia he collected in most States and Territories

He is commemorated in Acacia storyi Tindale and Paenula storyi Orchard.

Source: Extracted from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Story_(botanist)
Portrait Photo: Botanical Exploration of Southern Africa - Gunn & Codd (Balkema, 1981)

Collecting localities for 'Story, R.' from AVH (2025)

Data from 4,584 specimens