Brooker, Murray Ian Hill   (1934 - 2016)

Born in Adelaide, South Australia, 2 June, 1934, died in Canberra, ACT, 25 June, 2016.

He was educated in Adelaide, where he graduated B.Ag.Sc. at the University of Adelaide; his higher degree being from the Australian National University, Canberra.

After starting with the Soil Conservation Branch of the Department of Agriculture for South Australia (1957-63), he joined the Department of Botany, Australian National University (1963-69) and then spent a short time as a botanist with the Western Australian Herbarium (1969-70) before joining the Forest Research Institute, Canberra (later the Division of Forest Research, CSIRO), to specialize exclusively in the genus Eucalyptus.

Prior to joining the Forest Research Institute he had done extensive field work in parts of eastern Australia and in southwestern and western Western Australia, but since then he has collected and studied eucalypts throughout the continent, including some of the less accessible localities such as the Kimberleys of Western Australia and the Cape York Peninsula of Queensland.

Working for CSIRO he eventually joined the Australian National Herbarium in Canberra where his specialist eucalypt knowledge led to the production of the interactive computer key to the eucalypts, EUCLID, in ever more comprehensive editions from 1997 to 2006.

Brooker officially retired from CSIRO, and the Australian National Herbarium, on 2 June 1999.

In retirement Brooker was an Honorary Research Associate with CSIRO's Tree Seed Centre.

In a private capacity he published the popular Field Guide to Eucalypts, Vol. 1 in 1983, Vol. 2 in 1990, and Vol. 3 in 1994, in collaboration with David Kleinig with whom he worked in the CSIRO Division of Forest Research.

Brooker described 44 taxa of Eucalyptus on his own, but collaborated widely and jointly described another 171, many of those with Steve Hopper, later a Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

His name was honoured in 1979 when Alan Gray described Brookers's Gum as Eucalyptus brookeriana.

He never married, and in his private life he was very involved with the Anglican church, travelled extensively, and had a fascination with Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

An extensive biography of Ian, by Steve Hopper, was published as 'Dr M.I.H. (Ian) Brooker AM 2nd June 1934 - 25th June 2016'; followed by another by Dean Nicolle, 'Ian Brooker - eucalypt icon' in Australasian Systematic Botany Society Newsletter, No. 168-169 September-December 2016.

Sources: Extracted from:
Wrigley, J.W.& Fagg, M, (2010), Eucalypts - a celebration, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, NSW
Hall, N. (1978) Botanists of the eucalypts. CSIRO, Melbourne.
Portrait Photo: 1998, M.Fagg, ANBG Photo Collection

SEE OBITUARY & TRIBUTES:
Dr M.I.H. (Ian) Brooker AM 2nd June 1934 - 25th June 2016 by Stephen Hopper
Australasian Systematic Botany Society Newsletter 168-9 (September-December 2016) p.54-66

Collecting localities for 'Brooker, M.I.H.' from AVH (2024)

Data from 33,839 specimens