Gardner was a botanist and botanical illustrator who was born in the United Kingdom. He was appointed Government Botanist in Western Australia in 1929, a post he held for nearly forty years.
He collected some 20,000 specimens and wrote a series of popular botanical books, including Wild Flowers of Western Australia (first published 1959). He was, however, rather protective of his territory which he considered the whole of the local flora and was not helpful to other botanists who wished to research Western Australia’s unique flora. As this is now known to include 14,000 species it was a task which needed many researchers and recorders.
Gardner was an accomplished artist and exhibited with the West Australian Society of Artists in 1920. These were watercolours of Crawley, Perth and Mounts Bay Road. In 2002, an exhibition of his work was held at the museum attached to New Norcia monastery.
- Writers:
- Dr Dorothy Erickson
- Date written:
- 2010
- Last updated:
- 2011
