Audas, James Wales Clarendon   (1872 - 1959)

James W. C. Audas was a member of the staff of the National Herbarium of Victoria. He started his botanical training under Luehmann in 1897 and retired in 1937. Over a twenty-five-year period his collecting trips for the Herbarium took him to all parts of the state except the alps and the mallee district.

One of his earliest excursions was to conduct a floristic survey of Wilsons Promontory in 1908, in company with a colleague from the Botanic Gardens, P. R. H. St John (1872-1944). After a third visit in 1910 they reported 600 species as indigenous to Wilsons Promontory National Park (Audas 1909, 1911). Audas's visits to the Grampians made a particular impression on him. He recorded its plant life and brought together his investigations in the Popular book One of Nature's Wonderlands ... (1925). During his career Audas was a prolific writer; The Australian Bushland (1950) included many of his writings and recounted tales of his botanical wanderings of half a century.
 

Source:Extracted from: Flora of Victoria, Vol. 1, Chap 5, 'Botanical Exploration of Victoria', by J.H.Willis & Helen M. Cohn (1993). [consult for source references]

Herbarium assistant & botanist, MEL, Oct. 1897-Dec. 1937. Collected widely in Vic, e.g. Fawkner Park 1891, Frankston 1897, Beaufort 1898, Oakleigh 1899, Wilsons Promontory Oct. 1900, Oct. 1908 (with P.R.H.St John, map in Vic. Nat. 25: 143, 1909), 1909, '10 (both also with St John), Portland 1916, Nar Nar Goon 1920, Whipstick Scrub near Bendigo 1935, & esp. in The Grampians Oct. 1897, 1912-37 (Mt Difficult with C.W. D'Alton, 1919); in N.S.W. at Manly Sept. 1906, Blue Mtns Aug. 1932; in Tas. at New Norfolk 1900, Dec. '05; in W.A. at Perth, Darlington, Tammin, Merredin, Pemberton, all Aug./Sept. 1926, & on return trip by train at Ooldea, S.A.

Wrote three popular books incl. One of Nature's Wonderlands: the Victorian Grampians (1925) & many papers.

Specimens mainly at MEL (1000+), also E, G, K, MELU.

Commemorated in Caladenia, Randia. Obit.: J.H.Willis, Vic. Nat. 11: 273-275 (1961).

Source: Extracted from: George, A.S. (2009) Australian Botanist's Companion, Four Gables Press, WA

Collecting localities for 'Audas, J.W.C.' from AVH (2021)

Data from 1,309 specimens