Nicholson, Donald Ian   (1928 - )

Don Nicholson was born in Sydney 13 February 1928.

He attended The University of Sydney in 1945 and 1946 and entered the Australian Forestry School (AFS) in 1947.

After graduating in 1948, he joined the Forestry and Timber Bureau, Canberra, as a Silviculture Research Officer from 1949-1954.

He joined the Colonial Service in 1954, and was sent for 1 year to East Africa being stationed at E.A.A.F.R.O. Kikuyu, Kenya.

In 1957, he left for Sabah where he worked as an ecologist in rainforest and plantation research with the Forests Department.

In the first few years in Sabah he undertook a training period of three months at the Waite Institute (now CSIRO) in Adelaide studying soils.

As an ecologist Don was responsible for the silvicultural research program of the Forests Department. The rescarch centered on Dipterocarp forests: species composition, growth rates, sampling systems, logging and logging rules etc. and research into plantation establishment: species, site etc. He is credited with the introduction of Acacia mangium to South-East Asian forestry.

His time in Sabah came to an end in 1965 when he moved to North Queensland.

For 23 years Don was a research officer with the Department of Forestry specialising in native forest. especially rainforest. Not only was he responsible for the long-term trials that had already been established but he initiated a series of trials studying the effects of logging which showed the compatibility of logging and sustained production with the maintenance of ecological processes and species diversity.

Other work involved silvicultural treatment, growth studies and enrichment planting.

Plantation studies with tropical species, the rehabilitation of bauxite mines and the development of agroforestry systems with local farmers were the other main areas of research work.

During his time in Forestry Don undertook several consultancies:
- 1968-69: Seven months in the Philippines with FAO advising on forest management.
- 1978: Six wecks in South-East Asia with FAO studying current information on the effect of logging and treatment in mixed dipterocarp forests.
- 1981: Two weeks as part of an Americian Academy Science panel studying Acacla mmongiuy in Sabah and Calliandra calothytsus in Indonesia.

His last specimen record in the Australian Tropical Herbarium, Qld, is dated 2001.

Sources: Extracted from:
Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 5: Cyclopaedia of collectors, Supplement I
Flora Malesiana ser. 1, 8: Cyclopaedia of collectors, Supplement II
Commonwealth of Australia Gazette Thu 10 Aug 1950 [Issue No.46] Page 2017
The Canberra Times Sat 12 Mar 1949 Page 4 Graduation Ceremony At Forestry School
https://www.nationaalherbarium.nl/FMCollectors/Herbarium/HerbS/SAN.htm
Huth, J. (2022) 'As We Were - prose, poetry and people, Qld's Forest History', p.182
Portrait Photo: Huth, J. (2022) 'As We Were - prose, poetry and people, Qld's Forest History', p.182

Collecting localities for 'Nicholson, D.I.' from AVH (2024)

Australian map data from 1,007 specimens.
Other specimens are in SAN (= Sandakan) series in Sabah, Malaysia.