Item 2 - James Hamlyn Willis : notes and letters

Archdeacon Henry Brune Atkinson (1874-1960), clergyman and orchidologist, was the son of Rev. Henry D. Atkinson of Stanley and Sarah Ann (Ward). He was educated at Stanley State School, Launceston Church Grammar School and the University of Tasmania (BA 1899). He was ordained an Anglican priest in 1902 and served as Rector of Holy Trinity Church, Hobart and Archdeacon of Launceston and Darwin. From 1919 to 1925 he was Vice-Warden of the University Senate. He collected many specimens of orchid from Tasmania and some from NSW, Victoria and New Zealand. These were given to the Queen Victoria Museum, Launceston by his daughter. Rev. Atkinson married Helen Bertha Knight of Christ Church, New Zealand, in 1905 and they had one daughter, Sheila. For more information see http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/atkinson-henry-brune-5080

Born in Oakleigh, Victoria, on 28 January 1910, died in Melbourne, Victoria, on 10 November 1995.
Served as a forestry officer in many locations throughout Victoria, 1931-1937. In October 1937 Willis joined the National Herbarium of Victoria as a taxonomic botanist, and spent the remainder of his working life there, until 28 January 1972. He rose to become Assistant Government Botanist, and Acting Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens and Herbarium. Throughout his life he collected avidly, both vascular and non-vascular plants, and fungi. For many years he was the focus of taxonomic work in Victoria, and wrote the 2-volume A Handbook to Plants in Victoria (1962, 1972) which for over 30 years was the standard reference not only for that State but for adjacent areas as well. He described 64 plant species alone or jointly and published about 883 books, papers and reviews. His herbarium is housed in MEL, but duplicates are widely distributed within Australia and overseas.