Donald Bruce

Foreman, Donald (Don) Bruce

Don was born on May 27 1945 in Trangie, central New South Wales. He was the second eldest of four, with three sisters Elizabeth, Patricia and Jennifer. The family farmed a property 'Corolbigne' near Trangie until Don and Elizabeth were of secondary schooling age when the family moved nearer to Dubbo and farmed at 'Fairfield'. Each of the children won scholarships to university. Don's sisters attended The University of Sydney while Don was a student at the University of New England at Armidale. Don graduated in 1969 with majors in Botany and Zoology and in the same year took up a position as Forest Botanist at Lae, Papua New Guinea (see article by Barry Conn in this issue for details of Don's time in New Guinea).

After leaving Papua New Guinea in 1975, Don returned to his alma mater, the University of New England (UNE), Armidale, to complete his MSc and take up employment as a tutor in the Botany Department. He and Joy took up residence on a 5 acre block near Uralla (later to move into Armidale itself). At UNE he was responsible for preparation of the dreaded first-year plant biology pracs, and delivered lectures on plant biology to first and second year students. He was also a teacher/assessor for external plant biology students. UNE was a pioneering institution in distance learning (probably even before the term was coined) and remains a leader in this field. In recognition of his teaching contribution to the department, Don was promoted to the position of lecturer in the Botany Department. As well as his teaching duties, he was instrumental in establishing the student herbarium within the Botany Department. These were fruitful, if busy years for Don and Joy - not only long days teaching and writing theses, there were domestic changes with two children, Maryanne and John born in 1977 and 1979 respectively.
...
After being awarded his MSc, Don embarked on a Ph.D., 'The morphology and phylogeny of some Monimiaceae (sensu lato) in Australia', which he successfully submitted in 1985. Toward the end of his writing up period, Don was offered two jobs in botanical institutions - one in Cairns, and one in Melbourne.
...
In February 1984, Don joined the botanical staff at the National Herbarium of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. He and Joy moved to Lara (near Geelong) after being convinced that Melbourne was but a short train trip away. The proximity to the nearby Brisbane Ranges, to become one of his favourite botanising haunts, was another attraction. His duties at MEL were, apart from his ongoing Proteaceae and Monimiacae research, identification of Cannabis for the Victoria Police and general identifications for the public. During this time, Don showed what was to be a hallmark of the man - an unquestioning readiness to take on new tasks. He took on the tasks of design and editing the fledgling Flora of Victoria, a project initially championed by Barry Conn before his defection to Sydney. This was also a time where far-sighted folk were beginning to acknowledge the potential of computer technology, when 'portable' disks were the size of LP vinyl records, and printers were not much faster than efficient handwriting. Don accepted the task of instigating and developing a computer databasing system for the herbarium collection, long before the AVH seed had produced its first epicotyl. At the same time, he quietly undertook the editing of the house journal Muelleria.
...
None attacked these tasks more avidly than Don, and many times Don's grey Holden ute and his well-used handsaw were commissioned to move, build and destroy. Many lunchtime barbecues were enjoyed burning the many offcuts from the temporary shelving in now nearly forgotten structures known locally, if not affectionately as the 'T shed' and the 'Rat hut' (both named for good reason). The new Herbarium was officially opened in 1988, although things weren't back to anything like normal until well into the following year.

In the mid-nineties, responding to the whiff of corporate dynamics that permeated the air, the herbarium underwent significant structural change. Don took the position of Collections Manager in July 1994, where he continued in his Muelleria editorship and Proteaceae taxonomic work, but added to his quiver the arrows of responsibility for curation of the approximately 1.2 million MEL specimens, a large part of which task involved further development of the database.
...
With Librarian, Helen Cohn and Chief Botanist, Jim Ross, Don took this task in his stride and soon a series of handsome 'wheely-bin' emergency units, and associated instructions, designed to cope with almost anything from delivery of WMD to premature infants, appeared strategically throughout the building.
...
In all of his duties Don had extraordinary unflappable patience in the face of taxonomic, technological and human adversity, and a zeal for assisting others. This is an attribute that, perhaps above all others, colleagues and visitors to MEL will associate with Don. It is this trait that rendered him of value as Australian Botanical Liaison Officer (ABLO) at Kew, a position he filled from September 1996 to August 1997. Don's records show more than 260 enquiries from Australian and New Zealand botanists were fielded during this period, forty-two major enquiries dealt with for Kew staff, twenty-nine visiting botanists hosted, further works on Proteaceae, Monimiaceae and families for the Flora of Victoria completed. After completing his stint at Kew, Don worked with Susanne Renner at the University of Missouri, St Louis, attempting to use DNA evidence from Atherospermataceae to time major disjunction events.
...
Don was always a very keen gardener. The tea-table at MEL had frequently borne offerings from the Foreman's bounteous vegie patch, and the quality of Don's weekend often seemed to be measured in cubic metres of soil or compost moved in the home garden. After returning from Canberra at the end of 1999, he and Joy decided to branch out and develop a gardening and maintenance business around his home patch in Lara. Both obtained certificates to operate as a franchise with the Yates company. Although the parent company collapsed in the following year, Don and Joy had established an eager clientele who continued to demand their obviously professional and competent services.
...
John and Don quickly developed a relationship of mutual respect and Don began an enjoyable association with Geelong Garden as 'occasional botanist in residence' from early 2003.
...
Don commenced a systematic program to have all plants in the gardens accurately identified and logged into a cadastral database. In a eulogy at Don's funeral, John commented that in the Garden's 152 years history, Don was the first 'proper' botanist who had been on the staff.
...
Don was much admired and deeply involved with activities with other staff, Friends of the gardens, voluntary guides and visiting groups. Within this period, Don began some more Flora of Australia editing work, assisting with contributions to the Poacaeae volumes. It was doubly tragic then that Don's re-emergence into taxonomic pursuits on two fronts should be halted by sickness. Don was reluctant to acknowledge his condition, but in late January was hospitalised and in February was diagnosed with a very aggressive pancreatic cancer. He was not to leave hospital and died on March 9.

Don's gentle and genuine qualities were admired by all who knew him. It was a privilege to have collaborated with him on the Flora of Victoria project, and always enjoyable to spend time in the field where he never failed to bring a pearl of tropical wisdom to my thoroughly temperate botanical repertoire. While visiting MEL only occasionally from 1997, he was a welcome presence and his passing was deeply felt by all his former colleagues here.

Don was born on May 27 1945 in Trangie, central New South Wales.He was the second eldest of four, with three sisters Elizabeth, Patricia and Jennifer.The family farmed a property 'Corolbigne' near Trangie until Don and Elizabeth were of secondary schooling age when the family moved nearer to Dubbo and farmed at 'Fairfield'.Each of the children won scholarships to university.Don's sisters attended The University of Sydney while Don was a student at the University of New England at Armidale.Don graduated in 1969 with majors in Botany and Zoology and in the same year took up a position as Forest Botanist at Lae, Papua New Guinea (see article by Barry Conn in this issue for details of Don's time in New Guinea).

After leaving Papua New Guinea in 1975, Don returned to his alma mater, the University of New England (UNE), Armidale, to complete his MSc and take up employment as a tutor in the Botany Department.He and Joy took up residence on a 5 acre block near Uralla (later to move into Armidale itself).At UNE he was responsible for preparation of the dreaded first-year plant biology pracs, and delivered lectures on plant biology to first and second year students.He was also a teacher/assessor for external plant biology students.UNE was a pioneering institution in distance learning (probably even before the term was coined) and remains a leader in this field.In recognition of his teaching contribution to the department, Don was promoted to the position of lecturer in the Botany Department.As well as his teaching duties, he was instrumental in establishing the student herbarium within the Botany Department.These were fruitful, if busy years for Don and Joy - not only long days teaching and writing theses, there were domestic changes with two children, Maryanne and John born in 1977 and 1979 respectively.
...
After being awarded his MSc, Don embarked on a Ph.D., 'The morphology and phylogeny of some Monimiaceae (sensu lato) in Australia', which he successfully submitted in 1985.Toward the end of his writing up period, Don was offered two jobs in botanical institutions - one in Cairns, and one in Melbourne.
...
In February 1984, Don joined the botanical staff at the National Herbarium of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne.He and Joy moved to Lara (near Geelong) after being convinced that Melbourne was but a short train trip away.The proximity to the nearby Brisbane Ranges, to become one of his favourite botanising haunts, was another attraction.His duties at MEL were, apart from his ongoing Proteaceae and Monimiacae research, identification of Cannabis for the Victoria Police and general identifications for the public.During this time, Don showed what was to be a hallmark of the man - an unquestioning readiness to take on new tasks.He took on the tasks of design and editing the fledgling Flora of Victoria, a project initially championed by Barry Conn before his defection to Sydney.This was also a time where far-sighted folk were beginning to acknowledge the potential of computer technology, when 'portable' disks were the size of LP vinyl records, and printers were not much faster than efficient handwriting.Don accepted the task of instigating and developing a computer databasing system for the herbarium collection, long before the AVH seed had produced its first epicotyl.At the same time, he quietly undertook the editing of the house journal Muelleria.
...
None attacked these tasks more avidly than Don, and many times Don's grey Holden ute and his well-used handsaw were commissioned to move, build and destroy.Many lunchtime barbecues were enjoyed burning the many offcuts from the temporary shelving in now nearly forgotten structures known locally, if not affectionately as the 'T shed' and the 'Rat hut' (both named for good reason).The new Herbarium was officially opened in 1988, although things weren't back to anything like normal until well into the following year.

In the mid-nineties, responding to the whiff of corporate dynamics that permeated the air, the herbarium underwent significant structural change.Don took the position of Collections Manager in July 1994, where he continued in his Muelleria editorship and Proteaceae taxonomic work, but added to his quiver the arrows of responsibility for curation of the approximately 1.2 million MEL specimens, a large part of which task involved further development of the database.
...
With Librarian, Helen Cohn and Chief Botanist, Jim Ross, Don took this task in his stride and soon a series of handsome 'wheely-bin' emergency units, and associated instructions, designed to cope with almost anything from delivery of WMD to premature infants, appeared strategically throughout the building.
...
In all of his duties Don had extraordinary unflappable patience in the face of taxonomic, technological and human adversity, and a zeal for assisting others.This is an attribute that, perhaps above all others, colleagues and visitors to MEL will associate with Don.It is this trait that rendered him of value as Australian Botanical Liaison Officer (ABLO) at Kew, a position he filled from September 1996 to August 1997.Don's records show more than 260 enquiries from Australian and New Zealand botanists were fielded during this period, forty-two major enquiries dealt with for Kew staff, twenty-nine visiting botanists hosted, further works on Proteaceae, Monimiaceae and families for the Flora of Victoria completed.After completing his stint at Kew, Don worked with Susanne Renner at the University of Missouri, St Louis, attempting to use DNA evidence from Atherospermataceae to time major disjunction events.
...
Don was always a very keen gardener.The tea-table at MEL had frequently borne offerings from the Foreman's bounteous vegie patch, and the quality of Don's weekend often seemed to be measured in cubic metres of soil or compost moved in the home garden.After returning from Canberra at the end of 1999, he and Joy decided to branch out and develop a gardening and maintenance business around his home patch in Lara.Both obtained certificates to operate as a franchise with the Yates company.Although the parent company collapsed in the following year, Don and Joy had established an eager clientele who continued to demand their obviously professional and competent services.
...
John and Don quickly developed a relationship of mutual respect and Don began an enjoyable association with Geelong Garden as 'occasional botanist in residence' from early 2003.
...
Don commenced a systematic program to have all plants in the gardens accurately identified and logged into a cadastral database.In a eulogy at Don's funeral, John commented that in the Garden's 152 years history, Don was the first 'proper' botanist who had been on the staff.
...
Don was much admired and deeply involved with activities with other staff, Friends of the gardens, voluntary guides and visiting groups.Within this period, Don began some more Flora of Australia editing work, assisting with contributions to the Poacaeae volumes.It was doubly tragic then that Don's re-emergence into taxonomic pursuits on two fronts should be halted by sickness.Don was reluctant to acknowledge his condition, but in late January was hospitalised and in February was diagnosed with a very aggressive pancreatic cancer.He was not to leave hospital and died on March 9.

Don's gentle and genuine qualities were admired by all who knew him.It was a privilege to have collaborated with him on the Flora of Victoria project, and always enjoyable to spend time in the field where he never failed to bring a pearl of tropical wisdom to my thoroughly temperate botanical repertoire.While visiting MEL only occasionally from 1997, he was a welcome presence and his passing was deeply felt by all his former colleagues here.