Arthur John Healy (Botanist) Dies (1917 - 2011)
Arthur Healy (1917 - 2011) was an outstanding botanist and provided unparalleled service to New Zealand botany and biosecurity. He helped introduce and foster the Noxious Weeds Act of 1950, guiding its administration for many years, and contributing to the birth and early administration of the 1978 Noxious Plants Act. He also spread the word about the dangers of adventive alien plants. He documented the spread of many species that later came into prominence as environmental weeds such as Clematis vitalba in the South Island.
Born in Feilding he then went to Massey Agricultural College where he was awarded the Bledisloe Prize. After graduating with a B.Ag.Sc. in 1940, he joined Botany Division. He then began his life’s work of studying the taxonomy and ecology of adventive plants. His first major task was to survey the occurrence of nassella tussock in North Canterbury, a study which formed the basis for his thesis on the ‘Ecology and economics of nassella tussock (N. trichotoma) in North Canterbury and Marlborough’. His DSIR monograph on this subject is still the authoritative work and gave impetus to the Nassella Tussock Act of 1946.
He was largely responsible for drawing up the 1950 Noxious Weeds Act. He was also on the Fitzharris Committee of Enquiry into Noxious Weeds Administration, whose report formed the basis for the 1978 Noxious Weeds Act. He was the leading light on the Technical Classification Committee of the newly established Noxious Plants Council, whose task was to decide which weeds, proposed by district committees, were listed. In June 1946 he moved to the Public Works Dept as Soil Conservator, Blenheim before returning to Botany Division as Assistant Director. Between 1942 and 1959 he published a series of papers describing the arrival of new adventive plant species and their spread. In 1969, he was responsible for Standard Common Names for Weeds in New Zealand. With Elizabeth Edgar he worked on Volume III of the Flora of NZ - the first to integrate native and introduced species.
Distinctions
1949-1977: Assistant Director Botany Division of DSIR for 25 years
1968: Life member Institute of Noxious Plants Officers (now the Biosecurity Institute).
1972: Life member New Zealand Weed and Pest Control Society (now the NZ Plant Protection Society)
1977: Associate of Honour of the Royal NZ Institute of Horticulture
1983: MBE, for services to agriculture.
Based on Ian Popay and Paul Champion’s nomination of Arthur Healy for the Plant protection Medal in 2008.
Posted: 28/09/2011