Naming Australia's Biodiversity – it matters

Kevin Thiele

Kevin Thiele has a slightly odd history.

After training as a botanist – with a PhD studying the family relationships of Banksia and a stint working at the Australian National Herbarium – he moved to a small farm in far eastern Victoria with his family. There they lived in two converted 90-year old railway carriages, raised alpacas, studied native violets, grew vegetables, grew children, invented a computer program and lived the good life for twelve years.

Then he got a real job.

He’s currently the curator of the Western Australian Herbarium. For the context of this forum, his main claim to fame is that just before taking up his position in Perth he wrote a paper merging together two of the most iconic Western Australian genera – Dryandra and Banksia. Since then, he’s been trying to keep his head below the parapet.