Gauba, Erwin (1891 - 1964)

Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1891, died in Canberra 1964.

Graduated in botany in Vienna. Taught in Alexandria. Professor of Botany at the University of Tehran until 1940s. Captured with his family by the Allies during WW2 and interned. Put on a prisoner of war ship to Sth Africa but diverted to Australia. Interned at Loveday (near Renmark, SA) in the mallee where he started collecting plants. Later transferred to Tatura Camp near Shepparton, Victoria. After the war his wife and daughter were repatriated to France and then Austria, but Erwin got a job at a research station in the Dandenongs near Etham, Victoria.

He moved to Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, became a close research associate of L.D.Pryor, and was appointed (Temporary) Botanist for the Dept of Interior in 1950, mainly for the Canberra Botanic Gardens (later Australian National Botanic Gardens). His wife and daughter rejoined him in Canberra. He and Pryor amassed a substantial herbarium, much of which was later transferred to the Canberra University College (later Australian National University, GAUBA). >700 specimens remained in CBG, and these are now in CANB. Gauba left Dept of Interior to join Pryor at the University as p/t lecturer in 1960.

Extracted from: Personal communication with L.D.Pryor (25/9/87), and A.E.Orchard (1999) A History of Systematic Botany in Australia, in Flora of Australia Vol.1, 2nd ed., ABRS. [consult for source references]