Abercrombie Anstruther Lawsony
(IMAGE - University Archives)
A A Lawson, a graduate of Glasgow University, became the
first Professor of Botany at the University of Sydney in 1913. His passion
for discovery with regard to the Australian flora coupled with his ability
to organise, meant that by the time the new Botany extension was opened
in 1925, the Sydney Morning Herald was able to congratulate the department
as "one of the finest institutions of its kind in the British Empire
" and described Lawson as "one of the greatest living botanists
".
During his career Lawson was awarded the Brisbane Gold Medal of the Royal
Society of Edinburgh and was elected to a fellowship of the Royal Society
of London.
Lawson gave many public lectures using his own large collection of lantern
slides, many of which he hand-coloured. The collection is now in the Macleay
Museum.
Lawson died young in 1927. It is his name with which the Botany extension
is most closely associated.
