Dadswell, Herbert Eric   (1903 - 1964)

Born 5 March 1903 in Sydney; died suddenly at his home in Melbourne in December 1964, at the age of 61.

He graduated M.Sc. from the University of Sydney in 1927.

For a short time Eric worked at the Australian Forestry School in Canberra but in 1930 the school was transferred to the headquarters of the CSIR Forest Products Division in Melbourne and there Eric took over the running of the Australian wood project, an ambitious task to document Australian timbers and their qualities. These investigations into the anatomy, chemistry, identification and use of wood became his life's work.

Under his direction, the Melbourne team did pioneering work on the wood anatomy of Australian wood species, particularly eucalypts, and resolved major issues in identifying commercially-imported wood species.

During World War Two, he worked in the New Guinea Forests Unit to help army engineers and Forests Unit personnel to recognise and select the most suitable timber species to use as bridges and in harbour and other engineering works.

Following the war he rose steadily through the ranks of what had become the CSIRO (the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) and he became the Chief of the Division of Forest Products from 1960 until 1964.

Widely respected for the depth of his knowledge, he lectured at North American universities and in 1955 was Walker-Ames professor of forestry at the University of Washington, in Seattle, USA.

He became a world authority on the structure, properties, and identification of Australian timbers, and during his career he published more than a hundred papers on this and related fields of research.

Dr. Dadswell was awarded the D.Sc. degree of the University of Melbourne in 1941, and in 1955 he served as the Walker-Ames Professor of Forestry at the University of Washington, Seattle.

He was President of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute in 1961-62.

Source: Extracted from:
https://csiropedia.csiro.au/herbert-eric-dadswell/
https://www.dadswell.id.au/history/tree10/herbert_eric_dadswell_1903.htm
Portrait Photo: https://csiropedia.csiro.au/herbert-eric-dadswell/

Collecting localities for 'Dadswell, H.E.' from AVH (2026)

Data from 93 specimens