No.No. 113 113 DECEMBERDECEMBER 2002 Price: $5.00 AUSTRALIAN SYSTEMATIC BOTANY SOCIETY INCORPORATED Office Bearers President Vice President Stephen Hopper John Clarkson Kings Park & Botanic Garden Centre for Tropical Agriculture West Perth PO Box 1054 WA 6005 Mareeba QLD tel: (08) 9480 3605 tel: (07) 4048 4745 email: [email protected] email: [email protected] Secretary Treasurer Brendan Lepschi Anthony Whalen Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research Australian National Herbarium Australian National Herbarium GPO Box 1600, Canberra GPO Box 1600, Canberra ACT 2601 ACT 2601 tel: (02) 6246 5167 tel: (02) 6246 5175 email: [email protected] email: [email protected] Councillor Councillor R.O.(Bob) Makinson Andrew Rozefelds Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney Tasmanian Herbarium Mrs Macquaries Road GPO Box 252-40 Sydney NSW 2000 Hobart, Tasmania 7001 tel: (02) 9231 8111 tel.: (03) 6226 2635 email: [email protected] email: [email protected] Public Officer Annette Wilson Australian Biological Resources Study Environment Australia GPO Box 787 CANBERRA ACT 2601 tel: (02) 6250 9417 email: [email protected] Affiliate Society Papua New Guinea Botanical Society ASBS Web site www.anbg.gov.au/asbs Webmaster: Murray Fagg Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research Australian National Herbarium Email: [email protected] Loose-leaf inclusions with this issue • Application for Membership of ASBS form • Payment of membership dues (membership renewal) form Publication dates of previous issue Austral.Syst.Bot.Soc.Nsltr 112 (September 2002 issue) Hardcopy: 1st Oct 2002; ASBS Web site: 27th Sep 2002 Australian Systematic Botany Society Newsletter 113 (December 2002) ASBS Inc. business The ballot on changes to the Society’s rules Report on the Special General Meeting of the Australian Systematic Botany Society, Canberra, 12th December 2002. Members will be aware of the recent activity in redrafting the Society's Rules, in order to bring A special vote of thanks was extended at the them in line with the ACT Registrar General's meeting to Bill Barker and Barry Conn for their Incorporated Associations Act. Both the past and efforts in this long and sometimes tortuous present Council, in particular Bill Barker and exercise. Barry Conn, have been heavily involved in the Brendan Lepschi unenviable task of reworking the existing ASBS ASBS Secretary Rules. All their hard work was put to the test with the recent postal ballot to accept or reject the proposed changes. The purpose of the SGM held in Canberra was to ratify the results of the ballot, Membership Fees 2003 prior to the (hopefully) final step of lodging the revised Rules with the Registrar General. These are now due and are payable to the Sixteen members (including four Council Treasurer, Anthony Whalen. members, John Clarkson joining in via a phone Amount owing is placed on the envelope of this hook-up) met in Canberra for what was to be a issue above the Return address at the bottom very brief but nonetheless vitally important left corner, e.g. in the form “Mship dues: Full meeting. Council is pleased to report overwhelming support from members for the $40”. proposed changes (106 to accept, 3 to reject (four Chapter Conveners have helped in the past to selected changes only)), and as such the revised facilitate payment amongst members by Rules are now in force, pending their imminent assembling and forwarding payments. lodgment with the Registrar General’s Office. Almost a third of ASBS members took part in the Forms to accompany your payment and for ballot, which is also a pleasing outcome, and applications for new membership are loose indicates an active and involved membership who enclosures in the envelope. are interested in the future of the Society. On behalf of Council, I would like to thank all Contact Anthony if there are any issues. members who took part in the ballot for their time and interest. ASBS President’s Report Presented to Annual General Meeting in Adelaide on 24th September 2002 The Society has completed another year of many up to the members to use this excellent diverse activities. publication to keep everyone informed of what is happening in Australian botany. ASBS Newsletter The Society’s Newsletter has continued to ASBS Website develop under the excellent editorship of Robyn The Society’s website has continued to flourish and Bill Barker. The introduction of more under the editorship of Murray Fagg. All issues photographs has added to the visual impact of the since Number 61 are now available in Adobe Newsletter. They continue to enthusiastically Portable Document Format (pdf) on our website. encourage everyone of the membership to Furthermore, “A comparison between the current provide articles of interest. As out-going Rules and the proposed Rules as modified” are President, I will watch with interest the provided on the website for the membership. It is membership’s decision to take the Newsletter in hoped that this format will encourage an electronic format or as printed copy. interpretation and discussion of the proposed Irrespective of the format chosen, as always, it is amendments to the Society’s Rules. 1 Australian Systematic Botany Society Newsletter 113 (December 2002) 5th International Flora Malesiana brought into line with the “Associations Symposium Incorporation Act 1991”. These changes will Although I reported on the 5th International Flora provide a more robust framework in which the Malesiana Symposium held in Cairns and Sydney Society operates. (September 2001) in the previous President’s Report, The Society justly deserves to be proud Conclusion of the support provided for this Symposium. This I sincerely thank all members of Council for their excellent conference brought together many dedication to the Society and for their hard work colleagues who work on various aspects of the throughout the year. And, I thank all ASBS flora of the Malesian region. The Society is members for their enthusiastic support to the pleased to have been able to provide financial Society and to Australian systematic botany. It support to all student members of ASBS who has been a privilege to have been President of the made presentations at this conference. It is with Society since 1999 and I wish the Society well pleasure that I thank and congratulate the for the future. The Society has a significant role presenters and organisers for a very successful to play in several arenas. One of the important conference. roles is the influencing of the debate on government funding for research into systematic Beyond Robert Brown botany, both at the Federal and State levels. The Society was proud to support the Beyond ASBS members have the opportunity of Robert Brown Symposium which was the first providing mentoring of the next generation of ASBS conference to be totally organised by post- systematists via under-graduate and post-graduate graduate students. This conference is a model of University programs, whether they are what can be done to encourage new botanical professional lecturers or not. Despite the limited researchers to present a summary of their resources available for plant systematics in research programs even though the projects may Australia, our research output is highly respected not be sufficiently developed for a full internationally. Therefore, we have a voice for presentation at an International gathering. I influencing plant systematics, and related encourage all students to consider running similar conservation research and management beyond events, either in their own right or in association Australia, particularly in developing countries of with other events. Asia and the Pacific. The Society has a valid role to play in keeping the membership informed of Marking the Robert Brown Bicentenary opportunities. It has been a wonderful opportunity for the Society to be involved with the many celebrations The future of the Society is with the membership. of the achievements of Matthew Flinders and Robert Brown. We are proud to have supported Barry Conn the Investigator 200 conference (December National Herbarium of New South Wales 2001), Encounter 2002 (March 2001), Robert Brown 200 conference (May 2002), and future events in northern Australia during the latter part of this year. On behalf of the Society, I sincerely thank Prof. David Mabberley for presenting public lectures in all States on Robert Brown and Ferdinand Bauer. However, it is extremely important to remember the dedication of many ASBS members, across Australia, who have planned and coordinated the many activities that make up this distributed event. I believe that this is the first time that the Society has been involved with such a large distributed event (distributed in space and time). Amendments to the Society’s Rules The redrafting of the Rules by which the Society operates has been an extremely demanding task that has involved considerable effort over several years. I look forward to the amended Rules being presented to the membership for their formal consideration. Although many of the changes appear to represent minor amendments, the Council believes that the Rules have been 2 Australian Systematic Botany Society Newsletter 113 (December 2002) Minutes of the 2002 Annual General Meeting of the Australian Systematic Botany Society, Inc. Tuesday 24th September, Benham Lecture Theatre, University of Adelaide 5. ASBS Rules (Constitution) Starting time: 6:15 pm. Suggested changes to the ASBS Rules (Constitution) were presented by Bill Barker. The President welcomed the 14 members present. Proposed that these be accepted, subject to voting by the society members, with special thanks to Present: Barry Conn (President - outgoing), Bill Bill Barker and Barry Conn for grinding through Barker (Vice President - outgoing), Anthony this tortuous issue. Proposed: Steve Hopper; Whalen (Treasurer), Brendan Lepschi (Secretary seconded: Peter Wilson. Carried. Action: – Minutes). Voting papers to be prepared and distributed to Society members by Bill and Robyn Barker.