Robinson, Charles Stuart (Bob)   (1941 - 1978)

Born on 12 Sep 1941 in England, UK; died on 23 May 1978 (aged 36) in Darwin, NT, Australia.

Bob was born and educated in England and graduated from Cambridge University.

After migrating to Australia he worked for a brief period with the Pastures Protection Board in South Australia.

He joined the Northern Territory Administration in 1964 as Botanist and was appointed as Agronomist Class 1 with the Land Resources Section of the Animal Industry and Agriculture Branch in the Northern Territory in 1967 to undertake ecological surveys.

In this position he pioneered work on new techniques in land resource mapping in the Daly River Basin and published a substantial work on the land units of the Katherine-Douglas area.

This work led to his promotion to Officer-in-Charge of the Resources Survey Group and shortly afterwards he headed the soil conservation programmes and was responsible for extending land resource mapping through the Top End of the Northern Territory to the Ord River Catchment and to the arid zone pastoral properties.

Bob had the responsibility for managing the Ord River Regeneration Project, the Alice Springs air- port dust control project and he played a major role in the property management surveys in the arid zone.

In the arid zone he was closely associated with work by the NSW Soil Conservation Service on range management conducted in co-operation with the Northern Territory authorities during the mid 'sixties.

In addition he had the oversight of a wide range of activities including soil conservation works at the North Australian Development Corporation where many soil problems arose from large scale clearing of areas in the monsoonal tropics, reclamation of mined areas at Gove, urban land regeneration and beachfront reclamation near Darwin.

He rose to the position of Commissioner for Soil Conservation, NT.

Bob was widely respected by the rural community for his understanding of pastoral and agricultural problems, by the local community for his deep involvement in sporting and community activities.

He died while participating in Darwin's annual city to surf race. Aged 36.

Source: Extracted from:
Journal of the Soil Conservation Service of New South Wales 34 (3) (July 1978).
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/153252417/charles-stuart-robinson
Government Gazette Appointments And Employment - Commonwealth of Australia Gazette 21 September 1967 - p.5252
Pers.Comm. Philip Short (30/11/2024)
Portrait Photo: Journal of the Soil Conservation Service of New South Wales 34 (3) (July 1978).

Collecting localities for 'Robinson, C.S.' from AVH (2024)

Data from 241 specimens