John Cleland at Adelaide Railway Station

John Burton Cleland was the first Professor of Pathology at the University of Adelaide from 1920 to 1948, where he conducted some 7,000 autopsies, including 'Somerton man' in 1948.

He was also a passionate naturalist and ornithologist, and presented a collection of 30,000 plants, including nearly 60 new species, to the South Australian Herbarium. About 40 species or subspecies of fungi, vascular plants and animals were named after him, as well as a new genus Clelandia in both the plant and animal worlds. He is commemorated by the Cleland Conservation Park among other things.

The photograph shows John Cleland at Adelaide Railway Station setting off for a trip to the Far North, 1934. The schoolboy look of delight in this photograph suggests the 54 year old's anticipation of finding new species armed with his fungi collecting equipment. Cleland belonged to the old tradition of the medical person who was also a naturalist. He was an active member of the Field Naturalists Society which formed in 1883 as an offshoot of the Royal Society of South Australia, and since 1959 has been an independent organisation. It continues to be an energetic group exploring and documenting our natural heritage.

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