During the high-profile Baden-Clay murder trial in 2014, Director of the Queensland Herbarium Dr Gordon Guymer earnt the sobriquet “most dangerous man”. Even today, the UNE alumnus chuckles at the suggestion.
But during the course of the lengthy trial Gordon’s botanical evidence became pivotal to the Prosecution’s case against Gerard Baden-Clay, charged with murdering his wife, Allison. Gordon’s identification of six plant species found in Allison’s hair – all present in her Brisbane backyard – cast serious doubt on the Defence’s assertion that she had died on the creekbank where her body was found 10 days after being reported missing.
Gordon Guymer 2012 - in the field – collecting cuttings of the crepe myrtle for the Allison Baden-Clay case.
The Supreme Court jury eventually found Gerard Baden-Clay guilty and sentenced him to life in jail. And so ended one of Gordon’s most memorable appearances as a forensic botanist.
“We are often called in to work on drug-related matters or to provide supporting evidence in criminal matters, usually to indicate where a crime happened or where a suspect had been,” Gordon said. “I never expected, when I took on the Baden-Clay case, that it would end up occupying a number of months of my life and that I would be so front-and-centre as an expert witness.
“There was the forensic work to identify the species taken from Allison’s hair, visiting the crime scene to identify what was growing there, and then comparing that with plants at the house. It took some time to collate all the evidence, but what I gathered and the way I presented it … it was an open and shut case that Allison had died at her home. The Defence reportedly referred to me as “the most dangerous man”. I was just pleased that my skills and expertise could help to ensure justice.”
While the court case highlighted the occasional, more grave importance of botany to our legal system, Gordon and his team of 30 botanists are responsible every day for research that has a bearing on the lives of Queenslanders and the environments they hold dear. There’s the discovery, naming and classification of new plant species – some 20 new to science, on average, each year – but also the important monitoring of known species and ecosystems, which informs vital conservation management, regional planning and legislation.
By surveying vegetation and the wildlife it supports, the Queensland Herbarium helps Queenslanders to understand what’s at risk, why and what protection measures are needed. The work can span everything from biosecurity and weed control to poisons and mining, not to mention the maintenance and sharing of the herbarium’s substantial – 900,000 specimens – collection.
It’s a remit that Gordon understands intimately, having spent his entire career at the herbarium, first as a botanist, then senior botanist, then principal botanist and finally director of the state’s oldest scientific institution, a position he has held since 1990.
“After I did my Bachelor of Science, Honours and then PhD at UNE, I was fortunate to get a job as a botanist at the herbarium in 1980 and I’ve been here ever since,”
“After I did my Bachelor of Science, Honours and then PhD at UNE, I was fortunate to get a job as a botanist at the herbarium in 1980 and I’ve been here ever since,” said Gordon, whose office window looks out into the Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mt Coot-tha, which contains a number of plant species he has named. It was an ideal fit for the young man who grew up “next to nature in the backblocks of Dorrigo” (in northern NSW).
During his 40-year career, Gordon has described three new plant genera, over 100 new plant species and has two species named for him (Acacia guymeri, from Cape York, and Rhodomyrtus guymeriana, from New Guinea. Only last year he identified an ancient species new to science, growing in the path of a new highway near Coffs Harbour, where he coincidentally attended high school in the 1960s.
“There are always new species to discover,” Gordon said. “It’s always exciting when you are out and about and come across something different, then get to describe it and give it a scientific name. It becomes the reference point for that species and everything we know about it from then on and into the future.”
By creating an inventory of Queensland’s species and ecosystems, botanists at the herbarium have had input into vital legislation, like the Nature Conservation Act 1992, Vegetation Management Act 1999 and Koala Conservation Strategy 2017. “When you are trying to manage nature, you need an inventory of what is out there, so you know what the important parts are,” Gordon said. “That’s what we have been doing. We have surveyed and mapped the vegetation of the state and classified it into 1,449 ecosystems. Science and knowledge provide the mechanism whereby we can ensure improved protection and survival of species and ecosystems into the future.”
One of Gordon’s proudest achievements, he says, is making the herbarium’s extensive dataset publicly available (both the data and specimen images), so that it can enable better environmental decision-making by government, communities and individual landholders.
“Ongoing development, land-clearing and climate change remain the greatest threats, but local people can be excellent advocates for biodiversity,” Gordon said. “The challenge with climate change, of course, is that we are seeing a fluctuation in climate variables. Some species will be unable to adapt to the changes, so we need to understand their biology and seed storage and capacity for translocation. Through climate modelling, we can then work out what the future might look like and manage for wildlife corridors and better recovery actions.”
Gordon believes Queensland has “come a long way” since 1980. “We’ve had major conservation enlightenment and regulations and protections and world-heritage areas declared, which is all very pleasing,” he said. “But there is still some distance to go in terms of enabling better environmental and conservation outcomes.”
Congratulations, Gordon, on receiving a Queensland Public Service Medal in this year’s Australia Day Honours – in recognition of your outstanding public service in the areas of scientific investigations, botanical research and policy reform to biodiversity conservation and natural resource management.
