The Wilsons Promontory Virtual Herbarium (WPVH) project was undertaken by the University of Melbourne Herbarium (MELU).
This project conserved and digitised a significant collection of plant and algal specimens from Wilsons Promontory National Park. These specimens were collected from 1959 to 1974 by University of Melbourne staff and students, including internationally renowned botanists and ecologists and members of the McCoy Society. Originally housed in the Botany Laboratory at Tidal River, the collection was donated to MELU, by Parks Victoria, in 2011 for its long term management, storage and preservation. The WPVH was built to ensure the original specimens are readily available for public access. It includes high resolution images of the herbarium specimens, photos of the live plants in situ, descriptive information and links to further information. Note: not all plant species found at Wilsons Promontory are available on this virtual herbarium.
High resolution images of the herbarium specimens have been reduced in size for accessibility. High resolution images are available at The University of Melbourne Collection Online
The Wilsons Promontory Virtual Herbarium (WPVH) was updated in May 2021 to ensure scientific names are current and to increase search functionality.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to acknowledge the Miegunyah Fund and the following people for making this project possible:
- Jim Whelan (Parks Victoria)
- Mary Ellis (Friends of the Prom)
- Helen Thomson, Wilfred Villareal, Michael Poloni (University of Melbourne)
PHOTOGRAPHIC CONTRIBUTORS
Alison Kellow, Daniel Ohlsen, David Meagher, Emily Green, Erin Batty, Freya Thomas, Gill Brown, Heroen Verbruggen, Kate Bennetts, Lorraine Norden, Margaret Rowe, Mike Bayly, Mary Ellis, Roger Farrow, Ruby Wilson and Will Neal.
PROJECT TEAM
- Ruby Wilson and Margaret Brookes (Specimen curation & digitisation)
- Andrew Peel (IT)
- Dr Gill Brown (Project leader)
- Dr Jo Birch (Website redesign and content management)
DEVELOPMENT TEAM
- Sanjana Ratan (Developer, Science IT)
- Victoria Deng (Developer, Science IT)
- Dr Melissa Makin (Acting Manager, Science IT)