Hans was born in Küstrin, (then Germany now Kostrzyn, Poland) on 14th May 1929, son of medical practitioner Herbert Wissmann and his wife Charlotte. His education was greatly disrupted by events of the Second World War, and he was pressed into military service while still in his mid-teens. In 1955 he migrated to Australia with his wife Luise, first working on an orchard at Rocky River near Armidale and then moving to Armidale. From c. 1960, he worked as a Technical Officer in the then Botany Department, University of New England until he retired c. 1990. Hans carried on voluntary work, particularly in the New England Herbarium (renamed in 1997 the N.C.W. Beadle Herbarium), until 2012. Sadly, Luise, his wife died in 2000.
Plant taxonomy fascinated Hans all his life, and his home garden included many species native to the Northern Tablelands and a diverse range of species from around the world. He was an ardent collector of plants and sea shells. There are 2,014 gatherings made by Hans incorporated into the N.C.W. Beadle Herbarium, which he made between 1964 and 2000 from the Northern Territory to Victoria; mostly from the Northern Tablelands of N.S.W.
On his move to Autumn Lodge in 2015, he generously donated his shell collection to Zoology at UNE, where some of the specimens are on display in the Natural History Museum and others are used for teaching. His name is commemorated in the lovely and State-listed Vulnerable ‘New England Gentian’, Gentiana wissmannii, and the green alga, Oedogonium undulatum var. wissmannii. He was a keen horticulturist, an ardent collector and a great help in the Herbarium. To all of us who knew Hans, he was the gentle, quiet achiever with a passion for plants. He had a sparkle in his eyes to the end. Hans died 26th Aug 2018.
Written by Professor Jeremy Bruhl.