Image: Jim Charley on a field trip to the Pilliga in 2004.
Dr James L. Charley, BAgSc Syd PhD UNE
08.08.31-17.04.2020
It is with great sadness that we announce that Dr Jim Charley, formerly Senior Lecturer in Plant Ecology and Soil-Plant Relationships in Botany at UNE passed away at the age of 88 on 17 April 2020.
Jim was born in Richmond NSW on 8 August 1931 and grew up in Wahroonga. After attending Flinders Naval College from the age of 13 and subsequently serving in the Royal Australian Navy, he completed a degree in Agricultural Science at the University of Sydney in 1954 before coming to the University of New England to study for a PhD in Botany under Prof Noel Beadle.
In 1959, Jim became the first PhD student in Botany to graduate at UNE, completing his thesis on “Soil salinity-vegetation patterns in western NSW and their modification by overgrazing” at Fowler’s Gap Station, north of Broken Hill. This was despite the final typed copy, readied for submission, being partially consumed in the infamous Belshaw Block fire of 1958!
He was then awarded a CSIRO Postdoctoral Research Fellowship to the University of California, Berkeley, with Prof Hans Jenny, a leading figure in the science of soil forming processes. As Jim would say, “To learn at the feet of the Master”. Appointed as a Lecturer on his return to Armidale, this was followed by a sabbatical at Utah State University in 1969. These encounters, and his work with Beadle, were to have a seminal influence on the development of his research and teaching on soil-plant relationships at UNE over the next thirty years.
From 1968-1976, he was a Team Leader for a major UNE-Australian Aid project that significantly improved the productivity of rice cultivation in Thailand, and where he was commended by Australian Embassy staff for his professionalism and expertise. In later work, Jim, and UNE colleague Bryant Richards, would complete the first major study on nutrient stocks and processes on Fraser Island, especially in relation to forestry practices. Among his other achievements was as the supervisor of a number of Honours, Masters and PhD students, many of whom went on to work in senior government, academic and research positions.
He was appointed an Adjunct Fellow following his retirement in 1992 and continued to provide sage advice along with generous benefaction to academics and postgraduate students alike in Botany, while continuing his research on nutrient cycling in forests and coral reefs until only a few months ago. This was combined with his weekly trips to manage the family property and vineyard at Lake Innes near Port Macquarie.
Those of us fortunate enough to know Jim will sadly miss his many anecdotes, enthusiasm for soil-plant relationships, his love of field work, and the meticulous nature of his experimental planning, design and chemical analysis. One could always be certain that whatever he was working on it had been well thought through and that every possible chemical and physical anomaly that might lead to folly had been considered.
Jim was predeceased by his wife, Vinleigh, in 2002, who was a Demonstrator in Botany for a number of years. Our condolences go to his children David, Philippa and Nick, their spouses and his three grandchildren.
Dr Nigel Warwick
Senior Lecturer Plant and Crop Ecophysiology
SERS UNE