Vale Doug Wilson

Long-time department worker Doug Wilson passed away peacefully at Flynn Lodge, Old Timers Village on Wednesday 24 July.

Doug starting work for the department in June 1974 and continued serving the NT Government for the next 31 and a half years in Alice Springs.

Dougie, as he was fondly known by staff, retired in December 2005 and left behind a lifelong legacy of studying plant life in Central Australia.

Doug worked in the nutrition lab at AZRI and concentrated on pastures (nitrogen, phosphorus and digestibility analyses) and animals (faecal levels of nitrogen and phosphorus analyses). During his working career he collected more than 17,000 plant specimens. In 1989 a database of the analyses was set up from the nutrition laboratory with approximately 16,500 native and some introduced pasture analyses entered. The laboratory officially closed on 25January 2004 and Doug took up other technical duties such as vegetation survey and sampling for rangeland and cattle projects. He also co-authored the Central Australian Grass Guide in the last two years of his work.

Doug’s work took him all over the NT into Western Australia and Queensland and he was never happier than being out and about in the countryside. He loved that with each trip there was usually something new or rarely seen or a different species of plant to see. It also always fascinated him why cattle ate what they ate as well.

After Dougie’s retirement he lived in his unit until ill health saw him move to the Old Timers in 2007 where he spent the rest of his days until passing away peacefully on 24 July at Flynn Lodge.

A dedicated officer who gave so much to the NT and his Department, will be sadly missed by his old colleagues.