When a young Ray Rowell joined the staff of Hazlewood Brothers' Nursery in Epping in 1930 he could hardly have imagined the impact that he was to have on the horticulture industry in Australia.
In the meantime, though, it was the Depression and work in the nursery was sporadic, so Rowell and a colleague often found themselves laid off. In these periods they became virtual swagmen, roaming the south coast and southern highlands, each with a rifle and fishing rod, bivouacking and living off the land.
Man for all seasons ... Ray Rowell was an expert horseman as well as a renowned horticulturist, teacher and author.
Rowell used the time he did have with the nursery to become familiar with the plants that were to become his life. He became an expert propagator and because of the diversity of nursery work in those days, also learnt the art of garden design and construction, which became his career when he joined the education department and helped to found Ryde Horticultural College.
Raymond John Rowell was born on October 27, 1914, at Guildford, the second of four sons to Frederick Rowell and his wife Ella (nee McKenzie). The family then lived in Goulburn before moving back to Sydney in 1923.
Along with his growing interest in plants, Rowell was also an expert horseman and, in 1938, joined a militia unit, the 35th Battery of the Royal Australian Artillery, primarily because it had some of the best horses in Sydney and its activities largely involved riding these excellent animals in Parramatta Park. Rowell was also an accomplished cricketer, playing with the Northern Districts Club and after the war, in the Municipal and Shire competition.
In 1937, seeing a business opportunity, he initiated a petition to the then NSW Department of Technical Education to provide a course in ornamental horticulture. In 1938 this was agreed upon and Rowell and 16 others enrolled in the inaugural group.
In 1937, Rowell met Betty Searle and they were married in July 1940, two weeks before he left for the war in the Middle East. He served in Palestine and later joined the 2nd Australian Army Headquarters School of Mechanisation and served on Thursday Island and in northern Australia until the end of the war.
After demobilisation in 1945, Rowell returned to work and his studies and became one of the first recipients of a Certificate in Horticulture (Honours).
In 1947 he was appointed to the first full-time teaching position in horticulture, with classes at Sydney Technical College. When the department bought 23 acres of land at Ryde, he and a few others established the first specialist horticulture college in NSW on the site that is today the Ryde Campus of the Northern Sydney Institute of TAFE. Rowell remained with technical education until 1975, then retired as head of the Division of Horticulture for NSW.
In his time at Ryde, Rowell developed a curriculum in ornamental horticulture that formed the basis of the discipline across the country. He taught and influenced thousands of students, many of whom became leading figures in the industry. He is acknowledged as one of the finest teachers and practitioners that the industry has seen.
However, it is probably for his books that he will be best remembered. He published the first edition of Ornamental Plants in 1964 and, after retiring, produced the four publications for which he is best known, the Ornamental Plants for Australia series. The technical information in the books was principally drawn from his own experience gathered across a lifetime of handling and observing ornamental plants all over the world. The books, although now out of print, are used as reference texts in most retail nurseries and landscape design offices around the country.
Rowell was elected a fellow of the Australian Institute of Horticulture in 1970 and was given the Award of Excellence in 1986.
He is survived by Betty, two children, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
John Rowell