FALLA, Robert Alexander, C.M.G.
(1901– ).
Director, Dominion Museum, Wellington.
Robert Alexander Falla was born at Palmerston North on 21 July 1901 and educated at Auckland Grammar School and Univ. College, Auckland. For five years he lectured in nature study at the Auckland Teachers' Training College prior to joining the British, Australian, and New Zealand Antarctic Expedition as assistant zoologist under Sir Douglas Mawson, 1929–31. At this time he was appointed ornithologist at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, rising in 1936 to be assistant director. From 1937 to 1947 he was director of the Canterbury Museum, but this term was broken by military service overseas in coast-watching duties, Naval Auxiliary Patrol service, and as a delegate to the First General Conference of UNESCO, 1946. Since 1947 he has been director of the Dominion Museum, where he has specialised in ornithology. He has done a great deal of field research in this and allied subjects and since 1955 has been a member of the Ross Sea Committee. He has published a number of scientific papers reflecting these interests. In 1959 he was awarded the C.M.G.
