Peter graduated from the Victorian School of Forestry in 1955, then worked for the Forests Commission Victoria (FCV) in Yarram and Erica before becoming a Research Officer with the FCV in 1964. He completed a BSciFor at the University of Melbourne, then later a PhD under the supervision of Geoff Leeper, a man Peter would later describe as “the closest to a genius I have met”. After postdoctoral appointments in the USA and France, he returned to the University of Melbourne where he spent the rest of his academic life. Throughout, he maintained his interest in the cycles of nutrients, carbon and water. These are now routinely accepted as the basis of ecological sustainability, yet Peter was the very first in Australia to recognise and demonstrate that it was only through nutrient cycling that our native forests can prosper in the face of bushfires, droughts and floods. In the early 1970s, Peter wrote one of the very first accounts of the role of the world’s forests in mediating rising concentrations of CO₂ in the atmosphere.

Peter taught at all levels at the University, never shirking the heavy load that is first-year biology teaching and relishing in taking advanced level students on field trips to the forests, heathlands and woodlands of Victoria.

In keeping with his dedication to teaching, he frequently espoused the significant and important role of academics in writing texts, in addition to research papers. His own first text, ‘Forest Soils and Nutrient Cycles’, was co-written with Geoff Leeper and published by Melbourne University Press. Peter was the first to attempt the task of an ecology text for Australian students written by Australians. He co-edited ‘Ecology: An Australian Perspective’ with Barbara Wilson of Deakin University. He co-edited a research text on ‘Nutrition of the Eucalypts’ as well as contributing chapters to others such as ‘Australian Vegetation’, edited by Richard Groves. Peter never sought or received any royalty payment for these texts; he instead followed the dictum of Geoff Leeper, that as a university academic, he had ‘already been paid’ and the texts should be provided for as small a cost to students as possible.

These texts, the many seminal research papers, and his frequent invitations to present keynote papers (especially in the USA), are all backed up by shelves full of PhD, Masters and honours theses from the students he supervised. Peter’s contributions to understanding the biology of Mountain Ash forests was recognised by David Attenborough when filming Private Life of Plants. He contributed to all parts of academic life within the School of Botany and served as its Chair at a critical juncture in the mid-late 1980s.

Even in retirement from fulltime academic duties, Peter continued to serve academia. He served as Editor-in-Chief of the major international journal Forest Ecology and Management for more than a decade. This journal publishes more than 300 papers each year (several-fold more are submitted). Now in his 80s, Peter has maintained honorary positions at the university since his retirement.

Less well known outside of university circles are Peter’s contributions to management of public land and community groups. Working with Dr Malcolm Calder and local community groups, Peter led the science part of a campaign in the 1970s to stop land clearing and establish the Little Desert National Park. The campaign’s success was based on clear scientific reasoning with a focus on the ecology of the Wimmera River. Peter was one of many who protested the building of the Franklin Dam. Peter was a stalwart of the community based, committee of management for Shallow Inlet in Gippsland. He gave countless hours to many other community organizations – never seeking recognition.

Peter’s long association with ‘the bush’ has seen his frequent and unstinting support for local community groups seeking to maintain access to and use of public land, well distant from cities, while always maintaining his independent and rigorous assessment of the ecological impact of human activities. Peter served on the Board of the Natural Resources Conservation League – a community-based group focused on sustainable land management – and on the Board of the Westernport Seagrass Partnership.

In the 1990s, Peter strongly supported the Regional Forests Agreement (RFA) process and was frequently engaged by both State and Federal Governments as an independent authority on forest ecology. After the RFAs were completed, Peter founded an Australia- wide group called ‘Scientists for Sustainability’. This was one the first scientific lobby groups. He established and convened the ‘Stretton Group’ made up of scientists and land management professionals concerned about the state of fire management across southern Australia. The Stretton Group were influential in changing opinion and encouraging greater use of prescribed burning and other firefighting and fire management practises.