Cane Toad

Lore & Background

Robert Whyte was born in Melbourne in 1955. His family moved to Brisbane in 1957. In 1976 he was awarded a One Year Young Writer's Fellowship by the Literature Board of the Australia Council for the Arts. In 1981 he completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Professional Art Studies at Alexander Mackie CAE (now University of Western Sydney), and was a contributor to Sydney art magazine Art Network.

In 1985 he undertook the production of Environment Victoria, the magazine of the Conservation Council of Victoria, now Environment Victoria. In 1987 he was founding co-editor of contemporary art magazine Eyeline with Sarah Follent and Graham Coulter-Smith. Robert Whyte was a co-owner of ToadShow, a multimedia firm in Brisbane, Queensland. As a web designer he was responsible for Brisbane Stories a collection of web sites revealing stories of hidden Brisbane featuring art, environment and history.

Robert Whyte was an editor of The Cane Toad Times from 1985 to 1990. Between 2002 and 2019 he undertook habitat restorations projects in South East Queensland. In 2011 his book The creek in our backyard: A practical guide for landholders was published, an expanded second edition appearing in 2013. A field guide to the spiders of Australia for CSIRO Publishing was released 1 June 2017.

Reader's Guide

Whyte and Anderson's A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia was published in 2017 by CSIRO Publishing (with foreword by Tim Low). The News Network news.com.au report on 'Five reasons why you shouldn't be afraid of spiders' was based on the content of the book. On 4 May 2018 Robert Whyte appeared on Gardening Australia as a 'My Garden Path' presenter, explaining the link between spider diversity and healthy gardens. In 2019 Whyte started a new venture called h.a.r.p.o. (How About Resisting Powerful Organisations) to publish books featuring Brisbane, especially Brisbane Noir. His taxonomy papers include descriptions of new species such as Cavisternum attenboroughi and multiple peacock spiders (Maratus).

Did You Know?

• He participated in the Bush Blitz program from 2012, attending expeditions at Fish River, Henbury Station, Home Valley, Kiwirrkurra IPA, and Quinkan Country.
• In September 2018, Whyte discovered 37 new spider species leading the spider team on Fraser Island.