Dear Frank,

it’s been a year since you left us and we dearly miss you – we always will. You have been an inspiration for so many. Your legacy continues…

I recently received a letter from Dr Dave Williams from CSIRO and a an e-mail from Andrew Bissett, who worked with you on the Biomes of Australian Soils (BASE) project.

The Biomes of Australian Soil Environments Team has recently been awarded. The e-mail stated:

“We were awarded a DNFC collaboration award recognising the BASE initiative for its work in coordinating the efforts of Australia’s soil researchers to produce a national scale soil microbial database. As Frank contributed substantially to the success of the project he was named on the award.”

Dr Williams said in his letter “This award recognises those teams or individuals who demonstrate increased flexibility and enhancement of Australia’s innovation performance through the mobility the exchange of people and knowledge.

I commend the team’s efforts to characterise the diversity, abundance, distribution and function of Australia’s unique soil microbiome through genomic analysis of 20+ billion DNA sequences from over 1500 field sites and delivered a National Framework Soil Microbial Dataset as a research infrastructure resource.

I am proud to be able to acknowledge this significant piece of work and the teams contribution and collaborative effort.”

I know, you were very passionate about the project and Andrew said, he was very happy to have you in his team.

I will try get the group together to discuss how we can take your work forward to the next stage.

With love, your companion Tina