Frederick James Rae (c. 1883 – 18 September 1941) was director of Melbourne Botanic Gardens and Victorian Government Botanist 1926–1941.
[1] He enlisted with the First AIF in May 1915 and served in the 1914–1918 war, first with the 10th Battery, Field Artillery, in Egypt and France, and later as an observer with No.
He suffered from recurrent tonsilitis, influenza, and gastric ulcer, and was invalided home with the rank of lieutenant in 1918.
[2] He was appointed director of the Botanic Gardens following the death on 22 September 1925 of William Laidlaw.
[4] He was one of the judges[5] of The Herald garden competitions from their inception in 1923.