During the 1960s he was a botanist with the CSIRO Division of Land Research and Regional Survey in Papua New Guinea.
During this time he led the flora and fauna surveys that helped establish Kakadu National Park and the designation of the wet tropics of north-eastern Queensland as Australia's first World Heritage Site.
These surveys resulted in the accession of almost 50,000 specimens to the ANWC, as well as 15,000 samples of frozen tissue for molecular studies.
[1] In the 2009 Queen's birthday honours, Schodde was awarded an OAM for his contribution to the natural sciences, particularly ornithology.
[1] As well as numerous scientific papers, books authored, coauthored or edited by Schodde include: