Mary Elizabeth White AM (22 February 1926 – 5 August 2018) was an Australian paleobotanist and author, notable for collecting numerous plant fossils for the Australian Museum, describing a number of new plant fossil species, and authoring several well received, large format science books for the general readership including "The Greening of Gondwana" (1986) and successors.[1]
Mary E. White AM | |
|---|---|
| Born | 22 February 1926 South Africa |
| Died | 5 August 2018 (aged 92) Warrigal aged care complex |
| Cause of death | Manslaughter |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Education | University of Cape Town |
| Known for | Author |
| Spouse | Bill White |
| Awards | Riversleigh medal |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Paleobotany |
| Institutions | Bureau of Mineral Resources Australian Museum |
Biography
editEarly years and scientific career
editWhite was born in South Africa, grew up in southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and received a master's degree in paleobotany from the University of Cape Town.[2] She married Bill White, a geologist; the couple came to Australia in 1955.[1] White worked as a consultant for the Bureau of Mineral Resources in Canberra until the 1980s; she also consulted on a part-time basis for mining companies. In 1975, she was hired as a research associate for the Australian Museum; she established a collection of 12,000 specimens of plant fossils for the museum.[2] Among her published output were descriptions of several new species and genera including Agathis jurassica, Rissikia talbragarensis and Pentoxylon australica from the Late Jurassic Talbragar Fish Beds, Squamella, a new genus of Glossopterid fructification from the Late Permian, and Cylomeia, a new genus for an Early Triassic lycopod.[3][4][5]
She began writing large format, well illustrated science books after her husband died in 1981, highlights including "The Greening of Gondwana" (1986); "The Nature of Hidden Worlds" (1990), "Time in Our Hands" (1991), and "After the Greening: The Browning of Australia" (1994), the last of which received one of the 1994 Eureka Prizes.
In 2003, White purchased a large forested property, Falls Forest Retreat, approximately halfway between Taree and Port Macquarie in New South Wales; she established a covenant to protect the land and preserve its biodiversity.[2] In 2013 she sold the property but with the covenant it can never be disturbed.
Illness and death
editIn her later years White suffered from vascular dementia and a stroke and went to live with her daughter and her daughter's husband in Bundanoon, New South Wales between 2014 and 2016. In 2016, following another stroke she moved to a nearby aged-care centre. On 5 August 2018, White was found dead in her room at the Warrigal aged care complex, apparently as a result of drugs administered without authorization by her daughter, Dr Barbara Eckersley. Eckersley was charged with her mother's murder; at her bail hearing, her barrister maintained that his client had the "belief that the aged-care centre weren't able to deal with Dr White's agitation and pain".[6][7][8] After more than two years' delay, Eckersley was eventually found guilty, not of murder but of the lesser charge of manslaughter and was spared jail time, instead being sentenced to a two year community corrections order on account of what the judge termed her "low moral culpability" due to a "diagnosis of severe depression".[9]
Awards and honours
editWhite received honorary doctorates from four Australian universities,[1] plus the Riversleigh medal in 1999 for "excellence in promoting understanding of Australian prehistory". In 2010, she received a Lifetime of Conservation award from the Australian Geographic Society.[2] She was awarded the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science's Mueller Medal in 2001. In 2009, she was made a Member the Order of Australia (AM) for "service to botany as a researcher and through the promotion of increased understanding and awareness of the natural world".[10][11]
Publications
editBooks
edit- Australia's Prehistoric Plants & Their Environment (Methuen, 1985)
- The Greening of Gondwana – The 400 Million Year Story of Australia's Plants (Reed Books, 1986)
- The Nature of Hidden Worlds – Animals and Plants in Prehistoric Australia and New Zealand (Reed Books, 1990)
- Muttaburrasaurus: An Australian Dinosaur in Its Time and Space (Houghton Mifflin, 1990) – with Robyn Muche (Illustrator)
- Amphibians of the Triassic : Tadpole Hunting 220 Million Years Ago (Houghton Mifflin, 1990) – with Robyn Muche (Illustrator)
- Time in Our Hands – Semi-precious Gemstones: Keys to the Geological Past (Reed Books, 1991)
- After the Greening: The Browning of Australia (Houghton Mifflin, 1994), received a Eureka Prize
- Listen... Our Land is Crying (Kangaroo Press, 1997)
- Reading the Rocks (Kangaroo Press, 1999)
- Running Down: Water in a Changing Land (Kangaroo Press, 2000), which was shortlisted for a Eureka Prize[12]
- Earth Alive! From Microbes to a Living Planet (Rosenberg Publishing, 2003)[10]
Scientific papers
editrefer text.
References
edit- ^ a b c Dolsen, Brett (31 October 2013). "Eighty five years of researching life on Earth". Australian Broadcasting Company. Archived from the original on 2 June 2019. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
- ^ a b c d "2010 AG Awards Lifetime of Conservation: Mary White". Australian Geographic Society. 6 October 2010.
- ^ White, M.E. (1978). "Reproductive structures of the Glossopteridales in the plant fossil collection of the Australian Museum" (PDF). Records of the Australian Museum. 31 (12): 473–505. doi:10.3853/j.0067-1975.31.1978.223.
- ^ White, M.E. (1981). "Revision of the Talbragar Fish Bed Flora (Jurassic) of New South Wales" (PDF). Records of the Australian Museum. 33 (15): 695–721. doi:10.3853/j.0067-1975.33.1981.269.
- ^ White, M.E. (1981). "Cylomeia undulata (Burges) gen.et comb.nov., a lycopod of the Early Triassic strata of New South Wales" (PDF). Records of the Australian Museum. 33 (16): 723–734. doi:10.3853/j.0067-1975.33.1981.270.
- ^ "Renowned scientist Mary White allegedly murdered by her daughter". ABC News. 9 August 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
- ^ "Loss of a national treasure: Woman, 92, who was 'murdered by her daughter' revealed to be an award-winning scientist and author who was honoured with the Order of Australia". msn.com. 9 August 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
- ^ "Scientist Mary White's daughter, charged with her murder at aged-care facility, granted bail". ABC News. 10 August 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
- ^ "Barbara Eckersley spared jail time for killing elderly mother using 'green dream' drugs". ABC News. 20 May 2021. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
- ^ a b "The Queen's Birthday 2009 Honours List" (PDF). Governor-General of Australia. p. 108. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
- ^ "White, Mary Elizabeth". honours.pmc.gov.au. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
- ^ "Our Patron – Dr Mary E. White". Climate Change Australia.