Stella Grace Maisie Carr

Stella Grace Maisie Carr

Stella Grace Maisie Carr , b. Fawcett (born February 26, 1912 in Footscray ( Melbourne ), † September 9, 1988 in Canberra ), was an Australian ecologist and botanist . Your botanical author abbreviations are “ SGMFawc. "And" SGMCarr ".

Early years and studies

Stella Grace Maisie Fawcett was born the eldest of six children to electrician George Henry Fawcett and his wife, Ethel May Fawcett (née Ward) . She attended schools in Footscray and Melbourne. Her interest in flora developed in the garden of her parents and grandmother and in the nature of the nearby salt marshes.

After finishing school, Fawcett did not go to university but worked as an assistant teacher at her old elementary school. At night she studied zoology and geology at Austral Coaching College . In 1932 she began her botany studies at the University of Melbourne , achieved her Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in 1935 and graduated in 1936 with a Master of Science (M.Sc.) with "First Class Honors".

As an assistant at the Department of Botany, Fawcett studied coral fungi and plant diseases caused by microscopic fungi and roundworms . She also participated in the McCoy Society for Field Investigation and Research's annual field trips . A severe head injury in 1940 made it impossible for her to work at the microscope, but in 1941 her fellowship for ecological studies was extended.

Working life

Fawcett's Professor John Turner arranged for her to be employed in the University Research Officer . She carried out an investigation into soil erosion in the Lake Hume catchment for the Soil Conservation Board of Victoria . Fawcett lived in Omeo and studied the vegetation of fenced-in erosion areas, erosion in ravines, and the effectiveness of introduced grasses and fertilizers for agriculture . For her work, she also had to cover long distances on horseback. She documented the environmental damage caused by intensive livestock farming and reported to the royal commission for forest grazing founded in 1946. The woman known simply as "Maisie" was called "Washaway Woman" or "Erosion Girl" by local residents.

In 1944/1945 Fawcett laid out research areas in the upper valley section of the Rocky River and in the Pretty Valley on the Bogong High Plains , as the erosion there endangered the hydropower project on the Kiewa River through siltation. Professor Turner had these areas monitored for ten years in order to finally be able to make a statement about the permissible grazing of the alpine pastures.

In 1949 Fawcett began her temporary teaching career at Turner's Melbourne Chair, teaching biology and agriculture students in plant taxonomy and ecology . In 1952 she was promoted to senior assistant. In 1959 she worked with Professor Turner on two reports on the changes in Pretty Valley, the first written documents on the effects of grazing on vegetation and soil in the highlands of Victoria .

After their marriage in 1955, Stella Grace Maisie Carr, as she was now called, carried out morphological and taxonomic studies on eucalyptus with her husband , first in Melbourne and 1959–1968 in Belfast , Northern Ireland , where her husband was appointed professor. During this time she held a position as an honorary researcher at Queen's University Belfast . In early 1968 the couple moved to Canberra , where Professor Carr taught at the newly founded university.

In 1966 and 1979, together with Professor Turner's team, SGM Carr again assessed the study areas they had laid out in the 1940s in the highlands of Victoria and reported to the Victorian Land Conservation Council in 1977 .

Together with her husband, SGM Carr published a number of books and articles on the flora of Australia, and in particular the eucalyptus. The two also described a number of new species, e.g. B. Eucalyptus roycei SGM Carr, DJCarr & ASGeorge.

Family life

On February 9, 1955 , Stella Grace Maisie Fawcett married the British botanist Dennis John Carr , who, like her, lectured at Melbourne University.

death

SGM Carr was a heavy smoker all her life . She had long been suffering from chronic bronchitis and died on September 9, 1988 at the age of 76 in Canberra.

Works (selection)

• People and Plants in Australia . Academic Press, Sydney 1981
• Plants and Man in Australia . Academic Press, Sydney 1981
• Eucalyptus I .
• Eucalyptus II. The rubber cuticle and other studies of the Corymbosae . Phytograph Press, Canberra 1987

Works on SGM Carr

• Dennis John Carr: A Book for Maisie: Celebrating the Life and Work of SGM Carr, née Fawcett, Pioneer Australian Alpine Ecologist, 1912-88 . Canberra 2005

swell

• Biography: Carr, Stella Grace Maisie (née Fawcett) (1912–1988) . Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria. Australian National Herbarium with photo
• Linden Gilbank: Carr, Stella Grace Maisie (1912-1988) . Australian Dictionary of Biography

Web links

• Author entry and list of the described plant names for Stella Grace Maisie Carr at the IPNI
• Author entry and list of the described plant names for Stella Grace Maisie Carr at the IPNI