A journey through life and learning

Staff and students crammed into the Life Sciences Theatre last month to listen to Dr Mary White talk about her incredible life of paleobotany and conservation.

At the age of 84 and after dedicating her life to science, Mary shared her passion of discovering the great mysteries involved with life and living to the captive audience.

Her journey began in Cape Town, South Africa where she was born and developed a deep interest in the world around her, declaring at the age of three that she would be a botanist just like her mother.

Mary pursued her interest in science throughout junior school and high school but didn’t care much for studying.

“School was something simply to be endured. Anything that interested me was at home with the pets and wild creatures that had to be cared for,” she said.

She developed a sheer joy of learning at Cape Town University where she was able to study botany and zoology. After marrying in 1948, Mary and her husband lived in a tent for six months while carrying out fieldwork in Africa where avoiding fires, charging rhinos and deadly cobras was a daily occurrence.

Sometime between having five children, moving to Australia and working in the Australian Museum, Mary fulfilled her passion for writing and started publishing books that document the evolution of Australia and its flora through time.

As a further legacy to nature, Mary bought Fall’s Forest Retreat and turned it into a nature reserve. She purchased joint forest and converted 73 of 81 hecatres into private property that is protected by a conservation agreement.

While she is currently looking for someone to take over this legacy, with three more books currently sitting on Mary’s computer waiting to be finished, she is showing no signs of stopping any time soon.

The Tom Farrell Institute hosted the seminar and said it was the biggest audience that a biology discipline seminar has ever attracted.