Person
Marsh, Loisette Matilda (1929 - 2021)
AM
- Born
- 1929
Mill Bay, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada - Died
- 20 May 2021
Cottesloe, Western Australia, Australia - Occupation
- Marine zoologist and Museum curator
Summary
Loisette Marsh was one of Australia's few echinoderm taxonomists. After graduate studies on the zonation of limestone rock platforms near Perth, and eight years on Norfolk Island and Fiji (during which time she collected echiniderms for Elizabeth Pope at the Australian Museum), she joined the Western Australian Museum with responsibility for the cnidarian and echinoderm collections. She was a central figure in collecting, cataloging and expanding the Western Australian Museum's coral collection. From 1978 Marsh headed the Marine Invertebrate Zoology Department, later part of the Department of Aquatic Zoology. Her research involved survey dives and cruises, and expeditions to reefs, along the Western Australian coast, and the discovery of tropical species being brought down by (then unknown) Leeuwin Current. She played a large role in the protection of Ningaloo Reef. Her publications include Sea-stingers - and other venomous and poisonous marine invertebrates of Western Australia (1986, with Shirley M. Slack-Smith) and, the result of 60 years of research, A field guide to the shallow water seastars of Australia (2020).
Details
Chronology
- 1956
- Education - Master of Arts (MA), University of Western Australia
- 1960 - 1963
- Life event - On Norfolk Island
- 1963 - 1968
- Life event - In Fiji
- 1968 - 1970
- Career position - Demonstrator (part-time), University of Western Australia
- 1969 - 2009
- Career position - Member, Australian Marine Sciences Association
- 1970 - 1978
- Career position - Museum assistant (molluscs), Western Australian Museum
- 1978 - 1988
- Career position - Curator, Marine Invertebrate Zoology Department, Western Australian Museum
- 1988 - 1993
- Career position - Curator of marine invertebrates, Department of Aquatic Zoology, Western Australian Museum
- 2010
- Award - Certificate of Commendation, Whitley Awards, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, for Field guide to sea stingers and other venomous and poisonous marine invertebrates of Western Australia
- 2010 - 2021
- Award - Honorary Life Member, Australian Marine Sciences Association
- 2021
- Award - Member of the Order of Australia (AM) (posthumous) for significant service to marine science and zoology
- 2021
- Award - Certificate of Commendation, Whitley Awards, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, for A field guide to the shallow water seastars of Australia
Related entries
Archival resources
Western Australian Museum
- Loisette M. Marsh - Records, 1972 - 1982; Western Australian Museum. Details
Published resources
Books
- Marsh, Loisette M.; and Fromont, Jane, Field guide to shallow water seastars of Australia (Welshpool, W.A.: Western Australian Museum, 2020), 543 pp. Details
- Marsh, Loisette M.; and Slack-Smith, Shirley, Sea-stingers - and other venomous and poisonous marine invertebrates of Western Australia (Perth: Western Australian Museum, 1986), 133 pp. Details
Journal Articles
- Hutchings, Pat; Brown, Barbara E.; Byrne, Maria; Hamylton, Sarah; and Spencer, Tom, 'The remarkable contributions of ten outstanding women to Australian coral reef science', Historical Records of Australian Science, 34 (1) (2023), 19-35. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR22009. Details
- Jones, Diana, 'Loisette Marsh AM 1 October 1928 - 21 May 2021', Western Australian naturalist, 32 (2) (2021), 87-100. Details
- Marsh, L. M.; Fromont, J. and Salotti, M., 'A catalogue of recent echinoderm type specimens in the Western Australian Museum, Perth', Records of the Western Australian Museum, 19 (1999), 391-411. Details
- Marsh, Loisette, '40 year Honorary Membership', Australian marine science bulletin, 179 (2009), 4-5. Details
- Sampey, Alison; and Marsh, Loisette M., 'Kimberley marine biota: historical data - echinoderms', Records of the Western Australiam Museum, Supp. 84 (2015), 207-46. Details
- Veron, J. E. N.; and Marsh, L. M., 'Hermatypic corals of Western Australia: records and annotated species list', Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supp. 29 (1988), 1-136. Details
Resources
- 'Marsh, Loisette M', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-603225. Details
Resource Sections
- Heathcote, Angela, '91-year-old Australian seastar expert Loisette Marsh publishes magnum opus and reflects on an intrepid career', 2020. https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/science-environment/2020/06/91-year-old-australian-seastar-expert-loisette-marsh-publishes-magnum-opus-and-reflects-on-an-intrepid-career/. Details
Gavan McCarthy [P004098] and Helen Cohn
Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 6 October 2023
- Foundation Supporter - Committee to Review Australian Studies in Tertiary Education