Person

Blackwood, Margaret (1909 - 1986)

DBE

Born
26 April 1909
South Yarra, Victoria, Australia
Died
1 June 1986
East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Academic, Botanist and Geneticist

Summary

Dame Margaret Blackwood was Lecturer in Botany after World War II and was Dean of Women at the Mildura Branch of the University of Melbourne. She was at Cambridge 1948-1950 before returning to Melbourne where she was a Senior Lecturer until her retirement in 1975.

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Details

Chronology

1938
Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of Melbourne
1939
Education - Master of Science (MSc), University of Melbourne
1939 - 1941
Career position - Caroline Kay Research Scholar in Plant Cytology and Genetics
1941 - 1946
Military service - Second World War. Wing Officer, Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF)
1946 - 1948
Career position - Lecturer in Botany and Dean of Women at the Mildura Branch of the University of Melbourne
1948 - 1950
Career position - Newnham College at Cambridge
1951 - 1975
Career position - Senior Lecturer, University of Melbourne
1954
Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Cambridge
1957 - 1958
Career position - Australian and New Zealand Chairman of Soroptimist International Association
1958 - 1959
Award - Carnegie travelling scholarship, studied at University of Wisconsin
1964
Award - Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) - Senior Botany Lecturer at Melbourne University
1975
Life event - Retired
1975 - 1983
Career position - Member of Council, University of Melbourne
1981
Award - Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) - In recognition of service to the education
1981 - 1983
Career position - Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Melbourne
1983
Award - Doctor of Laws (LLD), honoris causa, University of Melbourne

Related Corporate Bodies

Archival resources

The University of Melbourne Archives

  • Margaret Blackwood - Records, 1946 - 1984; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

  • McCarthy, Gavan; Morgan, Helen; Smith, Ailie; van den Bosch, Alan, Where are the Women in Australian Science?, Exhibition of the Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, First published 2003 with lists updated regularly edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, 2003, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/wisa/wisa.html. Details

Books

  • Carey, Jane, Women and Science at the University of Melbourne: Reflections on the Career of Dame Margaret Blackwood (Melbourne: University of Melbourne, History of the University Project, 1996), 24 pp. Details

Book Sections

  • Carey, Jane, 'Blackwood, Dame Margaret (1909-1986), botanist and geneticist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 17: 1981 - 1990 A-K, Diane Langmore, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2007), pp. 110-111. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/blackwood-dame-margaret-12218. Details
  • Falk, Barbara, 'Margaret Blackwood (1909-1986) botanist' in 200 Australian Women: A Redress Anthology, Heather Radi, ed. (Sydney: Women's Redress Press Inc, 1988). Details

Edited Books

  • Radi, H. ed., 200 Australian Women: a Redress Anthology (Sydney: Women's Redress Press Inc, 1988), 268 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • Carey, Jane, 'Margaret Blackwood (1909-1986)', Australasian Science, 20 (3) (1999), 46. Details

Resources

Resource Sections

Theses

  • Carey, Jane, 'Barrier Unknown? Margaret Blackwood's Life in Science', BAHons thesis, Department of History, University of Melbourne, 1995. Details
  • Carey, Jane, 'Departing from their sphere: Australian women and science, 1880-1960', PhD thesis, The University of Melbourne, 2003, 356 pp. Details

See also

  • Alexander, John A. ed., Who's who in Australia 1944 (Melbourne, Victoria: The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd, 1944), 906 pp. Details
  • Kelly, Farley, 'Learning and Teaching Science: Women Making Careers 1890-1920' in On the Edge of Discovery: Australian Women in Science, Farley Kelly, ed. (Melbourne: Text Publishing Company, 1993), pp. 35-75. Details
  • McCann, D. A.; and Batterham, P., 'Australian Genetics: a Brief History', Genetica, 90 (2-3) (1993), 81-114. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01435033. Details

Gavan McCarthy; Ken McInnes

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 3 September 2024

EOAS ID: biogs/P002194b.htm

This Edition: 2026 February - 1926 Centenaries
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