Person

Weste, Gretna Margaret (1917 - 2006)

AM

Born
5 September 1917
Dumfries, Scotland
Died
September 2006
Kingston Beach, Tasmania, Australia
Occupation
Botanist
Alternative Names
  • Parkin, Gretna Margaret (maiden name)

Summary

Gretna Weste worked in the School of Botany at the University of Melbourne 1961-1982, retiring as Reader. She was the foremost authority in Australia on the biological behaviour of the cinnamon fungus, Phytophthora cinnamoni, which travels in disturbed soil and was responsible for the 'dieback' disease in forests of Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia.

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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 - Plant Pathologist at the Forests Commission of Victoria
1955 - 1960
Career position - Biology Teacher at Firbank Church of England Girls' Grammar School
1961 - 1982
Career position - Co-ordinator and Reader in Botany, University of Melbourne (Assistant Lecturer 1965-74, Senior Lecturer 1974-80, Reader 1980-82)
1968
Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Melbourne
1982 -
Career position - Senior Associate in the School of Botany, University of Melbourne
1983
Career position - Chair, Organising Committee, 4th International Congress of Plant Pathology, Melbourne
1983
Award - Daniel McAlpine Lecturer, Australasian Plant Pathology Society
1983
Education - Doctor of Science (DSc), University of Melbourne
1989
Award - Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
1992 - 2006
Award - Honorary Member, Australasian Plant Pathology Society
1999 - 2006
Career position - President, Australasian Mycological Society

Related Corporate Bodies

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 regulary edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, 2003, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/wisa/wisa.html. Details

Edited Books

  • Clifford, Harold T. ed., Cambridge - Castlemaine: a Tribute to John Stewart Turner on the Occasion of his 80th Birthday (St Lucia: Botany Department, University of Queensland, 1988), 71 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • Allen, Nessy, 'Preservation of native forests: the contribution of an Australian woman scientist [Gretna Margaret Weste]', Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, 86 (2) (2000), 176-96. Details
  • Gillbank, Linden, 'Dr Gretna Margaret Weste AM, 5 September 1917 - 30 August 2006', The Victorian naturalist, 124 (3) (2007), 183-7. Details
  • Guest, David I., '"Where does a female plant pathologist work?": Gretna Weste (née Parkin) AM DSc', Historical records of Australian science, 35 (2) (2024), 235-40. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR24008. Details
  • Simpson, J. A.; Smith, I. W. and Grgurinovic, Cheryl, 'Vale Dr Gretna Weste AM (1917 - 2006)', Australasian mycologist, 25 (3) (2006), 90-1. Details
  • Weste, G., 'The dieback cycle in Victorian forests: a 30 year study of changes caused by Phytophthora cinnamomi in Victorian open forests, woodlands and heathlands', Australasian plant pathology, 32 (2003), 247-56. Details
  • Weste, G. and Law, C., 'Invasion of native forest by Phytophthora cinnamomi, III: threat to the National Park, Wilson's Promontory, Victoria', Australian journal of botany, 21 (1973), 31-51. https://doi.org/10.1071/BT9730031. Details
  • Weste, G. and Marks, G. C., 'The biology of Phytophthora cinnamomi in Australasian forests', Annual review of phytopathology, 25 (1987), 207-29. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.py.25.090187.001231. Details
  • Weste, G. M., 'A long and varied fungal foray', Australasian Plant Pathology, 34 (2005), 433-7. Details
  • Weste, G. M. and Taylor, P., 'Invasion of native forest by Phytophthora cinnamomi, I: Brisbane Ranges, Victoria', Australian journal of botany, 19 (1971), 281-94. https://doi.org/10.1071/BT9710281. Details
  • Weste, Gretna, Brown, Kenneth, Kennedy, Jill and Walshe, Terry, 'Phytophthora cinnamomi infestation - a 24 year study of vegetation change in forests and woodlands of the Grampians, Western Victoria', Australian journal of botany, 50 (2) (2002), 247-74. https://doi.org/10.1071/BT01073. Details

Resources

Resource Sections

Theses

  • Carey, Jane, 'Departing from their sphere: Australian women and science, 1880-1960', PhD thesis, The University of Melbourne, 2003, 356 pp. Details

Rosanne Walker

Created: 15 August 2002, Last modified: 6 August 2024

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