Person

Harslett, Morwenna Jean (Jean) (1925 - 2015)

Born
6 September 1925
Stanthorpe, Queensland, Australia
Died
22 May 2015
Stanthorpe, Queenland, Australia
Occupation
Natural history collector and Historian

Summary

Jean Harslett is a nationally recognised historian and collector. She has spent most of her time collecting flora and fauna of the Glen Aplin district in Queensland and writing about the regions history. Her father Alex Gemmell was a well known insect collector too and after his death Harslett took over his vast collection which contained many jewel beetles. She also developed a passion for jewel beetles as well as butterflies, birds and native orchids. Her knowledge of the plant and animal life in the Glen Aplin region is unsurpassed. Harslett's specimens can be found in entomological collections around Australia including with the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation).

Jean Harslett was a founder of the Stanthorpe Field Naturalist's Club, a prominent conservationist and a local history expert having written widely on all three areas. In 2004 on 7 March the Jean Harslett Research Centre was opened at the Stanthorpe & District Historical Museum in Queensland. The centre houses over 16,000 photographs of her photographs as well as research into local families' histories and the development of the region.

Details

Chronology

1985
Award - British Empire Award received
1985
Career position - Paul Harris Fellow (Rotary International)
1994 -
Award - Fellow, Royal Historical Society of Queensland
1995
Award - Queensland Naturalist Award received
2002 -
Award - Honorary Life Membership of Queensland Entomological Society

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

  • McKay, Judith ed., Brilliant Careers: Women Collectors and Illustrators in Queensland (Brisbane: Queensland Museum, 1997), 80 pp. Details

Resources

Annette Alafaci

EOAS ID: biogs/P004770b.htm

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"... the rengitj, as a visible mark or imprint on the land, is characterised as a place of origin, the repository of all names, as well as a kind of mapped visual expression of the connection between people and places which is to be carried out in the temporal sequence of the journey." Fanca Tamisari (1998) 'Body, Vision and Movement: In the footprints of the ancestors'. Oceania 68(4) p260