Gott, Margaret (Beth) (1922 - 2022)

Summary

Beth Gott is a plant physiologist and ethnobotanist who is an Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Biological Sciences, Monash University. She taught at universities in the U.S.A. and Hong Kong before joining Monash University in the early 1980s. Her particular area of interest and expertise is the traditional significance and uses of indigenous Australian plants. Gott has written many papers on the use of indigenous plants in south-east Australia, and was the first to develop a comprehensive database of Aboriginal plant food knowledge. She planted her first Aboriginal plant garden on he Monash campus in 1985.

Details

Chronology

1943

Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc(Hons)), University of Melbourne

c. 1980

Career event - Began working for Monash University as a Botanist

2017

Award - Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to the biological sciences as an ethnobotanist specialising in the use of native plants by indigenous people

Related entries

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

Articles

• '60 Seconds with Beth Gott', Monash Green News, http://www.fsd.monash.edu.au/environmental-sustainability/newsletter/60-seconds-beth-gott-honorary-research-fellow-school. Details

Book Sections

• Farley, Simon, 'Flora and failure: A history of plants and people on the Parkville campus' in Dhoombak goobgoowana: a history of Indigenous Australia and the University of Melbourne, Ross L. Jones, James Waghorne and Marcia Langton, eds (Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 2024), pp. 6-21, https://www.mup.com.au/books/dhoombak-goobgoowana-paperback-softback. Details

Journal Articles

• Gott, Beth, Russell, Lynette and Rhea, Zane Ma, 'The world and work of Beth Gott: an interview', Artefact, 35 (2012), 10-6. Details
• Hallam, Neil D.; and Williams, Richard J., 'Vale Beth Gott, AM, MSc (Melb), PhD (Lond.) plant physiologist, ethnobotanist, teacher (25 July 1922 to 8 July 2022)', Australian journal of botany, 70 (5) (2022), 396-7. https://doi,org/10.1071/BT22086. Details
• Rhea, Zane Ma and Russell, Lynette, 'Introduction: understanding Koorie plant knowledge through the ethnobotanic lens. A tribute to Beth Gott', ARTEFACT, 35 (2012), 3-9. Details

Newspaper Articles

• Farouque, F., 'For a new generation of Australian women, it's the same old story', The Age (2004), 6. http://newsstore.fairfax.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac?docID=AGE040731R37F66QP3CH. Details

Resources

• 'Gott, Margaret (Beth) (1922-)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1499583. Details

Reviews

• Joyce, E. Bernie and McCann, Douglas A., Burke and Wills: the Scientific Legacy of the Victorian Exploring Expedition (2011)
  Gott, Beth, Australian Systematic Botany Society Newsletter, 150, (2012), 57-9. Details

See also

• Bostock, Helen, 'Pioneering female quaternarists of Australasia', Quaternary Australia, 38 (2) (2021), 18-26. Details
• Hooker, Claire, Irresistible Forces: Australian Women in Science (Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 2004), 215 pp. Details
• Jones, Ross L.; Farley, Simon, 'Indigenous knowledge' in Dhoombak goobgoowana: a history of Indigenous Australia and the University of Melbourne - Volume 1: The Truth, Ross L. Jones, James Waghorne and Marcia Langton, eds (Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 2024), pp. 311-321, https://www.mup.com.au/books/dhoombak-goobgoowana-paperback-softback. Details