Gott, Margaret Beth (Beth) (1922 - 2022)

Summary

Beth Gott was a plant physiologist and ethnobotanist who made outstanding contributions to Australian botany in the fields of plant physiology, plant anatomy, ethnobotany, and teaching. Her early research was on plant responses to cold and day length as these affected germination and flowering. She taught at universities in the U.S.A. and Hong Kong before joining the Botany Department at Monash University in 1980. While teaching plant physiology and physiological plant anatomy she became interested in the traditional significance and uses of indigenous Australian plants. It was in this field that she became widely acknowledges as expert. Gott wrote many papers on the use of indigenous plants in south-east Australia. She also compiled exhaustive data bases on Aboriginal food and structural plants, including their use of fire to manage the environment. With support from groups within the University she planted her first Aboriginal plant garden on the Monash campus in 1985: this is now the Aboriginal Educational Garden. In recognition of the esteem in which she was held by the Indigenous community she was referred to as "Auntie".

Details

Chronology

1943

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

1980 - 1987

Career event - Botanist,, Department of Botany, Monash University as a Botanist

1987

Life event - Retired

1987

Career position - Senior Lecturer in Botany, Monash University

1992 - 1995

Career position - Honorary Research Associate, Department of Botany and zoology, Monash University

1995 - ?

Career position - Research Fellow, Department of Botany and Zoology, Monash University

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

Books

• Gott, Beth and Conran, John, Victorian Koorie plants: some plants used by Victorian Koories for food, fibre, medicines and implements (Hamilton, Vic.: Yangennanock Women’s Group, Aboriginal Keeping Place, 1991), 71 pp. 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

• 'Vale Dr Beth Gott AM 25 July 1922 - 8 July 2022', Australasian plant conservation, 31 (2) (2022), 40-1. Details
• Gott, B., 'Ecology of root use by the Aborigines of southern Australia', Archaeology in Oceania, 17 (1982), 59-67. Details
• Gott, B., 'Murnong - Microseris scapigera: a study of a staple food of Victorian Aborigines', Australian Aboriginal studies, 2 (2-18) (1983). Details
• Gott, Beth, 'Cumbungi, Typha species, a staple Aboriginal food in southern Australia', Australian Aboriginal studies (1999), 33-50. Details
• Gott, Beth, 'Aboriginal fire management in south-eastern Australia: aims and frequency', Journal of biogeography, 32 (7) (2005), 1203-8, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2004.01233x. Details
• Gott, Beth, 'Indigenous use of plants in south-eastern Australia', Telopea, 12 (2) (2008), 215-26, https://doi.org/telopea20085811. Details
• Gott, Beth, 'Indigenous burning and the evolution of ecosystem biodiversity', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 124 (1) (20122), 56-60, https://doi.org/10.1071/RS12065. Details
• 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