Mawson, Patricia Marietje (1915 - 1999)

Summary

Patricia Mawson was recognised as one of Australia's foremost experts on parasitic helminths. Although originally intending to be a veterinarian, after graduating with a science degree she embarked on a masters degree where her research focussed on nematode parasites of Australian marsupials. Her continued work in this field demonstrated for the first time the enormous diversity of this fauna and laid the foundation for later studies. In subsequent research Mawson investigated parasitic helminths of birds, reptiles, fish and other animals. She published over 100 papers, many under her maiden name, including with colleagues T. Harvey Johnston (her MSc supervisor), Stanley Edmonds and Madeline Angel. More than a dozen species and at least three genera of parasitic worms have been named in Mawson's honour. For many years she worked at the University of Adelaide, usually in a part-time capacity after her marriage, and retired in 1980. Mawson was actively engaged in the broader scientific community in Adelaide. She was a Member of the Handbooks Committee for the Handbooks of the Flora and Fauna of South Australia for over 20 years, and a Member of the Council of the Royal Society of South Australia from 1976 to 1992. Her interest in conservation was reflected in her membership of the National Parks and Wildlife Advisory Council of South Australia and the Nature Conservation Society of South Australia (of which she was Vice-President). In retirement Mawson was for 15 years Honorary Curator of Helminths at the South Australian Museum, ill-health causing her to relinquish this position in 1995. With the assistance of Madeline Angel and Stan Edmonds, she enlarged the Museum's helminth collection from what was largely a collection of type specimens deposited by Johnston and his students, into Australia's national collection of helminth parasites. The collection, which is of international significance, is now known as the Australian Helminthological Collection. Mawson was the daughter of Douglas Mawson, Antarctic explorer and Professor of Geology at the University of Adelaide.

Details

Chronology

1936

Education - BSc, University of Adelaide

1938

Education - MSc, University of Adelaide

1941 - 1945

Career position - Demonstrator in zoology, and Research Assistant to T. Harvey Johnston, University of Adelaide

1946 - 1947

Career position - Lecturer in zoology, University of Adelaide

1948 - 1950

Career position - Honorary research assistant in zoology, University of Adelaide

1951 - 1955

Career position - Junior research fellow, zoology, University of Adelaide

1954

Award - Royal Society and Nuffield Foundation Commonwealth Bursary, Institute of Parasitology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

1956 - 1963

Career position - Research Fellow in zoology, University of Adelaide

1963

Career position - Foundation Member, Nature Conservation Society of South Australia

1964 - 1980

Career position - Technical Officer in zoology, University of Adelaide

1967 - 1972

Career position - Member, National Parks Commission, South Australia

1968 - 1975

Career position - Vice-President, Nature Conservation Society of South Australia

1972 - 1978

Career position - Member, National Parks and Wildlife Advisory Council, South Australia

1976 - 1991

Career position - Member of Council, Royal Society of South Australia

1976 - 1999

Award - Fellow, Australian Society for Parasitology

1980

Life event - Retired

1980 - 1995

Career position - Honorary Curator of Helminths, South Australian Museum

1994

Award - Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for service to the science of zoology in both research and teaching, and to the development of the Australian Helminthological Collection

2024

Award - Inducted into the SA Environment Hall of Fame

Related entries

Published resources

Journal Articles

• Angel, L. Madeline and Mawson, Patricia M., 'Helminths from some lizards mainly from South Australia', Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 92 (1968), 59-72. Details
• Bain, Odile and Mawson, Patricia M., 'On some oviparous filarial nematodes mainly from Australian birds', Records of the South Australian Museum, 18 (1) (1981), 265-84. Details
• Beveridge, I. and Mawson, P. M., 'A taxonomic revision of the genera Macropostrongyloides Yamaguti and Paramacrostrongylus Johnston & Mawson (Nematoda, Trichonematidae) from Australian marsupials', Australian journal of zoology, 26 (4) (1978), 763-87. https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO9780763. Details
• Beveridge, Ian, 'Obituary: Patricia Marietje Thomas, BSc, MSc, AO 12.14.1915 - 16.xii.1999', Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 124 (2000), 57-60. Details
• Johnston, T. H. and Mawson, Patricia M., 'Some ascarid nematodes from Australian marine fish', Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 67 (1942), 20-35. Details
• Johnston, T. Harvey and Mawson, P. M., 'Strongyle nematodes from Central Australian kangaroos and wallabies', Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 62 (1938), 263-86. Details
• Mawson, P. M., 'Trichostrongyles from rodents in Queensland, with comments on the genus Longistriata (Nematoda: Heligmosomatidae)', Australian journal of zoology, 9 (5) (1961), 791-826. https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO9610791. Details
• Mawson, Patricia M., 'Parasitic Nematoda collected by the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition: Heard Island and Macquarie Island 1948 - 1951', Parasitology 43(3/4):291-7, 43 (3) (1953), 291-7. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031182000018667. Details
• Mawson, Patricia M., 'Some Nematoda (Strongylina and Oxyurina) from kangaroos (Macropus spp.) from eastern Australia', Parasitology, 54 (2) (1964), 237-62. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031182000067895. Details
• Mawson, Patricia M., ' Pearson Island Expedition 1969, 8: helminths', Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 95 (1971), 169-83. Details
• Mawson, Patricia M., 'The genus Microtetrameres Travassos (Nematoda, Spirurida) in Australian birds', Records of the South Australian Museum, 17 (1) (1977), 239-59. Details
• Mawson, Patricia M., Angel, L. Madeline and Edmonds, Stanley Joe, 'A check list of helminths from Australian birds', Records of the South Australian Museum, 19 (1) (1986), 1-107. Details
• McArthur, Archie, 'Obituary: Patricia Marietje Thomas BSc, MSc, AO 13 April 1915 - 16 December 1999', Records of the South Australian Museum, 34 (1) (2001), 53-6. Details
• Pichelin, S., Thomas, P. M., and Hutchinson, M. N., 'A checklist of helminth parasites of Australian reptiles', Records of the South Australian Museum, monograph series, 5 (1999), 1-61. Details
• Schuurmans Stekhoven, J. H. and Mawson, Patricia M., ' On some free-living marine nematodes from Kerguelen Island', Journal of helminthology, 29 (1) (1955), 87-104. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022149X00024275. Details

Resources

• SA Environment Hall of Fame, Conservation Council SA, Adelaide, 2024. https://www.saenvironmentawards.org.au/hall_of_fame. Details

Resource Sections

• Antonello, Alessandro, 'Thomas, Patricia Marietje (Pat) (1915 - 1999)', in Australian dictionary of biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, Canberra, 2023. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/thomas-patricia-marietje-pat-32858/text40924. Details

Theses

• Mawson, Patricia M., 'Some studies in Australian nematoda', M.Sc., University of Adelaide, 1938. Details