Biographical entry Ducker, Sophie Charlotte (1909 - 2004)

Summary

Sophie Ducker was a renowned botanist and Australian botanical historian. Born in Germany, Ducker fled many war zones to eventually settle in Australia around 1941. She joined the University of Melbourne's Botany Department as a Technical Assistant in 1944, retiring as a senior lecturer in Botany in 1974. She was particularly interested in phycology - the study of seaweed, and studying the many 18th and 19th century explorers, botanists and artists who first described Australian. Ducker has an annual postgraduate scholarship endowed in her name.

Details

Ducker began her botanical studies at the Universities of Geneva and Stuttgart, but stopped in 1931 when she married Dr Johann Friedrich Ducker, executive officer of Germany's Chamber of Commerce. Soon afterwards she had her only child, a son. Due to the out-beak of war, Ducker and her family were forced to leave Germany and in 1938 they settled in Tehran, Persia (now Iran). She became trapped in Rhodesia for a year in 1939 as a result of World War II and with much grit and determination, eventually made her way back to Tehran to meet up with her family. Then in 1941, war once again forced the Duckers to flee their home and they ended up in Australia.

Now aged 35, Ducker was still determined to work in the field of botany. In 1944 she worked as a research assistant for Dr Ethel McLennan at The University of Melbourne's botany school, studying the relatively new field of the anti-biotic properties of fungi and soil microorganisms. Ducker also completed (part-time) her BSc and Masters degrees during this time. She went on to specialize in marine botany, especially algae, and initiated the 1969 and 1973 studies of Port Phillip Bay. Ducker also became a competent lecturer, supervisor and historian. After her 'official' retirement in 1974, Sophie Ducker continued her research which expanded to include the study of flowering marine plants, and researching the histories of the earliest recorders of Australia's flora, especially the seaweeds. Sophie Ducker donated around 1200 books on botany, including one written by St Augustine in 1466, to the University of Melbourne's Baillieu Library.

Events

1920s

Education - Completed junior schooling at Cheltenham Ladies College. Location: England

1931 -

Life event - Married Dr Johann Friedrich Ducker. Location: Hamburg

1938

Life event - Moved to Persia (Iran) with her husband and son. Location: Tehran

1945 - 1957

Career position - Research Assistant at the University of Melbourne

1952

Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc) completed at the University of Melbourne

1957 - 1961

Career position - Lecturer in Botany at the University of Melbourne

1961 - 1972

Career position - Senior Lecturer at the University of Melbourne

1973

Career position - Reader at the University of Melbourne

1974 -

Career position - Senior Research Associate at the University of Melbourne

1978

Education - Doctor of Science (DSc) received from the University of Melbourne

1986 - 2004

Career position - Member of the Melbourne University Committee of Convocation

1988

Career position - The Contented Botanist was published

1993

Education - Honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) received from the University of Melbourne

1996

Award - ANZAAS Mueller Medal received (Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science)

Archival resources

The University of Melbourne Archives

• Sophie Charlotte Ducker - Records, 1960 - 1988; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details

Published resources

Book Sections

• Ducker, Sophic C., 'Lucas, Arthur Henry Shakespeare (1853-1936), School Master and Biologist', in Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle (eds), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 10, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1986, pp. 163-164. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100159b.htm. Details
• Ducker, Sophie C., 'Harvey, William Henry (1811-1866), botanist', in Douglas Pike (ed.), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 4, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1972, pp. 357-358. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A040406b.htm. Details
• Ducker, Sophie C., 'Ethel McLennan (1891-1983) botanist', in Heather Radi (ed.), 200 Australian Women: A Redress Anthology, Women's Redress Press Inc, Sydney, 1988. Details
• Jenkin, John; Ducker, Sophie C., 'Wood, Edward James Ferguson (1904-1972), Marine Microbiologist', in John Ritchie and Diane Langmore (eds), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 16, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 2002, p. 577. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A160688b.htm. Details

Conference Papers

• Allen, Nessy, 'Cross-National Careers: the Interchange of Women Scientists to and From Australia', in Don Grant and Graham Seal (eds), Australia in the world: perceptions and possibilities: papers from the Outside Images of Australia Conference, Perth, 1992, Black Swan Press, Perth, 1992. Details
• Ducker, Sophie C., 'Early Austrian Influence on Australian Botany', in Short, P.S. (ed.), History of Systematic Botany in Australasia: Proceedings of a Symposium Held at the University of Melbourne, 25-27 May 1988, Australian Systematic Botany Society, Melbourne, 1990, pp. 297-304. Details

Edited Books

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

Journal Articles

• Ashton, D. H.; Ducker, S. C., 'John Stewart Turner 1908-1991', Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 9, no. 3, 1993, pp. 278-290. Also available at http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/HR9930930278.htm. Details
• Ducker, Sophie C., 'History of Australian Phycology: the significance of early French exploration', Brunonia, vol. 2, no. 1, 1980, pp. 19-42. Details
• Ducker, Sophie C., 'Port Phillip Heads: a phycological saga', Phycologia, vol. 22, 1983, pp. 431-443. Details
• Ducker, Sophie C., 'An Austrian Gentleman Gardener in the Swan River Colony', Australian Garden Journal, vol. 3, 1984, pp. 94-96. Details
• Ducker, Sophie C., 'James Fleming: the First Gardener on the River Yarra, Victoria', Archives of Natural History, vol. 13, 1986, pp. 123-140. Details
• Ducker, Sophie C., 'W. H. Harvey in New South Wales: Letters by the Phycologist W. H. Harvey, Written in New South Wales in 1855', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, vol. 115, 1995, pp. 213-223. Details
• Maroske, Sara, 'Sophie Ducker's Contribution to the History of Botany', Australian Systematic Botany Society Newsletter, vol. 120, 2004, pp. 20-25. Details
• May, Tom W., 'Sophie Charlotte Ducker: a Mycological Appreciation', Australasian Mycologist, vol. 23, 2004, pp. 108-9. Details

Reviews

• Ducker, Sophie C., review of Rice, Tony, Voyages of Discovery: Three Centuries of Natural History Exploration (2000), Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 13, no. 3, 2001, pp. 363-364. Also available at http://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/109/issue/3265.htm. Details
• Ducker, Sophie C., review of Desmond, Ray, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, Traveller and Plant Collector (1999), Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 13, no. 3, 2001, pp. 359-361. Also available at http://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/109/issue/3265.htm. Details
• Ducker, Sophie C., review of Stearn, William T., John Lindley, 1799-1865, Gardener and Pioneer Orchidologist (1999), Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 13, no. 3, 2001, pp. 359-361. Also available at http://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/109/issue/3265.htm. Details
• Ducker, Sophie C., review of Moyal, Ann, Platypus: the Extraordinary Story of How a Curious Creature Baffled the World (2001), Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 13, no. 4, 2001, p. 532. Also available at http://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/109/issue/3266.htm. Details

Theses

• Ducker, Sophie, 'Studies in Marine Botany: Collected Papers', DSc thesis, University of Melbourne, 1978. Details

Online Resources

• National Library of Australia, 'Ducker, S C', Trove, National Library of Australia and the Australian National Maritime Museum Darling Harbour, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-461634. Details