Person

Weste, Gretna Margaret (1917 - 2006)

AM

Born
5 September 1917
Dumfries, Scotland
Died
September 2006
Tasmania, Australia
Occupation
Botanist

Summary

Gretna Weste worked in the School of Botany at the University of Melbourne 1961-1982, retiring as Reader. She was the foremost authority in Australia on the biological behaviour of the cinnamon fungus, Phytophthora cinnamoni, which travels in disturbed soil and was responsible for the 'dieback' disease in forests of Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia.

Details

Chronology

1938
Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc) completed at the University of Melbourne
1939
Education - Master of Science (MSc) completed at the University of Melbourne
1939 - 1941
Career position - Plant Pathologist at the Forests Commission of Victoria
1955 - 1960
Career position - Biology Teacher at Firbank Church of England Girls' Grammar School
1961 - 1982
Career position - Co-ordinator and Reader in Botany at the University of Melbourne (Assistant Lecturer 1965-74, Senior Lecturer 1974-80, Reader 1980-82)
1968
Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) completed at the University of Melbourne
1982 -
Career position - Senior Associate in the School of Botany at the University of Melbourne
1983
Education - Doctor of Science (DSc) received from the University of Melbourne
1989
Award - Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
1995
Award - Australasian Plant Pathology Society Medal received
1999 - 2006
Career position - President, Australasian Mycological Society

Related Corporate Bodies

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

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

Journal Articles

  • Gillbank, Linden, 'Dr Gretna Margaret Weste AM, 5 September 1917 - 30 August 2006', The Victorian naturalist, 124 (3) (2007), 183-7. Details
  • Simpson, J. A.; Smith, I. W. and Grgurinovic, Cheryl, 'Vale Dr Gretna Weste AM (1917 - 2006)', Australasian mycologist, 25 (3) (2006), 90-1. Details
  • Weste, G. M., 'A long and varied fungal foray', Australasian Plant Pathology, 34 (2005), 433-7. Details

Resources

Resource Sections

Theses

  • Carey, Jane, 'Departing from their sphere: Australian women and science, 1880-1960', PhD thesis, The University of Melbourne, 2003, 356 pp. Details

Rosanne Walker

EOAS ID: biogs/P004131b.htm

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