Person

Main, Barbara York (1929 - 2019)

OAM

Born
27 January 1929
Kellerberrin, Western Australia, Australia
Died
14 May 2019
Occupation
Arachnologist

Summary

Barbara Main is one of Australia's foremost experts on the taxonomy, biogeography and ecology of spiders, particularly trapdoors and funnelwebs. Her research included studies of spider longevity and arachnids as monitors of habitat, with implications for ecosystem management. Main collected specimens across Australia and made extensive studies of those in overseas collections. In the 1990s she was the Australian representative of the Centre International Documentation de Arachnologique. Her publications included works on the changing ecology of the Western Australian wheatbelt, the country in which she grew up. Main has been a member of the editorial boards of both the Fauna of Australia and the Zoological catalogue of Australia. The genera Bymainiella and Mainosa (spiders), and Barbarella (pseudoscorpion) were named in her honour.

Details

Chronology

1947 -
Career position - Member, Western Australian Naturalists Club
1950
Education - BSc, University of Western Australia
1951
Career position - Assistant Lecturer, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
1953 -
Career position - Member, Royal Society of Western Australia
1956
Education - PhD, University of Western Australia
1958
Award - Alice Hamilton Fellowship, International Federation of University Women
1965 -
Career position - Member, Australian Entomological Society
1979 - 1996
Career position - Honorary Lecturer in Zoology (later Senior Honorary Research Fellow), University of Western Australia
1982 - 1996
Career position - Trustee, Western Australian Museum
1984 - 1989
Career position - Member, Advisory Committee, Australian Biological Resources Study
1996 -
Career position - Adjunct Professor, School of Animal Biology, University of Western Australia
1998 -
Career position - Member, Advisory Panel, International Centre for Landscape and Language, Edith Cowan University
2001 -
Award - Honorary Member, International Society of Arachnology
2002
Award - Butler Medal for Natural History Research
2011
Award - Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to science and conservation as a researcher and educator in the field of arachnology, and to the community of Western Australia
2018
Award - Medal of the Royal Society of Western Australia

Related Awards

Related Corporate Bodies

Published resources

Journal Articles

  • Harvey, Mark, 'Professor Barbara York Main BSc, PhD (UWA), OAM 27th January 1929 - 14th May 2019', Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 102 (2019), 28-9. Details
  • Hodgkin, Ernest P., 'Barbara York Main', Records of the Western Australian Museum, supplement, 52 (1995), vii-xv. Details
  • Hughes-D'Aeth, T., 'Islands of yesterday: the ecological writing of Barbara York Main', Westerly, 53 (2008), 12-26. Details
  • Mason, Leanda, 'Barbara York Main OAM 27 January 1929 - 14 May 2019', Western Australian naturallist, 32 (1) (2021), 35-40. Details
  • Mason, Leanda D.; and Kennedy, Patricia L., 'Tribute to Dr Barbara York Main OAM, arachnologist and nature writer (27 January 1929 to 14 May 2019)', Pacific conservation biology, 26 (2020), iii-vi, https://doi.org/10.1071/PC20006. Details
  • Mason, Leanda; and Kennedy, Patricia, 'Tribute to Dr Barbara York Main', Australasian arachnology, 89 (2020), 50-1. Details

Resources

See also

Helen Cohn

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