Mary Elizabeth White

Mary Elizabeth White (5 January 1926 – 5 August 2018) was an Australian paleobotanist and author.She was born in South Africa, grew up in southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and received a masters degree in paleobotany from the University of Cape Town. She married Bill White, a geologist; the couple came to Australia in 1955. White worked as a consultant for the Bureau of Mineral Resources in Canberra until the 1980s; she also consulted on a part-time basis for mining companies. In 1975, she was hired as a research associate for the Australian Museum; she established a collection of 12,000 specimens of plant fossils for the museum.White began writing large format, well illustrated science books after her husband died in 1981. She was the author of:White received honorary doctorates from four Australian Universities, plus the Riversleigh medal in 1999 for excellence in promoting understanding of Australian prehistory. In 2010, she received a Lifetime of Conservation award from the Australian Geographic Society. She was awarded the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Sciences Mueller Medal in 2001. In 2009, she was made a Member the Order of Australia (AM) for service to botany as a researcher and through the promotion of increased understanding and awareness of the natural world.In 2003, White purchased a large forested property, Falls Forest Retreat, approximately halfway between Taree and Port Macquarie in New South Wales; she established a covenant to protect the land and preserve its biodiversity. In 2013 she sold the property but with the covenant it can never be disturbed.In her later years White suffered from vascular dementia and a stroke and went to live with her daughter and her daughters husband between in Bundanoon, New South Wales between 2014 and 2016. In 2016, following another stroke she moved to a nearby aged-care centre. On 5 August 2018, White was found dead in her room at the Warrigal aged care complex. Her daughter, Barbara Eckersley, has been charged with her murder; at her bail hearing, her barrister maintained that his client had the belief that the aged-care centre werent able to deal with Dr Whites agitation and pain.

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