StateLibQld 2 296839 Queensland Prickly Pear Board's research station, Dulacca, ca 1913

Rose Ethel Janet White-Haney (11 March 1877 – 21 October 1953), known as Jean White-Haney, was a

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. She was officer-in-charge of the Queensland Board of Advice on Prickly Pear Destruction and helped develop biological control methods for managing the invasive cactus.

Early life and education

Jean White was the seventh of eight children of

Edward John White Edward John White (8 December 1831 – 2 August 1913) was an English-born meteorologist and astronomer, president of the Royal Society of Victoria in 1902. White was born in Bristol, England. From approximately 1853 to 160 he worked the Bendigo g ...

, astronomer at

Melbourne Observatory Melbourne Observatory is an observatory located on a hill adjacent to the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. The observatory commenced operations in 1862 and was decommissioned from official Government work in 1945. The observatory has since continu ...

. She was educated privately until the age of 15, then at Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne and the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

, being awarded B.Sc. 1904, M.Sc. 1906, D.Sc. 1909. She was the second woman in Australia to be awarded a Doctorate of Science. She was awarded a McBain Research Scholarship, researching in the Department of Botany under Professor Alfred James Ewart. Thirteen papers bearing her name were published between 1907 and 1911.

Prickly-Pear Experimental Station, Dulacca

The Queensland Board of Advice on Prickly Pear Destruction placed her in charge of their experimental station at Dulacca in 1912. She served there until 1916, developing insect and chemical controls to fight prickly pear infestation. On 22 February 1915 she married American born agricultural chemist Victor William Haney. Dr. White-Haney had success against one species of tree cactus (''

Opuntia monacantha ''Opuntia monacantha'', commonly known as drooping prickly pear, cochineal prickly pear, or Barbary fig, is a species of plant in the family Cactaceae native to South America. Taxonomy The species was first formally described in 1812 by botani ...

'') prevalent in

North Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...

using cochineal insects (''Coccus indicus'') and, although this insect was not effective against the most prevalent species of pear, this success encouraged the continuing search for biological controls that led eventually to the introduction of the ''

Cactoblastis cactorum ''Cactoblastis cactorum'', the cactus moth, South American cactus moth or nopal moth, is native to Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and southern Brazil. It is one of five species in the genus '' Cactoblastis'' that inhabit South America, where many pa ...

'' moth that eventually brought the pest under control. She published three reports on the work of the experimental station, where she remained in charge until its closure in 1916 when the war made it difficult to obtain staff and chemicals for experiments.

Later activities in Australia

Jean took a break from research while she brought up her two sons. During this time she lived in Brisbane, becoming a founding member of the Lyceum Club and a committee member of the Queensland Bush Book Club. She attended the Pan-Pacific Science Congress in Tokyo in 1926 and was contracted by the

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is South Africa's central and premier scientific research and development organisation. It was established by an act of parliament in 1945 and is situated on its own campus in the cit ...

, a position which took her all over Australia. Her last scientific work was the study of pasture weeds Noogoora and Bathurst burr. She moved to the United States in 1930. She died at

Camarillo, California Camarillo ( ) is a city in Ventura County in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 70,741, an increase of 5,540 from the 65,201 counted in the 2010 Census. Camarillo is named for brothers Juan an ...

on 21 October 1953 and was buried in

Inglewood Park Cemetery Inglewood Park Cemetery, 720 East Florence Avenue in Inglewood, California, was founded in 1905. A number of notable people, including entertainment and sports personalities, have been interred or entombed there. History The proposed est ...

References

External links

A prickly problem : Dr Jean White-Haney and the prickly pear
1877 births 1952 deaths 20th-century Australian botanists People educated at the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne People from Queensland 20th-century Australian women scientists {{Australia-botanist-stub