Lilian Ross Fraser botanist in the Sydney Sun

Lilian Ross Fraser (1908– 5 October 1987) was an Australian botanist. She became the first woman inducted as a Fellow of the

Australian Institute of Agricultural Science Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

Career

Fraser was born in 1908, she was the daughter of Mr and Mrs C. Fraser of

Pennant Hills Pennant Hills is a suburb in the Northern Sydney region, or Upper North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Pennant Hills is located 18 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Hornsby ...

. After graduating from

Sydney Girls' High School Sydney Girls High School (abbreviated as SGHS or Sydney Girls) is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded Single-sex school, single-sex Selective school (New South Wales), academically selective secondary school, secondary da ...

, she attended the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree. Fraser then conducted her postgraduate research at her Alma mater which included a study of the taxonomy of sooty moulds. She conducted fieldwork alongside

Joyce Winifred Vickery Joyce Winifred Vickery (15 December 190829 May 1979) was an Australian botanist who specialised in taxonomy and became well known in Australia for forensic botany. Early life and education Joyce was born in the Sydney suburb of Strathfield. She ...

of the

Barrington Tops National Park The Barrington Tops National Park is a protected national park located in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, Australia. Gazetted in 1969, the park is situated between Scone, Singleton, Dungog, Gloucester and East Gresford. The park is part ...

rainforest species in the 1930s before earning her

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

. Fraser and Vickery co-discovered

Lomandra hystrix ''Lomandra hystrix'', commonly known as green mat-rush, or creek mat-rush, is a perennial, rhizomatous herb found throughout eastern Australia. History Lilian Ross Fraser and Joyce Winifred Vickery first described Lomandra hystrix, which they ...

, which they published in Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 62: 286 1937. Fraser eventually became the first Australian female to earn a Doctorate of Science in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

by 1937. Upon receiving her doctorate, she also became the first female Australian botanist and left to complete her graduate studies at

Imperial College Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

, in London. Fraser eventually accepted a position with the

Australian Department of Agriculture Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

in 1940 as an assistant plant pathologist. Alongside R. J. Swaby, she studied citrus diseases, and co-discovered that

Phytophthora citrophthora ''Phytophthora citrophthora'', also known as brown rot of citrus, is a soil borne oomycete that infects several economically important citrus crops. A diagnostic symptom of ''P. citrophthora'' is gummosis, wherein lesions around the base of the t ...

in citrus trees along Murrumbidgee irrigation areas were the cause of a decline in their growth. As a result of her scientific accomplishments, Fraser became the first woman inducted as a Fellow of the

and the second female president of the Linnean Society in 1948. By August 1960, she was promoted to Senior Biologist at the New South Wales Department of Agriculture. Fraser made many collections of smut fungi and her collections of ''Sphacelotheca mutabilis'' (now '' Sporisorium mutabile''), ''Sorosporium polycarpum'' (now '' Sporisorium polycarpum''), '' Ustilago serena'', '' Ustilago valentula'' and ''Sorosporium fraserianum'' (now '' Sporisorium fraserianum'') became the type specimens of those species, described by

Hans Sydow Hans Sydow (29 January 1879 – 6 June 1946) was a German mycologist and the son of mycologist and lichenologist, Paul Sydow (1851–1925). Career Hans Sydow worked at the Dresdner Bank in Berlin between 1904 and 1937 rising to divisional mana ...

. Two other new species, '' Entyloma arctotis'' Vánky and '' Sporisorium lingii'' Vánky, were later found among her collections. By the time Fraser retired in 1973, she has been promoted to Chief Biologist of the Biological and Chemical Research Institute at Rydalmere.

Career

References

Further reading