Suzanne Lawless Duigan (7 July 1924 – 1993) was an Australian

paleobotanist Paleobotany, which is also spelled as palaeobotany, is the branch of botany dealing with the recovery and identification of plant remains from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments (paleogeogr ...

who specialised in fossil

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...

(

palynology Palynology is the "study of dust" (from grc-gre, παλύνω, palynō, "strew, sprinkle" and '' -logy'') or of "particles that are strewn". A classic palynologist analyses particulate samples collected from the air, from water, or from deposit ...

). She collaborated with fellow botanist

Isabel Cookson Isabel Clifton Cookson (25 December 1893 – 1 July 1973) was an Australian botanist who specialised in palaeobotany and palynology. Early years and education Cookson was born at Hawthorn, Victoria, and attended the Methodist Ladies' College ...

extensively on

Paleogene The Paleogene ( ; British English, also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period, geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million yea ...

brown coal deposits in Victoria. She pioneered studies in south east Australian coal measures as she considered micro- and macrofossils of the region in terms of their relationships to living plant species and families and their ecologies.

Early life and education

Duigan was born in Colac in

Western Victoria Western Victoria is a wine grape growing zone in the southwestern part of the state of Victoria in Australia. It extends approximately from the South Australia border to Ballarat and from Horsham to the coast. It includes the defined wine regio ...

, Australia, on 7 July 1924. She was the third child of Reginald Charles Duigan (a pioneering Australian aviator) and Phyllis Mary Duigan. Duigan attended Elliminyt Primary, Colac High School, The Hermitage CEGS, before studying science at

Melbourne University 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 ...

from 1942 to 1946. She was a resident at Janet Clarke Hall, the women's residence of

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

, from 1943, participating in the play and serving on the Sports Club committee. After gaining a Bachelor of Science degree, she earned an MSc in botany. She then collaborated with

Harry Godwin Sir Harry Godwin, FRS (9 May 1901 – 12 August 1985) was a prominent English botanist and ecologist of the 20th century. He is considered to be an influential peatland scientist, who coined the phrase "peat archives" in 1981. He had a long ass ...

at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, UK, gaining a PhD.

Career

Duigan became a lecturer in botany at Melbourne University upon her return and specialised in fossil

(

). She collaborated with fellow botanist

extensively on

brown coal deposits in Victoria. Among

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

she described with Cookson were the early Paleogene proteaceae genera ''

Banksieaephyllum ''Banksieaephyllum'' is a plant genus that encompasses organically preserved fossil leaves that can be attributed to the Proteaceae tribe Banksieae, but cannot be attributed to a genus. Before 1950, many fossil leaves were attributed to the gen ...

'' and '' Banksieaeidites'', as well as ''Araucaria lignitici'' from the brown coal beds at

Yallourn Yallourn, Victoria was a company town in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia built between the 1920s and 1950s to house employees of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria, who operated the nearby Yallourn Power Station, Victoria, Yal ...

and ''Agathis parwanensis'' from Bacchus Marsh. Duigan took a novel approach in considering micro- and macrofossils of the region in terms of their relationships to living plant species and families and their ecologies. She concluded that the dominant vegetation of Paleogene southeastern Australia were ''

Nothofagus ''Nothofagus'', also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere in southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and Australasia (east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Gui ...

'', ''

Agathis ''Agathis'', commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of 22 species of evergreen tree. The genus is part of the ancient conifer family Araucariaceae, a group once widespread during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, but now largely re ...

'' and members of the laurel family

Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant family that includes the true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genera worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016 ). They are dicotyledons, and occur ma ...

Later life

In later life she learned to fly, gaining her private pilot's licence on 6 November 1970. She piloted a

Cessna 150 The Cessna 150 is a two-seat tricycle gear general aviation airplane that was designed for flight training, touring and personal use.Plane and Pilot: ''1978 Aircraft Directory'', pages 22-23. Werner & Werner Corp, Santa Monica CA, 1977. In 19 ...

and a Piper 140, often visiting her brother in

Flinders Island Flinders Island, the largest island in the Furneaux Group, is a island in the Bass Strait, northeast of the island of Tasmania. Flinders Island was the place where the last remnants of aboriginal Tasmanian population were exiled by the colon ...

in Bass Strait in the latter.

Death and legacy

Duigan died in 1993 in

East Melbourne East Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. East Melbourne recorded a population of 4,896 at the 2021 ...

, Australia. An issue of the ''

Australian Journal of Botany The ''Australian Journal of Botany'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by CSIRO Publishing. It covers all areas of plant biology, with a focus on Southern Hemisphere ecosystems. The editor-in-chief is Dick Williams (Commonwealth Sci ...

'' was dedicated to her in 1997.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duigan, Suzanne 1924 births 1993 deaths 20th-century Australian botanists Australian paleontologists Australian women paleontologists Paleobotanists 20th-century Australian women scientists Australian women botanists People from Colac, Victoria People educated at Trinity College (University of Melbourne) University of Melbourne alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge Academic staff of the University of Melbourne