Margaret Blackwood DBE PhD (1909 - 1986)

Born 26 Apr 1909 in South Yarra, Victoria, Australia

Ancestors

Died 1 Jun 1986 at age 77 in East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

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Biography

Margaret Blackwood DBE PhD is Notable.

Dame Margaret Blackwood DBE LLD was an Australian botanist and geneticist. She attended the University of Melbourne and lectured there for the majority of her career, becoming deputy chancellor after her academic retirement.

Squadron Officer Margaret Blackwood, 1944

Margaret Blackwood DBE PhD was born in Victoria, Australia

Margaret Blackwood was born on 26th April 1909 in South Yarra, Victoria, Australia. She was the only daughter of Robert Blackwood, a school teacher and tutor in classics, and Muriel Henry, a former teacher. ^[1] Growing up in a scholarly environment, she attended Melbourne Church of England Girls’ Grammar School, which emphasised academic attainment and encouraged scientific studies.

After qualifying as a teacher through the Associated Teachers’ Training Institution, Margaret taught at Lowther Hall Anglican Grammar School and Korowa Anglican Girls' School. She enrolled at the University of Melbourne in 1934 and studied part-time, continuing to teach to support herself. She completed a Bachelor of Science in 1938 and a Master of Science in Botany in 1939. From 1939 until 1941, she was a research scholar and demonstrator at the university in the field of plant cytology and genetics.

Margaret Blackwood DBE PhD is a Military Veteran.
Served in the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force 1941-1946
No.1 Training Group Headquarters

On 15th March 1941, with the Second World War looking dim in Europe and the Middle East, and anxious times in the Pacific, Margaret enrolled in the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF). She listed her mother as next-of-kin. She first worked as a drill instructor before working on the creation of a cipher for the Royal Australian Air Force. She was promoted to the rank of Wing Officer in January 1945 with No.1 Training Group Headquarters and, the war over and won, was discharged on 8th January 1946. ^[2]

Margaret returned to the University of Melbourne in 1946 as a biology lecturer and dean of women. Awarded a scholarship, she studied at the University of Cambridge's Newnham College from 1948 to 1950; receiving a doctorate in 1954. She returned to the University of Melbourne in 1951 as a senior lecturer in botany. She rceived a travelling scholarship to attend the University of Wisconsin in 1958 and a research fellowship at the University of Birmingham in 1959. In the Queen's Birthday Honours 1964, Margaret was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in recognition of her work as Senior Botany Lecturer at Melbourne University. ^[3]

After being promoted to reader (professor), Margaret retired from academia in 1974. Subsequently, she was elected to the university council in 1976 and became its first female deputy chancellor in 1980. In the New Year Honours 1981, she was created Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE). ^[4]

She was made a fellow of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science and the Australian Genetics Society in 1979. She was also a fellow of two of the University of Melbourne's residential colleges, Janet Clarke Hall and Trinity College. She was awarded an honorary Legum Doctor (doctorate in law) by the University of Melbourne in 1983.

Aged 77 years and unmarried, she passed away on 1st June 1986 in East Melbourne. ^[5]

In 1989, a new species of the fungi genus Phyllosticta, Phyllosticta Blackwoodiae, was described and named after her. ^[6]

Dame Margaret Blackwood was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001. ^[7]

Sources

1. ↑ Victoria Birth Index #14521/1909
2. ↑ department of Veterans' Affairs: 350002 (90017) Wing Officer Margaret Blackwood; accessed 13 Mar 2024
3. ↑ Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation: Blackwood, Margaret (1909-1986); accessed 13 Mar 2024
4. ↑ Australian Honours: DBE; accessed 13 Mar 2024
5. ↑ Victoria Death Index #12794/1986
6. ↑ Yip, Hin-Yuen. Five new species of Phyllosticta on Australian native plants. Mycological Research, 1989. 93 (4): 489–496
7. ↑ Victorian Honor Roll of Women; accessed 13 Mar 2024

See also

• Carey, Jane. 'Blackwood, Dame Margaret (1909–1986)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 2007; accessed online 13 Mar 2024.
• Wikipedia: Margaret Blackwood; accessed 13 Mar 2024.