Lilian Ross Fraser

File:Lilian Ross Fraser botanist in the Sydney Sun.png newspaper, 20 May 1937]]

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.

Career

Fraser was born in 1908, she was the daughter of Mr and Mrs C. Fraser of Pennant Hills. After graduating from Sydney Girls' High School,{{cite news|title=Woman Doctor of Science|date= May 20, 1937|newspaper=Sydney Sun|location=New South Wales|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/science-clipping-may-20-1937-1516226/}}{{free access}} she attended the University of Sydney where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree.{{cite news|title=High Honors Gained By Women Students|date= May 17, 1937|newspaper=Sydney Daily Telegraph|location=New South Wales|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/science-clipping-may-17-1937-1516225/}}{{free access}} Fraser then conducted her postgraduate research at her Alma mater which included a study of the taxonomy of sooty moulds.{{cite web |author1=Tom W.May |author2=Ian G.Pascoe |title=FUNGI OF AUSTRALIA |url=https://www.appsnet.org/History/Fungi-of-Australia-history.pdf |website=appsnet.org |access-date=21 January 2020 |date=1996}} She conducted fieldwork alongside Joyce Winifred Vickery of the Barrington Tops National Park rainforest species in the 1930s{{cite web |title=Vickery, Joyce Winifred (1908-1979) |url=https://plants.jstor.org/stable/history/10.5555/al.ap.person.bm000336985 |website=plants.jstor.org |access-date=21 January 2020 |date=19 April 2013}} before earning her Master's degree.{{cite news|title=Master of Science Degrees.|date= April 30, 1932|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|location=New South Wales|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/science-clipping-apr-30-1932-1516703/}}{{free access}} Fraser and Vickery co-discovered Lomandra hystrix, which they published in Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 62: 286 1937.{{cite web |title=Lomatia arborescens L.R.Fraser & Vickery |url=https://www.ipni.org/n/705151-1 |website=ipni.org |access-date=21 January 2020}} Fraser eventually became the first Australian female to earn a Doctorate of Science in New South Wales by 1937. Upon receiving her doctorate, she also became the first female Australian botanist and left to complete her graduate studies at Imperial College, in London.

Fraser eventually accepted a position with the Australian Department of Agriculture in 1940 as an assistant plant pathologist.{{cite journal |last1=Barkley |first1=P. |title=Fraser, Lilian Ross (1908-1987) |journal=Australasian Plant Pathology |date=1987 |volume=16 |issue=4 |page=96 |doi=10.1071/APP9870096 |url=https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.person.bm000334694 |access-date=21 January 2020}} Alongside R. J. Swaby, she studied citrus diseases,{{cite news|title=Soil Microbe Research|date=December 13, 1940|newspaper=Sydney Land|location=New South Wales|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/science-clipping-dec-13-1940-1516231/}}{{free access}} and co-discovered that Phytophthora citrophthora in citrus trees along Murrumbidgee irrigation areas were the cause of a decline in their growth.{{cite news|title=Root Rot in Citrus|date=November 5, 1942|newspaper=Renmark Murray Pioneer|location=South Australia|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/science-clipping-nov-05-1942-1516232/}}{{free access}} As a result of her scientific accomplishments, Fraser became the first woman inducted as a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and the second female president of the Linnean Society in 1948.{{cite news|title=Linnean Society|date=April 17, 1948|newspaper=Sydney Smiths Weekly|location=New South Wales|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/science-clipping-apr-17-1948-1516691/}}{{free access}}

By August 1960, she was promoted to Senior Biologist at the New South Wales Department of Agriculture.{{cite news|title=Top position for scientist|date=31 August 1960|newspaper=Parramatta Cumberland Argus|location=New South Wales, Parramatta|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/science-clipping-aug-31-1960-1516229/}}{{free access}} 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. Two other new species, Entyloma arctotis Vánky and Sporisorium lingii Vánky, were later found among her collections.{{cite web |title=Smut Fungi of Australia HISTORY |url=http://collections.daff.qld.gov.au/web/key/smutfungi/Media/Html/history.html |website=collections.daff.qld.gov.au |access-date=21 January 2020}} By the time Fraser retired in 1973, she has been promoted to Chief Biologist of the Biological and Chemical Research Institute at

Rydalmere.

She was awarded the Clarke Medal by the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1976.

Lilian Ross Fraser

Career

References

Further reading