[Aqualist] Vale Helene Martin

[Scott Mooney]

Dear AQUA Community,



We would like to pass on the sad news that Helene Martin died recently in Randwick at the age of 90 (born 26/3/1933; died 21/11/2023).



Helene was an active member of UNSW Sydney for many years, initially in the School of Botany, and eventually, after a series of mergers, in the School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences.



Helene was born in South Australia and graduated with a BSc, majoring in Botany, at the University of Adelaide in 1955, completing honours in 1956, followed by appointment as a Demonstrator in Botany, a position she held until 1961, during which time she completed a Masters by Research. From 1961 - 63 she was at the Department of Biology and Botany at the University of British Columbia. In 1963 she returned to Adelaide and taught in high school for a year, after which Newton Barber, the foundation Professor of Botany at UNSW, appointed her as a Teaching Fellow to undertake palynological analyses of cores taken by the NSW Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission, a position she held until 1970 when she became a Research Fellow, fully funded by the Water Commission. In 1969 she was awarded a PhD from UNSW for a thesis entitled ‘The Palynology of some Tertiary and Later Deposits in New South Wales’.  From 1982 Helene held honorary positions in the School of BEES and provided palynological services to industry, while undertaking academic research and supervision (e.g. she was Primary Supervisor for Jane Chalson’s PhD 1991 The late Quaternary vegetation and climatic history of the Blue Mountains, N.S.W., Australia and Susan Sweller’s MSc 2001 Vegetational and climatic changes during the last 40,000 years at Burraga Swamp, Barrington Tops, NSW).



Helene published extensively (some of which are listed below) and her careful work influenced our understanding of Australia’s vegetation history from deep time and right up to the present. Notably, when Helene commenced her palynological research the long-held model of the history of Australian vegetation was that rainforests in Australia were a relatively recent feature, arising from invasion of species from the north. Helene's research showed that southern Gondwanic rainforests had a deeper history and had been widespread across what is now the semiarid and arid inland, and she documented the retreat of rainforest to the east and north through the Cenozoic. Helene’s work on identifying the pollen in the late Oligocene Namba Formation (originally mis-identified as grass but shown to be Restionaceae) lead to the important observation that grasslands in Australia came about much later… a conclusion that fitted with the vertebrate fossil record. Coupled with a new understanding of Australia's plate tectonic history, Helene contributed to our modern understanding of Australia's ecological history, recognised, for example, by her Life Membership of the Linnean Society of NSW.



Helene was generous with her time and her contribution to our science was a key feature of her quiet presence at UNSW. She will be missed.



Paul Adam, Mike Archer, John Dodson, Sue Hand and Scott Mooney

School of BEES

UNSW Sydney



Selected Publications

Martin, H. (1990) Tertiary climate and phytogeography in southeastern Australia. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 65: 47-55.

Martin, H. (1990) The palynology of the Namba Formation in the Wooltana-1 bore, Callabonna Basin (Lake Frome), South Australia, and its relevance to Miocene grasslands in central Australia. Alcheringa 14: 247-255.

Martin, H. (1991) Dinoflagellate and spore pollen biostratigraphy of the S.A.D.M.E. MC63 bore, western Murray Basin. Alcheringa 15: 107-144.

Martin, H. (1993) Middle Tertiary dinoflagellate and spore/pollen biostratigraphy and palaeoecology of the Mallee Cliffs bore, central Murray Basin. Alcheringa 17: 91-124.

Martin, H. (2003) The history of the family Onagraceae in Australia and its relevance to biogeography. Australian Journal of Botany 51: 10.1071/BT03033.

Martin, H. (2001) The family Convolvulaceae in the Tertiary of Australia: Evidence from pollen. Australian Journal of Botany 49: 221-234.

Sweller, S. & Martin, H. (2001) A 40,000 year vegetation history and climatic interpretations of Burraga Swamp, Barrington Tops, New South Wales. Quaternary International 83: 233-244.

Black, M. P., Mooney, S. D. and Martin, H. A. (2006) A >43 000-year vegetation and fire history from Lake Baraba, New South Wales, Australia. Quaternary Science Reviews 25: 3003-3016.

Robbie, A. & Martin, H.A. (2007) The history of the vegetation from the last glacial maximum at Mountain Lagoon, Blue Mountains, New South Wales. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 128: 57-80.

Chalson, J.M. & Martin, H.A. (2009) A Holocene history of the vegetation of the Blue Mountains, New South Wales. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 130: 77-109.

Chalson, J.M. & Martin, H.A. (2009) Modern pollen deposition under vegetation of the Blue Mountains , New South Wales. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 130: 111-137.

Mooney, S. D. and Martin, H. A. (2009) Environmental Conditions of the Past in the Blue Mountains. In E. Stockton (Ed) Blue Mountains Dreaming, 2nd Edition, Three Sisters Production, Winmallee, pp. 23-40.

Chalson, J.M. & Martin, H.A. (2012) The Holocene history of the vegetation and the environment of Jibbon Swamp, Royal National Park, New South Wales. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 134: 65-91.




A/Prof Scott Mooney FIAG, SFHEA

Deputy Head of School
School of BEES
Faculty of Science
UNSW AUSTRALIA

T: +61 (0) 2 9065 5231
E:  s.mooney at unsw.edu.au<mailto:s.mooney at unsw.edu.au>
W: https://www.bees.unsw.edu.au/our-people/scott-mooney
P: School of BEES, UNSW, 2052 AUSTRALIA

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Geographers in Australia have declared a climate and biodiversity emergency.
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