Olive Blanche Davies Explained

Olive Blanche Davies MSc (27 October 1884 – 1976/7) [1] was an Australian botanist and botanical artist, noted for being co-author with Alfred Ewart of their 1917 book The Flora of the Northern Territory, and for producing many of the illustrations.[2]

Early life

Olive was born Toorak, Victoria, the youngest of six children of Elizabeth Locke Mercer (*c1850) from Kirkcudbright and Sir Matthew Henry Davies (1850-1912) [3] of Geelong.[4] [5]

Career

She was a government research scholar studying biology at Melbourne University, and wrote a paper in 1911 on Petterd's semi-slug Cystopelta petterdi, and another in 1914 on Caryodes dufresnii, a large land mollusk native to Tasmania.[6] [7] [8]

Family and death

On 22 December 1915 at 'Cluden', in Brighton, Australia, Olive Blanche Davies married Arthur Lyle Rossiter, a lieutenant in the Australian Expeditionary Force, and elder son of Edward Lyle Rossiter of Elsternwick. Arthur had been born in 1888 in Ballarat[9] By the end of World War I he had risen to the rank of captain,[10] and after the war he gave a lecture on gas warfare at Melbourne University, from which he had graduated an MSc. in 1911 and had been a demonstrator in physics from 1913. He had served as a gas officer in the 4th Australian Division in France. In 1924 he was appointed on a temporary basis as senior master at Melbourne High School.[11]

She died in Adelaide.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Martin-Yuille Tree - Geneanet.
  2. Web site: Davies, Olive Blanche. www.anbg.gov.au.
  3. Book: Freeman, R. D.. Cultural Advice. Sir Matthew Henry Davies (1850–1912) . National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Australian Dictionary of Biography.
  4. Web site: James Stewart Mercer, Christopher Frederick Metelmann, Louis Meyer, Jonathan Mitchell, Maurice Joseph Morton, Patrick Mullavey. www.oocities.org.
  5. Book: The flora of the Northern Territory. Alfred J.. Ewart. Edwin. Cheel. Olive B.. Davies. Arthur Andrew. Hamilton. J. H.. Maiden. 22 January 2024 . McCarron, Bird & Co., Printers.
  6. BioStor-Lite. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 22 January 2024 . 27 . 19–24 . Davies . O. B. .
  7. Web site: | Shells For Sale | Conchology. www.conchology.be.
  8. BioStor-Lite. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria . 22 January 2024 . 24 . 331–342 . Davies . O. B. .
  9. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26968513?searchTerm=olive%20blanche&searchLimits= The Argus (Melbourne, Victoria)
  10. Web site: Australian War Memorial.
  11. http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/images/1924/V/general/76.pdf Victoria Government Gazette