Hope Black

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Hope Black
National Museum of Victoria

Hope Black (née MacPherson, 1919 – 25 January 2018) was an Australian scientist, a marine biologist and

sub-Antarctic in 1959. She was the National Museum's first female curator. When she married in 1965, she was forced to leave the museum, and instead became a science teacher for thirteen years. In 2019 Lake Macpherson on Macquarie Island
was named for her.

Career

Appointed as Curator of Mollusks in 1946, Hope MacPherson was Australia's first female curator at the

National Museum of Victoria.[1]

Her tenure was brought to a close prematurely, when in 1965 she married and became Hope Black, requiring her retirement from the Victorian public service as a result of the marriage bar.[1] Subsequently, Black worked for 13 years as a science teacher.[3]

Work in marine biology

Portrait of Hope Black (circa 1950s)

Hope Black was initially employed in 1937 at Museum Victoria by the support of the

Carnegie Corporation. She worked on developing and preparing new display cases for the McCoy Hall dioramas.[4] In 1947 Black collaborated to survey the Snowy River Gorge on horseback, prior construction of the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme.[4]

Between 1957–1963, Black carried out biological surveys of

Port Phillip Bay, and her results are still used as baseline data from which to measure environmental change in the area.[3]

Black investigated the genus

molluscs in Victoria. Ultimately, her mollusc research lead to her writing the book Molluscs of Victoria, which was published in 1962.[5]

Notably, Black was also a member of a group of four women (also including

sub-Antarctic in 1959.[3] She was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2012.[6] In 2019 Lake Macpherson on Macquarie Island
was named for her.

References

  1. ^ a b c "Hope Black nee Macpherson, Curator of Molluscs (1919-2018)". Museums Victoria Collections. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  2. ^ "Hope BLACK's Obituary on The Age". The Age. 30 January 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  3. ^
    Museum Victoria
    . Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  4. ^ a b "Browsing by theme 'Hope Black nee Macpherson, Curator of Molluscs (1919 - )' - Museum Victoria". Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  5. Melbourne University Press
    .
  6. ^ Morris, Deborah (9 March 2012). "Somerville woman named on honour roll". Frankston Standard Leader. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012.

External links

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