Corrick, Margaret Georgina   (1922 - 2020)

Born in Tasmania in 1922; died in Victoria on 12 August 2020; she was 97.

Margaret was born in Hobart into a nature-loving family. Along with her parents and two sisters she was a member of the Tasmanian Field Naturalists Club.

She took a job as a bank clerk until her marriage in 1947 to Bill whom she met at the bank. Bank postings took the growing family to Launceston and Leeton, before Casterton in western Victoria in 1962. Two years later they moved to Hamilton. In both the latter towns the family became active members of the local Field Naturalists Clubs.

Margaret's enthusiasm for native plants was inspired by the flora of the Grampians. Her interest in the local natural environments was fuelled too by the campaign for conservation of the nearby Little Desert and the Lower Glenelg area. During this period, she made regular day excursions into the bush, and longer camping trips, with her four children in tow.

In the mid-1970s, now living in Melbourne, Margaret emerged as Secretary of the Botany Group, and the Field Naturalist Club's Assistant Secretary from 1973-1975.

Following a quarter century of home duties, paid employment resumed in 1975 when she was appointed first as a Botanical Assistant and later a Technical Officer at the National Herbarium of Victoria, a position she held until her retirement in 1985. When she joined the Herbarium staff her first task was to incorporate into the collections some thousands of specimens gathered by the former Assistant Government Botanist Jim Willis.

In 1995 she was appointed an Honorary Associate at the Herbarium which enabled her to pursue her own interests more easily.

Margaret herself has collected over 10,000 specimens, lodged in State Herbaria across Australia. Most of these were collected in Western Australia during annual spring-time trips with Bill after the birth of their first grandchild in Perth in 1982.

Margaret contributed regularly to The Victorian Naturalist. In 42 years she contributed 29 pieces - articles, tributes and book reviews - to the journal. She had become an authority on the genus Pultenaea and, of this total, 24 articles focused on the bushpeas of Victoria.

In addition to this output Margaret provided the section on Pultenaea in the Flora of Victoria (1996) and, with Bruce Fuhrer, co-authored two books: Wildflowers of Southern Western Australia (1996) and Wildflowers of Victoria (2000). Margaret also assisted Bruce in the preparation of A Field Guide to Australian Fungi (2005).

Source: Extracted from: https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Margaret+Corrick.-a0642326572
Portrait Photo: none yet, seeking.

Collecting localities for 'Corrick, M.G.' from AVH (2021)

Data from 10,482 specimens