Mill, Jeanette (1962 - )

Born in South-Western Victoria in 1962.

Educated in Melbourne, Jeanette attributes much of her interest in plants, and nature in general, to attending Society for Growing Australian Plants meetings and field trips as a child. There she absorbed the amazing knowledge of plants and their names from the SGAP members, and was enthralled by the breathtaking slide shows. An interest in formal studies in science followed, and in 1983 she completed a Bachelor of Science with Honours, with studies in Zoology, Psychology, Botany and Ecology undertaken under some inspirational teachers at the University of Melbourne. Periods of travel, including to some of the most remote areas of Australia, developed a desire to conserve and manage for nature conservation values, the habitats that have been so altered by human influence over every part of the country.

Jeanette is the National Coordinator of the Australian Network for Plant Conservation, a national network of over 400 organisations and individuals from the government, industry and community sectors who are stakeholders in the conservation of Australia's flora. She is also Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission's Australasian Plant Specialist Group.

Major achievements of the ANPC include a 10 day Plant Conservation Techniques Course, attended by participants and high calibre lecturers from throughout the Southern Hemisphere; four national plant conservation conferences; and the development of guidelines for plant conservation practitioners on threatened plant seed and other germplasm conservation, and reintroductions. These guidelines are being accessed by organisations from all over the world right through to local community groups.

The ANPC model of integrating all approaches to conservation, using networking as a tool to promote cooperation and information exchange, has achieved considerable international recognition. Jeanette has been a speaker, author and workshop facilitator on the subject from the local to the international level.
 

Source: Personal Communication, 2000
Portrait Photo: M.Fagg, 2000