Maisie Carr

Maisie Carr
Maisie Carr (née Fawcett), 1944
Born	(1912-02-26)26 February 1912 Footscray, Victoria
Died	9 September 1988(1988-09-09) (aged 76) Canberra
Resting place	Gungahlin Cemetery
Fields	Botany, ecology
Institutions	University of Melbourne
Alma mater	University of Melbourne
Spouse	Denis John Carr

Maisie Carr (née Fawcett; 1912–1988) was an innovative Australian ecologist and botanist who contributed much to our understanding of the uniqueness of Australian plants and their environmental systems.

Maisie Carr was born Stella Grace Maisie Fawcett in Footscray, Melbourne. Neither of her parents had a science background but her love of plants was likely fostered by visits to nearby salt-marshes, her grandmother's garden and in nature study classes.

Maisie (as she was always known) attended Footscray's Hyde Street State School where she was first in her class and Dux in 1924 and then attended Melbourne High School. Her diligence was evident at an early age; in 1920 she won £2 in a competition for finding the largest number (87) of Australian postal towns within the letters of AUSTRALBA TOOTH PASTE (the sponsor of the competition).

After graduation she returned to her old primary school as a junior teacher while at night studying zoology and geology at Austral Coaching College. Maisie attended University of Melbourne (on a Teachers' College secondary studentship) being awarded B.Sc.,1935 and M.Sc. in Botany, 1936.

Maisie's academic abilities won her a number of scholarships. In March 1935, she was awarded the Howitt natural history scholarship, established from a bequest of entomologist Godfrey Howitt.

In December 1936, Maisie was awarded the Wyselaskie Scholarship, established by John Dickson Wyselaskie in 1883.

In April 1937, Maisie was awarded the Caroline Kay scholarship in Botany; the scholarship was established by the Reverend David Kay in memory of his daughter Caroline.

Although her initial research activities focused on coral fungi, she studied fungal and nematode diseases of plants as well. As a student, attending field-trips with the McCoy Society for Field Investigation and Research proved to be a harbinger for decades of her subsequent professional life. In 1936, Maisie participated in one of the society's expeditions to Sir Joseph Banks Islands in the Spencer Gulf of South Australia to undertake a full scientific survey of the islands.