Join the Conversation between two Georgiana Molloy enthusiasts, as they discuss writing her story and Molloy’s contribution to Western Australian botany.

Bernice Barry is a writer and researcher with a love of history and language. Her books on the life and work of Georgiana Molloy, WA’s first female botanist (1805-43), reflect her own passion for the native plants of the southwest, where she has lived and gardened for twenty-one years. Barry’s work has shone light on the concern for discovery and documentation of botanical specimens in the early days of the Swan River Colony.

These include A Lady’s Pen: The Botanical Letters of Georgiana Molloy, (2023) and the biography, Georgiana Molloy: A Mind that Shines, (2016).

John Curtin Distinguished Professor Kingsley Dixon AO FTSE is Chief of Science in the Australian Research Council’s Healing Country – the Indigenous Restoration Economy and research leader in restoration and botany at Curtin University. As Foundation Director of Science at Kings Park and Botanic Garden for 32 years, Professor Dixon established its research capacity in the conservation and restoration sciences; the largest of its type in the world.