Dr Anne Brearley was a student, research fellow and associate of the Schools of Plant Biology and Biological Sciences at The University of Western Australia, as well as a founding member of the UWA Oceans Institute. 

Image: Dr Anne Brearley.

An expert in molluscs and other invertebrates, Dr Brearley did her undergraduate and PhD in the Department of Botany at UWA in the early 1990s under the supervision of Professor Diana Walker. 

She is credited with breakthrough research in the understanding of limnoriid and lynseiid (‘gribbles’) crustacean grazing on seagrass meristems in southern Australia. 

Her first postdoctoral appointment was with a program studying the ecological significance of seagrasses and their associated invertebrate communities in Cockburn Sound and Owen Anchorage (1997-1999). 

Image: Dr Brearley researching underwater.

Dr Brearley became a well-respected expert on natural systems, particularly estuaries, and authored a major book that celebrated the life of Ernest Hodgin titled Swanland: Estuaries and Coastal Lagoons of South-western Australia (2005). 

Professor Gary Kendrick from the UWA Oceans Institute and School of Plant Biology, a long-time friend and colleague, described the book as the most complete collection of historical and contemporary understanding of the estuaries we live and enjoy in the South West.

“Anne’s eye for detail, research integrity and her love for invertebrates was shared with many of us,” Professor Kendrick said. “She collaborated with everyone she met and had an unbridled curiosity about everything and a passion to learn even more that stayed with her until late in her life. She has left a real legacy as an eminent natural historian.”

Far more than this though, Dr Brearley was a much-loved wife to Reg, mother to Winston and Charlie and, in her later years, grandmother, said Emeritus Winthrop Professor Diana Walker who first met her as a mature-age undergraduate student in 1988.

“Not only was she a brilliant student, but she ran a household, organising and bringing up two wonderful boys, entertaining in spectacular style, all whilst discussing science and literature,” Professor Walker said.

Remembered also for her ability to organise field trips and her unfailing support of graduate students and field and lab technicians in their growth and development, Dr Brearley’s most recent work was assessing the effect of desalination brine on marine life on the seafloor in Geographe Bay.

“She also loved Rottnest with a passion, and we know more about it now because of her detailed observations,” Professor Kendrick said. 

Image: Dr Brearley (left) with longtime friend and colleague Dr Marion Cambridge on her beloved Rottnest Island.

“Many days and nights were spent walking intertidal platforms, going for bike rides, hikes or a dive and we designed and redesigned experiments around the table of the UWA Research Station then under the main lighthouse.”

Anne Brearley passed away in Albany on Saturday 12 February with her family by her side after a long fight with illness and the University passes on its condolences to the Brearley family.

UWA’s Dr Marion Cambridge, a friend and colleague for many years, says Dr Brearley’s love for the natural world is best captured in a watercolour painting by artist and biodiversity educator Angela Rossen.

“The painting is of Anne standing on the intertidal platform at Thomson Bay at Rottnest and she’s holding her diving flippers under her arms. They look like wings. That’s how we remember her; she had wings.”

Image: Artist and biodiversity educator Angela Rossen perfectly captured Anne's love for the outdoors in her watercolour.