Update from Dr Hilary Pearl (1977) - 2023 Isabel Bauer OGA Bursary winner

I am delighted to update the OGA members and Bursary donors on what I have been doing since I received the Isabel Bauer Bursary in October 2023. I outlined a number of goals in my application, leading towards my “third career,” as a volunteer involved in community activities. Let me outline how these goals have been achieved.

Complete publications from my recent PhD (2023) work in ecology and conservation 

In 2024, I completed the publishing of the final three paper from my PhD work, in Austral Ecology and the Australian Journal of Botany, as shown below. My PhD resulted in four publications in total, the first completed in 2022.

• Pearl H., Ryan T., Howard M., Shimizu Y. & Shapcott A. (2024a) Abiotic correlates with diversity and distinctiveness in Sunshine Coast heathlands: Moisture, volcanic landscapes, and patterned mounds. Austral Ecology 49, e13481.
• Pearl H., Ryan T., Howard M., Shimizu Y. & Shapcott A. (2024b) Conserving diversity, distinctiveness and connectivity in the Sunshine Coast heathlands, Queensland, Australia. Austral Ecology 49, e13504.
• Pearl H. & Shapcott A. (2024) ‘There must be something in the soil our little plants need’: exploring patterns of potential mycorrhizal associations in the flora of the Sunshine Coast heathlands, Queensland, Australia. Aust. J. Bot. 72. [online]. Available from: https://www.publish.csiro.au/bt/BT23057 [Accessed September 17, 2024].

Attend conferences and present my PhD research work

Following receipt of the Bursary, I decided that it would be of more benefit to me to attend Australian conferences, rather than the International Botanical Congress in Madrid, Spain, to network with researchers and practitioners working in similar ways to me. 

The Bursary funds enabled me to register, travel to and attend the following conferences:

• November 2023, Australian Systematic Botany Society Biosystematics 2023 Conference ANU, Canberra, at which I also gave two presentations.
• June 2024, Rainforest Connections Conference in Ballina, NSW
• October 2024 Australian Native Plant Society of Australia Conference, Melbourne
• October 2024, Australasian Plant Conservation Conference, Toowoomba, online attendance
• December 2024, Ecological Society of Australia Conference, Melbourne, at which I gave a presentation.

Also, I undertook two training days:

• June 2024, Reconciliation in Action Professional Learning Day at Sunshine Coast Uni – a day for educators
• July 2024, First Aid Course

Prepare teaching materials for my Community Conservation work

It is in this area that everything has come together, and I have presented many workshops and talks since March 2024.

• Seven workshops of “Botany for Beginners” at Sunshine Coast Regional Libraries – as a volunteer, and as my learning/development practice. This led to running this workshop in a paid capacity at three Landcare Groups, a Home School Group, Gympie Field Naturalists, and a Coast Care Group, and I am still being asked to do this workshop. It is much loved by local community members.
• Since July 2024, I have run a monthly workshop (paid) at Barung Landcare Maleny, focusing on the local rainforest plants for a particular plant family. These workshops are very popular and sell out quickly. I have also started collaborating in these workshops with Rowena Thomas (1983), another Somerville Old Girl, and retired Conservation Officer from Qld Parks and Wildlife Service
• Since March 2024, I have been running (as a volunteer) the Wallum and Coastal Heathland
  Study Group for the Australian Native Plant Society of Australia. This involves running monthly
  walks, preparing species lists, gaining permits for walks, and writing occasional newsletters.
  • I have, and continue, to give talks about the Sunshine Coast Heathlands, to events such as the
  Cooloola Bioblitz, Native Plants Qld conference, Maroochy Botanic Gardens, local Bushlinks
  groups.
  • The Thorsborne Trust has recently given me a grant to develop workshops on sedges, restiads
  and grasses (heathland plants), and I am currently working on these.
  • I have been invited by CSIRO to attend a workshop of Australian heath specialists, for two days
  in Adelaide in September (all expenses paid), which I am thrilled about!

Again, I want to thank the OGA for awarding me the Isabel Bauer OGA Bursary. Part of the joy was having the group believe in me, and value “third careers.” The money has enabled me to attend conferences, to purchase materials (hand lenses, paper for mounting plants, pencils, and scissors for workshops etc.). It has really kick-started me into fulfilling work and it is enabling me to give back to my community in a rich and meaningful way.

With many thanks

Dr Hilary Pearl

Images courtesy of Mooloolah River Landcare and CarersQLD