I’m Lyn Beazley and I’m going Back to School with Student Edge.
Hi, I’m Simon Miraudo, and today I’m chatting with Professor Lyn Beazley
2014’s WA Australian of the Year and the state’s chief scientist from 2006 to 2013
Hi Lyn. Hello. Good to be here.
Thank you so much for chatting with us today and going back to school.
It’s a long way back.
No, no, no. Now, you’ve had such an illustrious career and you’re so fantastically recognised
But you have to start from somewhere.
I’m curious, what high school did you go to and what kind of student were you at that time?
Let me first of all say I’m an only child
of quite elderly parents, who never ever thought
of anyone going to university in our family. So I was a first.
But they were very supportive as parents. You can tell
by my voice I’m not Australian. I was born in Britain and I went to the local high school
It was an all-girls school in those days
Gravesend Girls Grammar School. GGGS.
So how early in did you become enamoured by science? Was it an immediate thing for you?
I have to say I wasn’t the hardest working student
when I first got to high school
But then I began to realise, “Gosh, this is your life.
This is a chance for a career and doing something wonderful and seeing the world.”
But what really got me focused was
You’ve heard of Charles Darwin, who came up with the theory of evolution?
Changed the way we think a lot about all the
living forms on our planet. So, his house was quite near our school.
We had one excursion that I can remember and it was to his house.
There was a really friendly guy there looking after this
museum in his living room, and there was his microscope.
They let me look through his microscope and I looked at some
of the specimens he’d collected from around the world. Some from South America
some from Australia, from Albany for example, here in Western Australia, and I just thought
I want to be a biologist. And that was it.
I’ve been working on animals and plants all the rest of my life.
That’s fantastic. And that was the moment that turned you into a better student as well?
I think it did.
Were there any specific teachers that you really felt a kinship with?
That you felt was a real mentor to you, even if they had nothing to do with science?
just someone you felt really supported your learning?
Yes, I think there were several in school and I think that’s always important.
When you speak to most people they’ll say “There was one teacher who said one thing
or had confidence in you, and said ‘You can do it.’”
and I guess there were several for me but the main one
was a botany teacher – she was the one who actually took
us to Charles Darwin’s house – and she’d always talk about
things that were relevant in the news or important.
So you could sort of see science in a world context. I think that’s terribly
important today, as we’re trying to develop better crops to feed a hungry world
to make sure we protect our forests and the like
So, science wasn’t something dry and just in a textbook. It was something there
that would influence our lives day in and day out.
That was what was inspiring about her.
When you were looking at your life and planning out where I might want to be in the next five years
did you ever imagine you’d have a new species of sponge named after you?
Which, by the way, is my favourite discovery of your accomplishments.
Thank you very much. It lives 230 meters down below the surface so I’m not going to have a face-to-face encounter with it.
No, It’ll never know its namesake.
I’m unbelievably proud, I could never have imagined that. It was just fabulous.
I was lucky enough to meet Sir David Attenborough
and he’s got lots of species named after him.
I said, “I’ve got a sponge named after me Sir David.” That was very special.
I’m not going to attempt the pronunciation, but can you… Manihinea lynbeazleyae.
Thank you. I thought it was that, I just wanted to double check.
Well Lyn, just before we wrap up, can I ask for one piece of advice that you would like to impart to young people today?
Increasingly I think we have to work in teams
because these days
it’s very much, if you want to get something done
you’ve got to get people working with you and supporting you. So being a good team player
being a leader. But also, when it’s your turn
to be a follower, to be part of that team, and to make things work.
Thanks so much Lyn, it was so nice to meet you.
My absolute honour.
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