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Kā Kōrero o Waikirikiri Selwyn Stories

Lucy Moore

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TitleLucy MooreSummaryLucy Moore was known as ‘the mother of New Zealand botany’ - an intrepid explorer and pioneer in botanical research. In 1960, she moved to Lincoln and took up a position at the Botany Division of the DSIR. Over the next 20 years of her life in Lincoln, she went on to become one of our most distinguished botanists and highly-regarded author.DescriptionBefore embarking on one intrepid expedition to collect botanical specimens, twenty-something Lucy Moore confessed she was fit enough for the arduous six-day tramp but rather oddly equipped. Canvas sacks for sleeping bags, heavy short coats and a “kidney-rotter” backpack. She was joined on this particular expedition to Maungapohatu in the Urewera by her great friend and fellow field researcher Lucy Cranwell.

In the interests of pure science, their mentor Dr Leonard Cockayne insisted that the “two Lucies” use their packs to collect botanical specimens. Nearly half a century after making the trip in December 1932, Lucy Moore recalled the physical strain of collecting and storing the specimens.

'He had warned us against the evil practice of tossing twigs into a container – this being long before the birth of plastic bags. Instead we were to annotate and press each piece as we went along. A good pile of newspaper strapped between 3-ply boards was an awkward item in our Bartrum-pattern kidney-rotter packs.'

The two Lucies also ventured to Moehau on the Coromandel and the Hen and Chickens Islands, co-writing important research papers. Both women went on to have distinguished careers, and retained their firm bond of friendship until Moore’s death in 1987.

In 1938, Lucy was appointed to the botany division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) in Wellington where she worked for 33 years. During this time Moore was assigned to help H H Allan produce a reference work on New Zealand flora. Allan died mid production, and Lucy was left with the daunting editorial task of completing volume one of Flora of New Zealand (1961).

Apart from her monumental work on floras, Lucy was involved with fungi, mosses and more especially seaweeds. During WW2, she was asked to investigate the possibility of producing agar from New Zealand’s red seaweeds (agar is needed for medical research and had previously been supplied by Japan who were now at war with the Allies). Moore engaged the community to collect seaweed which contained the agar, and her work contributed to the successful production of local supplies.

In 1960 she moved to Lincoln (where the Botany Division had relocated in 1953) and started work with co-author Elizabeth Edgar on the second volume of Flora of New Zealand. She was known affectionately as Dr Lucy and was revered and adored by her work colleagues. She delighted in working alongside both amateur and professional botanists – and was famous for her willingness to help with any botanical problems. She officially retired from the DSIR in 1971 as one of the highest-ranking DSIR officers and remained active in Lincoln until 1980.

In 1978, while still in Lincoln, she produced the attractive Oxford Book of New Zealand Plants, with J.B Irwin as artist. You can view some of her work on this site.

Moore was a recipient of many honours. In 1945 she was elected a fellow of the exclusive Linnean Society of London. She was made an MBE in 1959, and in 1963 the University of Canterbury gave her its DSc for her Hebe research. A fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand from 1947, she was awarded its Hutton Memorial Medal in 1965. In the same year she delivered the Leonard Cockayne Memorial Lecture. In 1974 she was awarded the Sir Ernest Marsden Medal for Service to Science by the New Zealand Association of Scientists.

First NameLucyMiddle NameBeatriceLast NameMooreOccupationBotanist and Ecologist at Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR)GenderFemaleDate of Birth1906Place of BirthWarkworthDate of Death1987Age at Death80

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Lucy Moore examines a plant specimen

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Lucy Moore