Bertha Rees

Bertha Clara Rees (1880–1957) was an Australian botanist and university lecturer.

Rees was born in Brighton, Victoria in 1880, daughter of Clara Anna (née Wadelton) and solicitor David Curtis Rees.[1] She passed the University of Melbourne matriculation examination in 1899, achieving honours in elementary anatomy and physiology and botany.[2]

Rees taught at Tintern Girls Grammar School where her students included Ethel Irene McLennan.[3] She returned to the school in 1931 as guest of honour with McLennan, then associate professor of botany at the University of Melbourne.[4] She also taught science at Sydenham Ladies' College, Moonee Ponds in 1909.[5] In June that year she received a £50 government scholarship from the University of Melbourne to study the "longevity of seeds' contribution to flora of Victoria".[6] In April 1912 she replaced Jean White as botanical lecturer assisting Alfred James Ewart.[7]

She wrote a number of papers, singly or as joint author with Ewart and White, which were published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria.[8]

The standard author abbreviation B.Rees is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[9]

Personal

Following her marriage to engineer Edgar Gowar Ritchie in September 1914,[10] she resigned from her university post.[11] Her husband died in 1956.[12]

Rees died in 1957 at St Kilda East, Victoria.[13]

References

  1. ^ "Birth certificate: Rees, Bertha Clara 6734/1880". Births deaths and marriages Victoria. Retrieved 2025-09-29.
  2. ^ "University of Melbourne". The Age. No. 13, 986. Victoria, Australia. 1 January 1900. p. 3. Retrieved 29 September 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "Ethel McLennan (1891–1983) botanist". Lost story: 200 Australian Women. Retrieved 2025-09-29.
  4. ^ "Garden Party at Hawthorn". Table Talk. No. 3319. Victoria, Australia. 17 December 1931. p. 49. Retrieved 29 September 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "Advertising". The Essendon Gazette and Keilor, Bulla and Broadmeadows Reporter. No. 1000. Victoria, Australia. 6 May 1909. p. 2. Retrieved 29 September 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ "Current Notes". Advocate. Vol. XLI, no. 2016. Victoria, Australia. 12 June 1909. p. 31. Retrieved 29 September 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ "Fact and Rumour". Punch. Vol. CXVI, no. 2959. Victoria, Australia. 11 April 1912. p. 23. Retrieved 29 September 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "Rees, Bertha". Biodiversity Heritage Library. Retrieved 2025-09-29.
  9. ^ International Plant Names Index. B.Rees.
  10. ^ "Mr. E. G. Ritchie to Miss B. Rees". Punch. Vol. CXXI, no. 3090. Victoria, Australia. 15 October 1914. p. 40. Retrieved 29 September 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ "Rees, Miss Bertha". University of Melbourne Archives. Retrieved 2025-09-29.
  12. ^ Morgan, Marjorie, "Edgar Gowar Ritchie (1871–1956)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 2025-09-29
  13. ^ "Death certificate: Ritchie, Bertha Clara 2431/1957". Births deaths and marriages Victoria. Retrieved 2025-09-29.
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