Dr. Barbara Wagstaff
2024
Dr Barbara Wagstaff was awarded the Selwyn Medal for 2024. She has played a very important role over decades in helping to document and understand the evolution of the flora and its effect on the biota of the Mesozoic of Victoria and Australia in general.
Barbara carried out her PhD with Professor Pat Vickers-Rich at Monash University and was one of the very best and independent students, who stood out from amongst over 100 students supervised by Professor Vickers-Rich in palaeontology.
Dr Wagstaff has had a distinguished career in palynology and geology research, teaching and consulting since her seminal PhD in 1991 on the Cretaceous marine strata of the Great Australian Bight. She had published over 40 papers and numerous reports on a diverse range of timescales and geoscience subjects. She pivoted from Cretaceous PhD research to investigate Quaternary floral and environmental interpretations of southeastern Australia using quantitative palynology analyses of sections in Victoria’s western district. This has greatly improved our understanding of the million-year climate evolution of Victoria.
Over many years she has sought to document the age and climate setting of Victoria’s Polar dinosaurs using meticulous palynological analyses of the Cretaceous strata of the Otway and Gippsland basins. This has led to an increased understanding of the evolutionary significance of these enigmatic polar faunas and advanced our understanding of high latitude floral and climate evolution. Her work on the Cretaceous of Victoria is of special significance, not only in showcasing the change in flora over time but in assisting in dating the different levels of the sequence that has hosted our dinosaurs, mammals and amphibians as well as invertebrates over that period of change in the early Cretaceous. Her precision in documenting all of this time from around 135 to 105 million years ago has been fundamental in our multitude of studies of this region for over more than 40 decades.
Her additional extensive research and consulting on Tertiary palynology (spore-pollen and dinoflagellates) of the Gippsland and Otway basins, has enhanced our knowledge of hydrocarbon rich strata of Victoria.
She has successfully supervised numerous PhD, MSc and BSc Honours students on a variety of palynology related topics from Cretaceous to recent. In particular, her careful and nurturing supervision style has trained the next generation of palynologists in Australia, while improving our knowledge on Victoria’s Cretaceous vertebrates and Tertiary brown coal deposits.
Not only has Barbara been a brilliant researcher, she has also trained and taught many others.
She has taught many undergraduate and graduate Earth Science and palaeontology courses from first year to masters levels at Monash University and the University of Melbourne. Her inspirational teaching style has encouraged many students to pursue geology careers and inspired numerous students to continue with Honours, Masters and PhD studies, especially in palaeontology.
In terms of service to the community, Barbara has been strongly involved in the Geological Society of Australia Victoria Division serving as treasurer for over a decade since 2009.
Barbara carried out her PhD with Professor Pat Vickers-Rich at Monash University and was one of the very best and independent students, who stood out from amongst over 100 students supervised by Professor Vickers-Rich in palaeontology.
Dr Wagstaff has had a distinguished career in palynology and geology research, teaching and consulting since her seminal PhD in 1991 on the Cretaceous marine strata of the Great Australian Bight. She had published over 40 papers and numerous reports on a diverse range of timescales and geoscience subjects. She pivoted from Cretaceous PhD research to investigate Quaternary floral and environmental interpretations of southeastern Australia using quantitative palynology analyses of sections in Victoria’s western district. This has greatly improved our understanding of the million-year climate evolution of Victoria.
Over many years she has sought to document the age and climate setting of Victoria’s Polar dinosaurs using meticulous palynological analyses of the Cretaceous strata of the Otway and Gippsland basins. This has led to an increased understanding of the evolutionary significance of these enigmatic polar faunas and advanced our understanding of high latitude floral and climate evolution. Her work on the Cretaceous of Victoria is of special significance, not only in showcasing the change in flora over time but in assisting in dating the different levels of the sequence that has hosted our dinosaurs, mammals and amphibians as well as invertebrates over that period of change in the early Cretaceous. Her precision in documenting all of this time from around 135 to 105 million years ago has been fundamental in our multitude of studies of this region for over more than 40 decades.
Her additional extensive research and consulting on Tertiary palynology (spore-pollen and dinoflagellates) of the Gippsland and Otway basins, has enhanced our knowledge of hydrocarbon rich strata of Victoria.
She has successfully supervised numerous PhD, MSc and BSc Honours students on a variety of palynology related topics from Cretaceous to recent. In particular, her careful and nurturing supervision style has trained the next generation of palynologists in Australia, while improving our knowledge on Victoria’s Cretaceous vertebrates and Tertiary brown coal deposits.
Not only has Barbara been a brilliant researcher, she has also trained and taught many others.
She has taught many undergraduate and graduate Earth Science and palaeontology courses from first year to masters levels at Monash University and the University of Melbourne. Her inspirational teaching style has encouraged many students to pursue geology careers and inspired numerous students to continue with Honours, Masters and PhD studies, especially in palaeontology.
In terms of service to the community, Barbara has been strongly involved in the Geological Society of Australia Victoria Division serving as treasurer for over a decade since 2009.
