Kara Moana Healey

Kara Moana Healey (23 June 1904 – 10 June 2006) was a field collector, conservationist, preservationist and naturalist and the first female National Park Ranger in Victoria, Australia.

She was born Kara Moana Elizabeth Vernon in Kawhia, New Zealand. Her parents, William John Vernon and Mary Vernon née Dunstone, were from Australia and in 1906 the family returned to Australia and settled in Mysia, north west of Bendigo.

Early life

After finishing high school she became a teacher's assistant at Stuart Mill State School near St Arnaud, Victoria until she met and married William Stanley McGreevy (known as Stan) in 1925. They divorced in 1946.

In 1948 she married Jim Healey, the caretaker at Tarra Valley National Park; he died in 1952.

Tarra-Bulga National Park

Healey was appointed the Park Ranger at Tarra-Bulga National Park[1] where she collected specimens for identification for the National Herbarium for ten years. By 1961 she had collected over 160 specimens. Two new types of fungi were named after her: Poria healeyi,[2] a previously unidentified fungus causing yellow straw rot in Mountain Ash, and Lambertella healeyi, a fungus growing on another fungus. She collected a total of over 500 specimens including animals and 80 species of moss.[3][4]

Scientific contribution

Neville Walters,[5][6] a scientist at the CSIRO, described Healey's contributions as "easily the best" of the 150 or more collectors Australia wide, and said "She knew every lyrebird in the park as well as many of the pilot birds, Crimson Rosellas and yellow robins."[7] Healey also contributed specimens to the National Museum of Victoria, the University of Melbourne and the National Herbarium.

Retirement and life final stages

In 1963, Healey married Tom McKean, a widower; he died in 1986.

In 1995 she became a resident of the Heytesbury Lodge nursing home at Cobden.

She was awarded a certificate of merit for outstanding support by the Save the Children Australia.

Her 100th birthday,[8] at Timboon was attended by over 100 friends and family.

She died 13 days before her 102nd birthday.[9][10][11][12]

Commemoration at the centenary of Tarra-Bulga National Park

Kara Healey commemorative plaque

In 2007 a special ceremony was held at Tarra Valley Park, now part of Tarra-Bulga National Park, as part of the centennial celebrations, to unveil a special tribute to the first woman park ranger and the contribution she made to the understanding of the ecology of the valley known as Tarra Valley.[13][14]

Notes

  • Newspaper article:- Sunday Pioneer, Lucknow. India. Article - Mistress of the Lyrebird.13 September 1953. written by John Loughlin. Courtesy- Australian High Commissioners Office. New Delhi
  • Book:- Discover Historic Gippsland. Written by Mary Ryllis Clark
  • Alberton Shire Council Meeting transcript:

References

  1. ↑ Document:- Parks Victoria Media Release dated 16 June 2006. Parks Victoria pays tribute to Kara Moana Healey after her death. Titled :- Pioneering Life of Victorias First Female Park Ranger Celebrated
  2. ↑ Scientific Publication "Transactions of the British Mycological Society". See works published Poria healeyi sp.nov. the causal fungus of yellow straw rot in Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata Sm.) N.E.M. Walters Division of Forest Products, C.S.I.R.O., Australia Accepted 18 April 1957
  3. ↑ National Herbarium listings
  4. ↑ Friends of Tarra-Bulga National Park tribute to Kara Healey.
  5. ↑ Scientific Publication:- "Transactions of the British Mycological Society". See works published Poria healeyi sp.nov. the causal fungus of yellow straw rot in Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata Sm.) N.E.M. Walters Division of Forest Products, C.S.I.R.O., Australia Accepted 18 April 1957
  6. ↑ Brian Walters son of Neville Walters remembers - see his Blog
  7. ↑ Extracts from Newspaper article:- The Age. Melbourne. Victoria. 28 November 1992. Travel Extra 13 Article title:- Love Affair with a Valley. Written by Mary Ryllis Clark
  8. ↑ The Yarram Standard News. Yarram, Victoria. 7 July 2004 Article title:- Former Tarra Valley Ranger turns 100
  9. ↑ Parks Victoria Media Release dated 16 June 2006. Parks Victoria pays tribute to Kara Moana Healey after her death. Titled :- Pioneering Life of Victorias First Female Park Ranger Celebrated
  10. ↑ Obituaries The Age 22 June 1906. Title:- Pioneering Ranger Dies
  11. ↑ The Herald Sun. Melbourne. Victoria. 19 July 2006. Obituary. Title:- First Female Park Ranger Collected 100s of Species
  12. ↑ The Yarram Standard News. Yarram, Victoria. Obituary. 28 June 2006
  13. ↑ Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Parks Victoria Heritage publication.
  14. ↑ ABC Gippsland coverage of the centennial celebrations at Tarra-Bulga National Park
  • Friends of Tarra-Bulga National Park website
  • Tarra-Bulga National Park (PDF) (Map). Parks Victoria, Government of Victoria. November 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 November 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  • Tarra Valley Rainforest Walk
  • Fern Gully Nature Walk
  • Gippsland’s official tourism website – Tarra Bulga National Park
  • Catrice, Daniel (c. 1996). "Tarra-Bulga National Park" (PDF). Victoria's Heritage (PDF). Parks Victoria, Government of Victoria. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
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