Marks, Elizabeth Nesta (1918 - 2002)

Her Honours project was of such high quality that it was automatically converted to a Masters Degree which was conferred in 1940. Marks then took up a post as an assistant curator at Queensland University’s pathology museum and also demonstrated in the medical school for Mr Perkins (entomologist and lecturer). With the outbreak of war there were also outbreaks of malaria and dengue fever in Cairns and the tropics, so Perkins was employed by the Australian Army to train select members at the army malaria control schools. Marks was brought in to assist with the collection of material for these training classes. Then in 1943 the university established the Mosquito Control Committee (MCC), with Perkins as Secretary, to study Queensland mosquitoes and Pat Marks successfully applied for the post of MCC Graduate Research Assistant. She remained with the MCC until it was dissolved by the government in 1973 and during this time undertook numerous field trips and made many new discoveries.

In 1949 Pat Marks went to Europe for a ten month study trip and then decided to enroll in a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in insect physiology at the University of Cambridge. During this time she also joined the Royal Entomological Society of London. Upon completing her PhD, Marks returned to Australia and the MCC (1951). She was soon dispatched to Victoria as an assistant to Dr Bill Reeves who was in Mildura carrying out field research on the then current outbreak of Murray Valley Encephalitis. In 1952 Marks was also sent to Townsville in Queensland to investigate an outbreak there and later went to some of the islands of the north coast, in the Torres Straits. From 1951 to 1973 she also ran a number of other projects which included the study of the insects used by the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) Wildlife Survey Section for the introduction of myxomatosis in rabbits, a collaboration with the Queensland Institute of Medical Research which included her collecting widely throughout rural Australia and the Torres Strait Islands, and she trained many of Queensland’s health inspectors.

After the MCC closed down, Marks was transferred to the Queensland Institute of Medical Research where she was appointed Principal Entomologist. She officially retired in 1983 but remained on at the Institute to continue her work. The results of Mark’s many studies and field trips led to the production of major publications including the Atlas of Common Queensland Mosquitoes (1966) and the twelve volume set The Culicidae of Australasia (1980-1989). Her work also led to major breakthroughs and the discovery of at least thirty-eight new mosquito species, as well as new species of other insects including fruit flies, bugs, cockroaches and ticks. Marks was also a long-term and active member of the Queensland Naturalists Club with whom she helped preserve the Bora rings (indigenous ceremonial sites) in Samford, south-eastern Queensland. In 1990 Patricia Marks was appointed a Commander Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for her services to science, particularly entomology.

Chronology

1920	Migrated to Australia (Brisbane) with her family
1938	Bachelor of Science (BSc) completed at the University of Queensland
1939	Assistant Curator of the Pathology Museum at the University of Queensland
c. 1939 - c. 1940	Tutor of Medical Entomology at the University of Queensland
1940	Master of Science (MSc) completed at the University of Queensland
1942 - 1943	Assistant epidemiologist to F. A. Perkins in Queensland
1943 - 1973	Graduate Research Assistant of the Mosquito Control Committee, University of Queensland
1944	Study visit to the Zoology Department of the University of Sydney to work with D. J. Lee and visiting US Army member W. V. King
1946 - 1948	Anopheline mosquito surveys at Lucinda Point in Queensland
1947	Investigated Culicoides biting midges at Gladstone and mosquitoes in McKay, Queensland
1949	Study visit to Amsterdam, the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and the British Museum of Natural History (ten months)
1949 - 1951	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Zoology completed at the University of Cambridge, UK
1951	Returned to Australia and to the Mosquito Control Committee
1951 - 1952	Field work in Mildura and Townsville (Murray Valley Encephalitis outbreaks)
1951 - 1956	Analysis of specimens from the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) Wildlife Survey Section
1952	President of the Queensland Naturalists Club
1954	Marine insect collection field trip to Low Isles and Heron Island
1958 - 1979	Five collection trips to Papua New Guinea
1959	President of the Royal Society of Queensland
1966	Trained Queensland Health Inspectors
1973	Trained Queensland Health Inspectors
1973 - 1983	Principal Entomologist at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research
1979 - 1985	Field trips to North Queensland and Tasmania
1986	Belkin Award received from the American Mosquito Association

• Pat Marks, Australian Workers Heritage Centre, http://www.australianworkersheritagecentre.com.au/10_pdf/marks.pdf. [ Details ]