Ethel
McLennan was one of seven women to graduate in the first generation
of Biological Sciences students who attained the rank of lecturer or
above under Baldwin Spencer. She was one of five to be awarded the DSc.
Her interest in botany began at Tintern Ladies' College where she was
taught by Georgina Sweet. A brilliant student, she graduated BSc with
honours in 1914 and was appointed lecturer the following year. She was
the first to teach mycology and plant pathology. She gained her DSc
in 1921, and won the 1927 David Syme research prize for work on the
endophytic fungus related to the seed of the grass Lolium.
McLennan was appointed Associate Professor in 1931 and apart from a
brief period as Acting Head of Department remained in this position
until her retirement in 1957.
Her expertise in the field of plant disease was widely appreciated
and she travelled the country in the course of numerous consultancies.
During World War II, she was one of the Melbourne University group
working on making optical instruments to be used in the tropics as proof
against fungal infection.
'Dr Mac' was an influential figure in organisations supporting women
in science in Australia. Within the University, she was active in Staff
and Distaff and the Women of the University Fund.She occupied positions
of national and international importance in the Victorian Women Graduates'
Association, as President of the Australian Federation of University
Women in 1934 and the Australian Pan-Pacific Women's Committee in 1929.
She was a member of the Garden Committee at Como House and the Lyceum
Club.
McLennan is remembered particularly for her support of colleagues and
students, support which was practical as well as moral. In October 2000
Dr Sophie Ducker presented to the University the 103-year-old academic
gown bequeathed to her by Dr Mac, who had herself inherited it from
the first Professor of Botany and Plant Physiology, Alfred James Ewart.
