Joan Dingley

Early life Dingley was born in Parnell, Auckland on the 14 May 1916 to Harriet Griffiths and Captain Thomas Dingley. She was the second-youngest child in the family, who re-located to the Auckland suburb of Remuera in the early 1920s, where Dingley would live for the rest of her life. Her father died in 1925, when she was nine.

Dingley's mother was an enthusiastic gardener and encouraged her daughter's interest in plants. This interest was also encouraged by Dingley's schools, including the Ladies' College of Remuera and Auckland Diocesan School for Girls.

Dingley was given the choice between studying or staying at home, as she could not afford to do both. She decided to study science at Auckland University College, majoring in zoology and biology. She graduated in 1941 with an MSc, with her thesis focusing on ferns.

During the Second World War, Dingley commenced her 35-year career at Mount Albert in the herbarium due to a shortage of males who were away fighting in the war. For a long time she was the only botanist in government services. She worked on techniques on mould-proofing tents and radio equipment for troops in the Pacific. As there was not much literature on this topic, Dingley and her colleagues had to resort to German texts, which entailed her learning German.

Dingley aided in newfound knowledge on mycology by leading multiple projects such as finding toxins that caused eczema in sheep and cattle, studying international plant diseases, training law enforcement on identifying cannabis and opium plants, and developing the New Zealand Fungal Herbarium, building specimen numbers from 4,000 to 35,000 by the time she retired.

Dingley also had a love for horticulture and gardening. She was a prime mover in the establishment of the Auckland Regional Botanic Gardens, and became an honorary life member of the ‘Friends’ of the gardens.

After World War II ended, she started a research group dedicated to learning more about New Zealand fungi. She would travel to the West Coast to collect specimens, and enjoyed these solo trips. She credits her self-sufficiency and independence as a major advantage to her work. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1995 Queen's Birthday Honours, for services to botany. In 2004, Landcare Research named one of its Auckland laboratories the JM Dingley Microbiology Laboratory in her honour. She attended the naming ceremony.

In 2017, Dingley was selected as one of the Royal Society Te Apārangi's "150 women in 150 words", celebrating the contributions of women to knowledge in New Zealand.