Mary Sutherland

Mary Sutherland (4 May 1893 – 11 March 1955) was a New Zealand forester and botanist. She was born in London, England in 1893.

Biography Early life Sutherland was born in London on 4 May 1893 to Helen (Nellie) Miller Sutherland, a teacher, and her husband, David Sutherland, a medical wine manufacturer. She was the fourth sister of five, including Catherine (Kate), Helen (Nell), Margret (Daisy), and Anne (Nancy).

She travelled extensively throughout New Zealand for her job, visiting experimental nurseries and plantations around the country, and writing up her findings in reports, articles and papers.

In 1929 she undertook research to determine microscopic characters that could be used to identify the many exotic conifer species that had been brought to New Zealand over the previous 80 years for wood, paper, turpentine and resin.

During the years 1933 to 1936 New Zealand was suffering an economic depression which resulted in the Forest Service making severe cutbacks. These retrenchments included Sutherland's specialty area of research. In 1933, when she was 40 years old, Sutherland was laid off, but continued to serve on the Council of the New Zealand Forestry League. Her contribution to forestry continues to be commemorated each year with the presentation of the Mary Sutherland Award granted to a student member of the NZIF, The Mary Sutherland Award (sometimes called the Mary Sutherland Prize) at Bangor University, awarded to the best female forestry graduate from Bangor University. In 2017, Sutherland 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.