Tuesday, May 07, 2013

University of Otago awards Audrey Eagle an honorary Doctor of Science degree for her botanical contribution to New Zealand


Photograph right by McRobie Studios, Dunedin www.mcrobie.co.nz
On Saturday, the University of Otago awarded Audrey Eagle an honorary Doctor of Science degree for her botanical contribution to New Zealand, notably for her two-volume publication Eagle’s Complete Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand.
‘They made a great big effort for me and it was just lovely. The whole thing was thrilling’ Audrey said after the award, before a special dinner held in her honour. She added that ‘Dr Audrey Eagle’ has a nice ring to it.
Otago University vice-chancellor Prof Harlene Hayne praised Mrs Eagle's ‘enormous contributions to botany and conservation’ and said it was fitting
that the only university in New Zealand to retain a stand-alone botany department was honouring her in this way.
Eagle's award-winning two-volume boxed set Complete Trees and Shrubs of New Zealand was published by Te Papa Press in 2007, and contains 806 painstakingly hand-painted plates.
In September this year, Te Papa Press will publish The Essential Audrey Eagle: Botanical Art of New Zealand. Publisher Claire Murdoch said ‘Over the years we have been inundated with requests from readers eager to purchase a smaller or more affordable edition of the ‘big book’ – and having carried the 6-kilo original in my suitcase on a number of occasions, I can only agree! Like Audrey, we are really delighted that so many New Zealanders and visitors can now enjoy these incomparable paintings – representing her life’s work – in a more convenient size. The proofs have just come in and it really is a stunningly beautiful publication’.

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