John Pate’s long life dedicated to botany and tertiary education recognised on Australia Day honours list

A long journey from England to Denmark — via Belfast, Sydney, and Cape Town — has led Professor John Pate to become the latest Great Southern resident on the Australia Day honours list. Professor Pate, 91, said his appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to botany and tertiary education came as “a bit of a surprise”. It is the latest honour for a man who also has a fellowship of the prestigious Royal Society of London, an induction into the WA Science Hall of Fame, and a centenary medal to his name. He has also been an author or co-author of more than 500 publications including books, monographs, reviews and research articles. Professor Pate said his passion for botany germinated from time spent working in the garden with his father. “He had a frustrated interest in gardening but never had the time,” he said. “We lived in a small little garden and from age three onwards I was working in the garden with him, so there’s always been that interest.” After completing his PhD in 1956 while working as an assistant lecturer at Belfast’s Queen’s University, Professor Pate spent a period at the University of Sydney from 1957-60 as a lecturer in botany. He then returned to Queen’s University for 13 years, where he rose through the ranks to become the personal chair of plant physiology. In 1973, he and his first wife Elizabeth made the decision to uproot their young family as “unfortunately Northern Ireland had unravelled with troubles of that time”. “We lived in an integrated area of Belfast where we’d hoped Catholics and Protestants would stay together — that was our dream, but of course it all came unstuck,” he said. “You had people coming to your home saying ‘we know every Catholic and Protestant on your estate, if you pay us some money we’ll let your children come home safely from school’. “I’m full of stories of this sort, so we left.” At that point, he was putting in applications “for every job that moved”. He was offered one in Reading, then Christchurch, and finally Perth thanks to then University of Western Australia vice-chancellor Robert Whelan who was on the lookout for a new botany professor. He and his family were on their way to WA, but not before a nine-month stop in Cape Town for a visiting fellowship. “So we left Northern Ireland, where law and order had completely gone down the drain, and then we went to South Africa to a very interesting and apartheid time,” he said. “So the boys then suddenly went to Cape Town, as young adolescents, where you come to attention and call the teacher by sir, and the discipline was terribly strict. “Then they came to Perth and went to Christ Church (Grammar), there they began talking to teachers by their Christian names — so they were having all sorts of experiences.” From 1973-2000, he worked in UWA’s botany department, where he became head of the department as well as its chair. On retirement, he and Elizabeth moved to a property in Denmark, which Professor Pate described as “just a field at the time”. They had a 1926 settler’s cottage moved on to the site and refurbished by local builders. Naturally, a busy and productive garden featuring more than 800 species has also built up over the past 22 years; because “it’s the first time I’ve stayed long enough to do it” Professor Pate said. Elizabeth was diagnosed with myelofibrosis two years after moving to Denmark, and Professor Pate nursed her until her death in 2004. He spent the next seven years alone and “threw himself into everything”. “I started playing trombone, played in the Albany City Band for 15 years, and I also did a lot of writing of books,” he said. “Then I was very lucky through church to meet up with Trudy (his current wife) in 2011, and she’s absolutely terrific.” The nonagenarian’s distinguished career in science seemed unlikely at times had it not been for several “watershed moments”. One of those came when he was on the brink of expulsion from the elite public school he had received a scholarship to attend. Professor Pate described how he “hated the first two years” when he did “all sorts of very naughty things”, which led to a “couple of really good punishments with the cane from the headmaster”. He said his headmaster had suggested a switch to science because Latin had been his best subject at the time, and that he could always spot a good scientist from someone who is interested in Latin. “I suddenly realised my interest in nature was something that could be catered for as a subject,” he said. “I then got the scholarship to Queen’s University in Belfast, and that’s where I did my various degrees — MSC, PhD and a doctorate of science.” Another moment Professor Pate considers a watershed is his conversation with Professor Whelan which resulted in him coming to WA. A different kind of self-realisation came shortly after his induction as a fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1985. He said he had a “hate (for) any sort of power and privilege” and initially felt uncomfortable as part of the society because of his working-class background. “People were saying all sorts of nice things, then I suddenly went into an incredible pathos,” he said. On his return to Perth, Professor Pate talked to a psychologist friend who offered him some counselling. He said his friend told him he was on the autism spectrum. “I was always incredibly shy — I used to rehearse what I’d say to people so much,” he said. “I found it very hard to receive affection, or give it — all those sorts of things. “I found I never understood what praise was or wasn’t, and then you look at the vocabulary of all the things for autism, it made sense.” Over the years, Professor Pate said he had taken pride in remaining modest and being able to “converse with anybody”. He said another “most formative moment” was when he smoothly transitioned from teaching “high-born university people” to members of the Belfast Workers Education Association. “That was sending knowledgeable people out to give series of lectures to people who had very poor backgrounds,” he said. “There I had to spin all my biology in an understandable way — I went right back to the very basics and those people were so keen.” While he was a noted hard worker throughout his long career, Professor Pate also acknowledged he felt lucky. “My whole career was very lucky — I was not a regular schoolteacher who had terrible kids to look after and discipline,” he said. “Everyone there wants to learn, which makes it all very easy.”