Elizabeth Truswell was born on 15 October 1941 at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. Her father was a mine surveyor and her mother a schoolteacher. She completed most of her primary and secondary schooling in Perth and her tertiary education at the University of Western Australia (BSc (Hons) 1966) and the University of Cambridge (PhD, 1968).

Truswell had a distinguished career with the Bureau of Mineral Resources Canberra (later Australian Geological Survey Organisation) from 1973, holding the position of Chief Research Scientist in Palynology from 1990-97. She published more than 80 scientific papers, dealing with issues of the evolution of Australian climates and vegetation, and undertook extensive research in Antarctic geology, under the auspices of the international Ocean Drilling Program. Her leadership in her field was acknowledged when she was elected to the Australian Academy of Science (AAS) in 1985

In 1997 Truswell took early retirement to complete a degree in Visual Arts at the Australian National University and now does landscape drawings where she aims to convey an interface between her scientific understanding of landscape and the landscape itself.

Published Resources

Online Resources

• Campbell, Ken, 'Dr Elizabeth Truswell: Geologist', in Interviews With Australian Scientists, Interview transcript, Australian Acadamy of Science, 6 December 2000, http://www.science.org.au/scientists/interviews/t/et.html. Details
• Walker, Rosanne, 'Truswell, Elizabeth Marchant (1941 - )', in Encyclopedia of Australian Science, The University of Melbourne: eScholarship Research Centre, 25 May 2006, http://www.eoas.info/biogs/P003648b.htm. Details

See also

• 'Truswell, Elizabeth Marchant', The Australian Women's Register, National Foundation for Australian Women, http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE5340b.htm. Details