Friends honour scientist’s last wish
WISHES can still be fulfilled though the person requesting it is long gone.
According to an article by The Fiji Times on July 2, 1983, the ashes of an Australian scientist who did geological research work in Fiji in the 1950s were scattered in the Suva harbour.
Dr Irene Crespin, 84, had her last wish fulfilled three years after her death when family friends cast ashes in the sea.
Dr Crespin, a distinguished Australian micropaleontologist who died in 1980 had, requested in her will that her ashes be cast into the sea in Fiji.
Before her retirement in 1961, she had in the 1950s provided information to the Fiji Geological Survey, now the Mineral Resources Department, by studying the microfossils in samples of rocks from various parts of the country.
James Rodda and his wife Thelma, who were retired schoolteachers from Australia, brought the ashes to Fiji at the request of Dr Crispin’s nephew.
The Rodda couple had a son, Peter Rodda, a geologist who worked for the department in Fiji.
At nine o’clock that morning, the Rodda family left the Suva Yacht Club and headed for the harbour bay where they scattered ashes.
Dr Crespin was born in 1896 gained her Bachelor of Arts degree from Melbourne University in 1919.
According to Peter Rodda, she spent several years teaching and doing part time research work with the Victorian Geological Survey, before being appointed assistant Commonwealth paleontologist in 1927.
Later in 1936, she was appointed the Commonwealth paleontologist in the newly-created geological branch of the Department of Home Affairs.
Mr Rodda told The Fiji Times that part of her early work involved providing almost single-handed, a fundamental important fossil expertise for companies and government involved in the search for petroleum in Australia and Papua New Guinea.
“She retired in 1961 as chief, macro paleontologist and supervisory geologist in the Bureau of Mineral Resources in Canberra.
“By then she had produced 87 scientific papers, a single author, 23 jointauthor and more than 100 open file reports and notes,” Mr Rodda said
She retired in 1961 as chief, macro paleontologist
and supervisory geologist in the Bureau of Mineral Resources in Canberra
– Mr Peter Rodda