Bedggood, Stella Amelia (née Neville)   (1916 - 1978)

Born on 27 May 1916 at Hartley Wintney, Hampshire, England; died on 27 May 1978 at Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.

The date of her migration to Australia is not known.

Having no training in natural history, she took a course at the Victorian Forestry School in the identification of plants and the collection and mounting of specimens. In the process she was in contact with Jim Willis who became a family friend.

Her husband, Edwin (Ted) who she married in 1940, was a woodcutter supplying firewood to the people of Ballarat. Stella was often in the bush with him.

She was a naturalist who made a significant contribution to the Field Naturalists Club of Ballarat. She held office in the Club continuously for 18 years: she was made a Life Member in 1972 in recognition of the role she played in the Club. She was noted for encouraging other to join the Club, such as Patricia Murphy.

Her main interest was in conservation advocacy for which she believed should be based on research and local knowledge. In this she was particularly successful. She was influential as an advisor to Sovereign Hill on the planting of indigenous trees and shrubs.

Her photographs of birds and plants showed the same meticulously high standard she brought to all her work and won her many awards.

She specialised particularly in terrestrial orchids and their habitat and built up a fine collection of films, drawings and notes on this subject.

The Stella Bedggood Memorial Lecture was inaugurated by the Club in 1979 to honour her contributions to conservation and the Club.

Grevillea bedggoodiana J.H. Willis ex D.J.McGillivray (1986), is an endemic plant of restricted distribution in the Ballarat area. The specific name honours her as "a foundation member of the Ballarat Field Naturalists' Club, whose special interest was the Enfield State Forest to which this species is confined".

Source: Extracted from:
https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P008045b.htm
Margaret Hotheram (1978) Obituary - Stella Bedggood, The Ballarat Naturalist, 1978:Jul, p.5-7.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/227859920/stella_amelia-bedggood
https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/stella-amelia-neville-24-2q0gnff?geo_a=r&geo_s=us&geo_t=us&geo_v=2.0.0&o_xid=62916&o_lid=62916&o_sch=Partners
Portrait Photo: none known.

Collecting localities for 'Bedggood, S.' from AVH (2026)

Data from 15 specimens