‘The Miss E. L. Hellaby Indigenous Grasslands Research Trust’ Poster

c. 2004

Botany Department, University of Otago

Unpublished

In the late 1950s, Eleanor Lillywhite Hellaby (d. 1967), daughter of William Hellaby of the Hellaby butchery empire, was looking for a worthy cause to benefit from her estate after her death. In 1959, Miss Hellaby (known as Lilly) was persuaded by her brother Arthur and Gordon Cunningham, a DSIR plant scientist, to set up the Miss E. L. Hellaby Indigenous Grasslands Research Trust. At the time indigenous grasslands were being steadily eroded by the encroachment of pastoral farming and there was a lack of funding for research into and support of these important ecological areas. Arthur Hellaby thought that since the Hellaby family livelihood had gained so much from the land, it was an admirable opportunity to give something back. Notable Chairs of the Trust have included Professors Geoff Baylis and Sir Alan Mark.