Lynne Milne

Lynne is a palynologist and Adjunct Research Fellow in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS) at Curtin University. She graduated in 1981 from UWA with First Class Hons in Geology and worked as a consultant to the mining and petroleum industries before completing a PhD at the University of Queensland in 1997, during which time she also worked as a Forensic palynologist on a murder case. Her thesis looked at the relationship between fossil proteaceous pollen from Eocene sediments in WA, and pollen of extant Proteaceae.

After a UWA Reentry Fellowship in 1999-2001 she joined the Centre for Forensic Science (UWA) for several years before moving to Curtin University as a Senior Lecturer in the now EPS until 2013.

Lynne's specialty is palynology of Cretaceous to Recent sediments - the period of flowering plants. As palynology is useful in many other disciplines it has seen her work in the forensic arena on murders (including the Rayney case), rapes and the provenance of drugs. More recently she spent 6 years consulting to the ChemCentre WA on a large honey project working towards the international certification of Western Australia's iconic Jarrah and Marri honeys.

The Hons and Postgrad students Lynne has supervised or assisted have come from many different disciplines including geology, forensic science, entomology, botany, zoology, and environmental science. Author of A Grain of truth, published by New Holland in 2005, Lynne continues to conduct research and consult in many interesting areas.