Margaret Thorsborne

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Margaret Grace Thorsborne AO (3 June 1927 – 16 October 2018) was an Australian naturalist, conservationist and environmental activist. With her husband Arthur Thorsborne, she helped start and run a long-term program to monitor and protect the Torresian imperial-pigeon on the Brook Islands near Hinchinbrook Island, Far North Queensland. Later, she worked to protect Queensland’s Wet Tropics World Heritage Area and animals such as the southern cassowary, mahogany glider and dugong.

Born Margaret Kemp-Pennefather in 1927, she was the daughter of Lionel Hugh Kemp-Pennefather and Constance (née Keys), a decorated nurse. She was the granddaughter of botanist James Keys. She married Arthur Thorsborne in 1963.

The couple lived on Queensland’s Gold Coast and helped found the Gold Coast branch of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland. They began visiting Hinchinbrook Island in 1964. In 1972 they moved to Meunga Creek near Cardwell, living on a property called Galmara with wetlands and rainforest facing Hinchinbrook Island across the Hinchinbrook Channel. They donated the property in 1980 to extend Edmund Kennedy National Park. Arthur Thorsborne died in 1991. The Thorsborne Trail on Hinchinbrook Island is named after them.

From 1965, the Thorsbornes started a long-term monitoring program for Torresian imperial-pigeons on the Brook Islands, the birds’ southernmost breeding area. The pigeons arrive in August to breed and feed on rainforest fruits on the island and nearby areas. Although the species has had legal protection since 1877, pigeons were often shot as they returned to feed their chicks, and the breeding population had dropped to about 3,000.

The monitoring program helped protect the colony and track its numbers. Margaret and Arthur later worked with zoologist John Winter from the Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service to improve counting and gain more government support. Since 1965, illegal shooting declined and pigeon numbers grew to more than 40,000.

Margaret also supported conservation by creating and sending over 2,500 envelopes with messages to friends, politicians and agencies, often with matching stamps. She sold conservation-themed cards to raise money for the cause.