Farmer honoured with discovery before bushfire death
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Mark Mudie, a farmer in Western Australia, is being remembered through the planting of a native wildflower he discovered before he died fighting a bushfire.
Mudie noticed the unusual red-flowering hakea while working on his farm near Ravensthorpe, approximately 500 kilometers south of Perth, two years ago. He contacted Sue Leighton, coordinator at the Ravensthorpe Wildflower Show and Herbarium, to help identify the plant, which experts now believe to be a hybrid species.
After Mudie died battling a blaze that burned over 5,000 hectares, Leighton and staff from Kings Park took cuttings to propagate the plant and ensure its survival. They are currently working to confirm its taxonomy, and hope to eventually name the hakea in his honour, possibly as “Mudie Surprise”. Mudie’s son, Nathan, shared that his father had a passion for the region’s native flora and often shared his discoveries with the family.
The planting of the hakea serves as a tribute to Mudie’s life and his connection to the land, and the community hopes it will become a lasting symbol of his legacy.
