By Elisabeth Grove OAM
The appointment of Emma Johnston AO, a world-recognised leader in marine ecology and conservation, as Melbourne University’s first female Vice Chancellor, was greeted with joy in February 2025. Just ten months later, on 26th December, her untimely death at 52 from complications due to cancer unleashed tributes from around the country. But among the many accolades, Emma’s Williamstown origins and her formative years in the west were scarcely mentioned. This brief note adds a little to her story, celebrating her much-too-short life and acknowledging the profound loss of an extraordinary woman – to her family, friends and colleagues, her hometown, and the nation.
Born in Williamstown Hospital in 1973, the second child of Jan and Bob Johnston (between brothers Ben and Sam), Emma was a fifth-generation Williamstowner through her mother. Both parents were scientists: Jan, a chemist (also a painter and linguist), and Bob, an applied mathematician (Professor of Engineering at Monash and incurable bibliophile). They nurtured Emma’s curiosity and independence, the breadth of her interests and her extraordinary career. Not only an academic high achiever, she was also a talented flautist and music teacher while still a student.
Emma’s lifelong love of the sea began in Williamstown. Growing up round the corner from Willy Beach – swimming, snorkelling, sailing, sea-scouting – she discovered the complex interconnections among living things. After Williamstown Primary School, a music scholarship to University High, science at Melbourne University and presidency of the student union. The ground-breaking research of her PhD in Marine Ecology, on the effects of toxic contaminants on marine and estuarine waterways, was seminal to her life’s work.
Her intellectual rigour and energy were soon recognised at the University of New South Wales, with rapid promotion and numerous awards – including a ‘Tall Poppy’ in 2007 from the Australian Institute of Policy and Science. In 2011, she became the inaugural director of the Sydney Harbour Trust, and in 2012, was declared NSW Scientist of the Year. As president of Science and Technology Australia, she helped set up the ‘Superstars of Stem’ program to raise the profile of women and non-binary scientists. Appointed UNSW’s Pro-Vice Chancellor and Dean of Science in 2017, she received an Officer of the Order of Australia award in 2018 and became Sydney University’s Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) in 2022.
Yet Emma was never an ‘ivory tower’ academic who sought personal acclaim. Modest and open-minded, she was intensely practical and collaborative. In field research that ranged from Sydney Harbour to Antarctica, from the Barrier Reef to temperate Australian estuaries, she was driven by a passion to save the oceans from pollution and climate change. A brilliant teacher and communicator, she appeared in several episodes of the ABC‘s Catalyst program and the BBC’s Coast Australia, radiating warmth, boundless energy and optimism.
Emma’s appointment in 2025 as Melbourne University’s 21st Vice Chancellor was an inspired choice at a time when fresh leadership and change were desperately needed. Her return to Melbourne was also a welcome opportunity to bring her family closer to relatives and friends after 20 years away. That it was to last so few months was devastating to all who knew, loved and admired her.
Despite her many achievements, Emma’s love of family was paramount. A great mum and a very good cook, she juggled those demands with an amazing professional career, combining brilliance with openness, confidence with modesty, and grit with humour – all in equal measure. Deepest sympathies to her husband Sam, children Amelia and Antonin, mother Jan, brother Sam and extended family.
