Thomas, Patricia Marietje (Pat) (1915–1999)

Patricia Marietje Thomas (1915-1999), parasitologist, was born on 13 April 1915 at Windsor, Melbourne, elder of two daughters of Sir Douglas Mawson, geologist and Antarctic explorer, and his wife Francisca Adriana (Paquita), née Delprat, community worker, writer, and daughter of Dutch mining engineer Guillaume Delprat. As an infant, Pat was raised by her maternal grandmother, aunt, and uncle in San Francisco, United States of America, while her parents were in London contributing to the war effort. Returning to Australia with her grandmother and aunt towards the end of 1918, she grew up at Brighton, a beachside suburb of Adelaide, then considered an outer suburb.