All creatures great and small?

Children's nature education has long been intertwined with moral and religious teaching. The nature study movement which blossomed around the turn of the twentieth century was celebrated as a way to encourage respect for God's creation and to foster proper Christian behaviour in young citizens, but also as a means of inculcating a properly scientific attitude which some later practitioners argued ran counter to religious or 'superstitious' beliefs. There were disagreements about the precise roles religion and science should play in the nature study classroom, particularly in Australia's nominally secular system. But the belief that the study of the environment could, and should, offer something morally uplifting and transcendent to students, was strikingly consistent. To explore these complex histories of religious belief, atheism, science, and education between 1884 and 1952, Ruby introduces three women who offered differing visions of faith and nature at school: philanthropist and animal protectionist Marie Ellis, nature writer Amy Mack, and botanist and teacher Thistle Harris.

This talk draws from Ruby's ongoing research as the 2026 Australian Religious History Fellow at the State Library of New South Wales. Illustrated with rich archival finds that feature the environmental and spiritual perspectives of both children and adults, Ruby examines historical contests that still shape debate around potent questions for educators, politicians and parents: what should we teach young people about their natural world, and to what purpose?

Dr Ruby Ekkel is an Associate Lecturer in History at the Australian National University and the Australian Religious History Fellow at the State Library of New South Wales. Her research spans women’s history, histories of science and religion, and environmental history. She was recently awarded the CHASS Future Leaders Writing Prize for an emerging leader under the age of 35 for an outstanding written contribution in the Humanities, Arts or Social Sciences, for her journal article ‘Making Friends with Lyre-Birds’ in Settler Colonial Studies. She was a resident fellow at the University of Oxford, Christ Church College, during her graduate research.

Images: Junior Tree Warden no. 5 (1944-45), front cover; Child's drawing from nature study excursion, 1951, drawn from Box 23, David Stead and Thistle Harris Papers, ML MSS 5715 (25), State Library of New South Wales, Sydney; Author photo by Joy Lai.