Farmer's legacy lives on in wildflower he discovered before tragic death

A West Australian farmer who died fighting a devastating bushfire has been posthumously honoured with a native flowering plant he discovered two years before his death.

Ravensthorpe Shire deputy president and farmer Mark Mudie died in December last year while battling a blaze at West River that destroyed more than 5,000 hectares of farmland.

The plant, believed to be a hybrid species of hakea, is being planted today in Ravensthorpe, about 500 kilometres south of Perth, to remember and celebrate his life.

Mr Mudie's son Nathan said his father often wandered the bushland around the community, drawn to region's native flora.

"I remember the day dad found it, driving in the truck during seeding, and he called me up and said, 'I found a plant that I've never seen before'," he said.

"I didn't think much of it, but he was very excited about it and got some samples taken away.

"It was a bit of a rare thing to have out in our area, but Dad was very proud to find it."

Sitting adjacent to the Fitzgerald River National Park, the region's biodiversity attracts visitors from around Australia every year for its natural wildflower displays.

Nathan Mudie said the flowers were one of his father's passions, which he often shared with the family.

"He quite enjoyed the wildflower season in Ravensthorpe and used to always pick a bunch of wildflowers and bring it back home for Mum," he said.

"He was right into his wildflowers."

Plant returned to family 

Ravensthorpe Wildflower Show and Herbarium coordinator Sue Leighton said Mark Mudie would often send her photos of flowers he saw to learn their names.

When he discovered the unusual hakea, she was one of the first people he called.

"He sent me a photo and said, 'Sue, I don't know what this is, I've never seen it before?'"

Ms Leighton said.

"He sent a picture of this hakea that was about two-and-a-half metres high and about two-and-a-half wide and full of big blooms on it."

Ms Leighton said three of the herbarium staff went out to examine the plant and take cuttings for further examination.

"One taxonomist has said that it's just a subspecies of another one, but there's never been any seed on it at all, so we do believe it is a hybrid," she said.

"I've got those two plants that Kings Park has given us, and we're doing a ceremony planting of the one that will go in the herbarium garden at Ravensthorpe, and the other one will go to his wife, Elaine."

Kings Park senior plant breeder Digby Growns said it was an impressive specimen, and worthy of horticultural attention.

"It was covered in these globular flowers, similar to Hakea laurina, and we presumed it was a hybrid with that species and another unknown species," he said.

Mr Growns took several cuttings in a bid to propagate the plant.

"First to bring it into cultivation and protect it, given there was only a single plant," he said.

"And then to have a look at it, to see if there was any opportunity for making it commercially available."  

Mudie Surprise

Ms Leighton said it could take years for the taxonomy of the plant to be finalised, but the herbarium was hoping, in time, the hakea could be named in honour of Mark Mudie.

"If it was something that could be grown as a hybrid, it could be given a name," she said.

"It won't have a species name on it, it will just have a trade name ... It could be called Mudie Surprise."

Nathan Mudie said with just the planting of the hakea, the remembrance and recognition of his father's discovery had touched the family.

"It's a very nice tribute that the community and everyone's decided to do, and for us as a family, it was very, very touching for us, and it's very nice to be here," he said.

"I think he'll be very proud of that and of how the community rallied together, and it shows the person that he was."