130th Anniversary of the Birth of Isobel Wylie Hutchison

That the Parliament commemorates the 130th anniversary of the birth of the Scottish explorer, author, documentary filmmaker and botanist, Isobel Wylie Hutchison, in West Lothian on 30 May 1889; understands that Hutchison trained in horticulture and that her love of botany opened the door to a life of adventure, which took her to Iceland in 1925, walking the length of the country without a map or guide, and to Greenland in 1927, when she became probably the first Scotswoman ever to set foot there in the post-Viking era; recognises that she also travelled to the Arctic, filming and writing about the things that she saw around her, including the landscape, wildflowers and the daily lives of indigenous people; considers that Hutchison’s interest in the domestic details of life in the Arctic set her work apart from that of other polar explorers; further considers that while she is less well-known than many of her male contemporaries within the fields of exploration and botany, her achievements were extraordinary; notes that, in 1934, Hutchison was awarded the Mungo Park Medal by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in recognition of her outstanding contributions to geographical knowledge through exploration and research; further notes that, in recognition of this important anniversary year, her birthplace, Carlowrie Castle, has worked with the Royal Scottish Geographical Society to launch the Isobel Wylie Hutchison Collection, which seeks to bring her extraordinary exploits to new audiences in current and future generations, and hopes that people will be inspired by Hutchison’s intrepid explorations.