Kimberley identity, renowned author and environmentalist, Pat Lowe passed away peacefully on the 2nd July 2026 in Broome.
Pat grew up in England where at the age of 11 she dreamed of migrating to Australia. Soon she was a teaching assistant at a school in France, and a postwoman in Surrey before heading off to teach in East African schools in the mid-1960s. Pat had a great sense of adventure and an incredible interest in life and people, but most of all in the natural world.
In 1972 she sailed into Fremantle on a Russian ship, and became an Australian citizen. Pat put her psychologist training to good use at the Department for Community Welfare, before becoming a clinical psychologist at the WA Prisons Department. She moved to the Kimberley in the late 70s after meeting Jimmy Pike, and continued her prison work until 1987.
Pat fell in love with the Kimberley landscapes including the pindan, the desert and Boab trees, which became the subject of one of her many books (The Boab Tree). She was a naturalist with an eye for detail and an interest in the smallest of things. Pat found termites fascinating and learned all she could about them. She quizzed local Aboriginal people with their knowledge of nature, as well as termite experts. Again, she couldn’t resist turning her fascination into a book (Our friends the Termites).
Pat on a mammal trapping excursion on Mornington Station - photo Maria Mann
Pat’s companion was international artist, Jimmy Pike. One of her defining experiences was living with him at Kurlku in the southern Kimberley’s Great Sandy Desert. Pat learnt Walmajarri vocabulary and loved recounting stories of her time there and experiences with Jimmy, his family and friends. Pat savoured life so close to nature. Many of her 19 books recount the lives of her friends and family in the desert and their extraordinary stories of pre-contact life. A number were published through Broome Indigenous publishing house Magabala Books.
In the mid 90s, a dark cloud emerged over the West Kimberley in the form of a mega cotton proposal to utilise the free flowing waters of the Fitzroy River, the Martuwarra. Concerns grew in the Fitzroy Valley. Pat, highly attuned to local sentiment through Jimmy and his relations, started to organise the resistance with people in Broome and Derby. She was one of the founders of conservation group, Environs Kimberley. Formed to protect the river, it grew to cover the entire Kimberley region.
A volunteer organisation, EK soon became a force to be reckoned with and joined the Aboriginal alliance Bandaralngari to successfully protect the river. Pat was Chairperson and a Board member for decades. She was the editor in chief of the EK newsletter for 29 years.
Famous for her love of grammar and good writing, Pat was a sought after editor. Pat set up a book publishing organisation with her friends, Backroom Press, constantly encouraging people to write and publish.
Pat’s books are highly regarded with Desert Dog winning the 1998 Western Australian Premier's Children's Book Award and Children's Book Council of Australia Notable Book. The Girl With No Name, published by Penguin in 1994, was shortlisted for the Multicultural Children's Literature Award and has been published in Italian. She’s also been published in China.
One of her last books, Life in the Pindan, was her love letter to the Pindan woodlands of the West Kimberley. Written and produced with EK staff, her love of the savannah shines through.
Pat’s passing is a great loss to the community. Her writings will live on and be cherished, as will her environmental legacy. Pat was incredibly generous with her time and a loyal friend. Her sense of humour and love of the absurd was intoxicating. Pat’s wit, directness and clearsightedness gave her a commanding presence which she held with grace and quiet intellectual rigour. Pat will be profoundly missed.
Most of all, Pat would not have wanted people to be sad at her passing. She disliked public recognition and applause. A celebration of Pat’s love of animals and nature, of the Kimberley and its people, is a fitting way to remember our Pat.
Radio interviews with Pat Lowe -
Falling in love with Jimmy Pike (ABC - Conversations with Richard Fidler)
Our friends the termites (ABC Radio National)
Acclaimed indigenous artist dies (ABC - The World Today)
Broome - Pat Lowe (ABC Radio National)
Books by Pat Lowe and other authors
1. Jilji - Life in the Great Sandy Desert
By Pat Lowe, Jimmy Pike (Magabala Books)
2. In the Desert – Jimmy Pike as a boy
By Pat Lowe (Penguin)
3. The Girl From the Great Sandy Desert
By Jukuna Mona Chuguna, Pat Lowe (Magabala Books)
4. Yinti, Desert Child
By Pat Lowe, Jimmy Pike (Magabala Books)
5. Feeling the Heat
By Pat Lowe (Penguin)
6. Hunters and Trackers of the Australian Desert
By Pat Lowe (Rosenberg Publishing)
7. The Boab Tree
By Pat Lowe (Backroom Press)
8. Our friends the termites
By Pat Lowe (Backroom Press)
9. Pindan Woodlands
By Pat Lowe, Maria Mann (Environs Kimberley)
10. The Girl with No Name
By Pat Lowe (Penguin)
11. Jimmy and Pat Go to China
By Pat Lowe (Backroom Press)
12. Yinti, Desert Dog
By Pat Lowe, Jimmy Pike (Magabala Books)
13. Yinti desert cowboy
By Jimmy Pike, Pat Lowe (Magabala Books)
14. The Girl from the Great Sandy Desert
By Jukuna Mona Chuguna, Pat Lowe (Magabala Books)
15. Jimmy and Pat Meet the Queen
By Pat Lowe, Karen Reys (Backroom Press)
16. What I see on Walmajarri Country
Jimmy Pike and Pat Lowe (Magabala Books)
17. You Call it Desert - We Used to Live There
By Pat Lowe, Jimmy Pike (Magabala Books)
18. Two Sisters - Ngarta & Jukuna
Eirlys Richards, Jukuna Mona Chuguna, Ngarta Jinny Bent, Pat Lowe (Magabala Books)
19. Life In the Pindan
By Pat Lowe (Environs Kimberley)
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