My research is in palaeobotany. I work on the fossil record of the Myrtaceae (the flowering plant family that includes Eucalypts, Bottle-Brushes, Melaleuca and Lilli-Pilli's) from the Cenozoic of south-eastern Australia, in the context of radically the changing climate and vegetation through this period. In particular, I have published on the fossil record of Metrosideros (Called Rātā and pōhutukawa in Aotearoa, and ʻōhiʻa lehua in Hawaii) a capsular-fruited genus of flowering Myrtaceae previously not known to have occurred in Australia, which today is widely spread throughout the Pacific, with centres of diversity in New Caledonia and New Zealand.