Radford College has paid tribute to a long-serving teacher killed over the weekend after being hit by falling tree branch in a freak accident near Tumut.
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Jonquil Mackey was on a motorbike ridden by her partner, fellow Radford teacher Alan Lee, along the Snowy Mountains Highway on Saturday afternoon when the branch struck the bike.
Ms Mackey died at the scene and Mr Lee was taken to Tumut District Hospital with minor injuries. He has since been released.
On Monday, Mr Lee, along with Ms Mackey's daughters, Bridget and Verity, told Fairfax Media of "Jonquil's warmth" and creativity.
"She gave endlessly to the people around her ... Jonquil was an incredibly loving mother, partner, sister, daughter, artist, teacher and friend," her family said.
"To know her really was to love her."
A spokesman for the Riverina Highlands Fire Service described her death as a freak accident.
"It was a very still day, we hadn't had any issues with trees [in the area] before then," he said.
"Gum trees are notorious for dropping their limbs but it couldn't be predicted, it was just one of those things out of the blue. It's tragic."
Craig Hallam of Arboriculture Australia equated it to being struck by lightning.
"It rarely occurs, there's like a one in a hundred million chance. Actually, more people are struck by lightning every year than tree branches," Mr Hallam said.
The Canberra teacher was also well known and "much-loved" at Radford College, where she had taught media and photography for more than a decade.
Radford principal Fiona Godfrey said she had since spoken to Mr Lee to extend the support of the school community.
The adventurous couple were talented photographers, capturing life both at the college and out in the wild.
"This tragedy will affect many within our community," Ms Godfrey said.
"[Jonquil and Alan's] shared love of travel and photography led to the exhibition Murrumbidgee River [26 Days] which was hosted in both ACT and interstate art galleries in recent years."
Ms Mackey and Mr Lee spent 26 days, spread carefully over four years of camping trips, photographing the Murrumbidgee for the exhibition, which was held at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre in 2016 and then over the border in Wagga Wagga.
"It was so wonderful waking up in beautiful unknown places and spending time with the river," Ms Mackey told The Canberra Times at the time.
Despite exploring the same vistas together, the couple returned with markedly different photographs. They were exhibited without their names, leaving audiences to guess who took which shot.
Ms Godfrey said photographs taken by Ms Mackey's students now served as a "testament to her dedication as a teacher and mentor for these young artists".
Funeral arrangements were not yet known, she said, but school counsellors and chaplains were available to students and staff.
Former students took to social media on Monday to pay tribute to Ms Mackey and her "bright smile" in the classroom.
Police will prepare a report for the coroner.
