Authorities incinerated a herbarium, a collection of preserved plant specimens for scientific study, of rare flowering plants dating back to the mid-1800s, sent by the Museum of Natural History in Paris to Queensland's Herbarium in Brisbane in March.
"Sometimes they [collections] may be the last remaining examples of species", she told the BBC.
Only weeks ago, New Zealand's national herbaria announced a ban on sharing its materials with Australia after a collection of lichen specimens were destroyed on their way to Australia's National Herbarium in Canberra.
Waycott said the French museum employees were "very unhappy" with the loss of their collection.
A spokesman for the Department of Agriculture said the packages did not give any indication of the intrinsic value of the samples, and the customs officers held onto them for longer than they were required before deciding they posed a potential biosecurity threat and incinerating them. "That's how I would respond if it was my herbarium".
Neither the French or New Zealand institutions were informed of the decision to destroy their lichen. "That would be my response if it was my herbarium".
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On Monday, managers from the Australasian Herbarium Collections met the plant operations import branch of Australia's Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (DAWR).
Australian customs officials destroyed two irreplaceable plant specimens that were being loaned to scientists by worldwide institutions, prompting one of the institutions to suspend all transfers to Australian scientists.
Australia has some of the world's toughest quarantine regulations in a bid to keep pests and diseases from infiltrating its isolated borders and destroying the country's unique wildlife. This became apparent when the government threatened to "euthanize" two pet dogs belonging to the actor Johnny Depp and his former wife Amber Heard after the dogs were brought to Australia without permission.
The specimens had been sent to Australia through New Zealand Post for research there. When the plants arrived in Australia in January, officials determined the accompanying paperwork failed to comply with Australia's notoriously strict quarantine rules.
The department said that herbarium specimens are not without biosecurity risk.
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