Botanical women artists in northern Queensland: science, art, and entanglement, 1880–1999

Evans, Janine

Abstract

This article explicates the contributions of two women botanical artists, Marian Ellis Rowan (1848–1922) and Vera Scarth-Johnson (1912–1999) to botanical science in northern Queensland. Despite the perception of botany as more accessible to women than other scientific fields, formal botanical institutions during the late Victorian era and early twentieth century remained male dominated. Within this context, Rowan’s privilege enabled her to navigate colonial and botanical networks, facilitating her access to the colonial frontier where she encountered and painted rare and newly identified plants. By contrast, in the late twentieth century, Scarth-Johnson expanded the scope of botanical illustration to encompass environmental activism and the inclusion of Indigenous ecological knowledge. Although Rowan and Scarth-Johnson operated in different historical and political contexts, collectively their work showed the entanglement of botanical science with broader environmental, cultural, and social issues specific to the Endeavour River valley in northern Queensland.

Journal

History Australia

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History Australia

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1833-4881

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Publisher

Taylor & Francis

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DOI

10.1080/14490854.2025.2569486