Margaret Flockton
Encyclopedia
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
- 12 August 1953 Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
), was an Australian botanical artist, particularly noted for her illustrating of "The Forest Flora of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
" (some 300 plates), "A Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus is a diverse genus of flowering trees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia...
" (88 plates), and the genus Opuntia
Opuntia
Opuntia, also known as nopales or paddle cactus , is a genus in the cactus family, Cactaceae.Currently, only prickly pears are included in this genus of about 200 species distributed throughout most of the Americas. Chollas are now separated into the genus Cylindropuntia, which some still consider...
, all by the botanist and forester, Joseph Henry Maiden.
Her early studies were at the South Kensington Schools in London, where, unusually, she was trained in lithography, and also Miss Gann's Life School. She emigrated to Australia in 1881, accompanied by her sister, Mrs Boulton, and were later joined by their parents, Francis and Isabel. Her first regular employment extending over 7 years, was as commercial artist for the Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
firms of Gibbs, Shallard & Co. and S.T. Leigh. Since her father Francis was also an artist, it is not surprising that she dedicated her life to art and never married.
To teach art, she opened a studio in Victoria Chambers, Castlereagh Street in Sydney, while her home was at "Tulagi", 30 Kemp St. in Tennyson Point, a suburb of Sydney, where she died shortly before turning 92. Her work was exhibited with the Royal Art Society between 1894 and 1901, consisting of wildflower studies and still-life paintings. In 1895 her watercolour of waratah
Waratah
Waratah is a genus of five species of large shrubs or small trees in the Proteaceae, native to the southeastern parts of Australia...
s was purchased by the Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery of New South Wales
The Art Gallery of New South Wales , located in The Domain in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, was established in 1897 and is the most important public gallery in Sydney and the fourth largest in Australia...
. She started work at the National Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney
Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney
The Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Australia, are the most central of the three major botanical gardens open to the public in Sydney....
on 3 June 1901 at the rate of "2 shillings per hour" and was earning £330 per annum at her retirement. For 27 years, from age 40 to 67, she turned out botanical drawings of the highest quality, making use of a camera lucida
Camera lucida
A camera lucida is an optical device used as a drawing aid by artists.The camera lucida performs an optical superimposition of the subject being viewed upon the surface upon which the artist is drawing. The artist sees both scene and drawing surface simultaneously, as in a photographic double...
. There are some 1000 of her illustrations in The Botanic Gardens Trust Archive.
At that time Maiden was Director of the Botanic Gardens and Government Botanist, and was greatly impressed by the standard of her work, considering her "the most accomplished botanical artist in New South Wales", and inviting her to produce the illustrations for "A Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus", which he was writing. Consequently she spent 12½ hours a week at the Botanic Gardens and 25 hours at the Forestry Department. In the end Flockton stayed on at the Botanic Gardens for five years beyond her retirement age, her last day of work at the Gardens being on 24 March 1927. In recognition of her contributions to botanical art, and referring to her as joint author of his works, Maiden named a few species after her - Eucalyptus flocktoniae
Eucalyptus flocktoniae
Eucalyptus flocktoniae is a species of Australian gum confined to the country's southwest corner near Perth and named after the noted botanical illustrator, Margaret Flockton.This species was first described in Journ. Roy. Soc. N.S.W...
, Acacia flocktoniae
Acacia flocktoniae
Acacia flocktoniae is a shrub species that is endemic to Australia.Plants grow to between 1.5 and 3 metres high and have narrow phyllodes that are between 4 and 10 cm long. The cream to yellow flowerheads appear in racemes of 4 to 10 in the axils of the phyllodes...
and the Dorrigo Daisy-bush Olearia flocktoniae.
The lion's share of Flockton's work consisted of botanical illustration and she produced the necessary lithographs herself, being at that time the only female lithographer in Australia. She published various books on her own, such as a small volume "Lichens", "Australian Wildflowers" (1908), illustrated with her coloured lithographs, and produced the wildflower borders for butterfly studies in "Scenic Gems of Australia", by Dr Riches. Much later in life she wrote and illustrated "Children's Stories - Little Stories of Little People", describing the life-history of plants and insects, but which remained unpublished. One of the students in her oil and watercolour classes, was Mary Maiden, daughter of Joseph Henry Maiden. Mary later worked at the Botanic Gardens as an illustrator in a voluntary capacity.
After her retirement the vacant post was not filled until the early 1980s, when the "Flora of New South Wales" was launched, employing 19 illustrators, 16 of whom were women. The Margaret Flockton Botanical Art Award was created in her memory, and two prizes of A$5000 and A$2000 are awarded annually for excellence in botanical illustration.