Vera Scarth-Johnson
Encyclopedia
Botanical illustrator
A botanical illustrator is a person who paints, sketches or otherwise illustrates botanical subjects such as trees and flowers. The job requires great artistic skill, attention to fine detail, and technical botanical knowledge...
who is also remembered for her continual efforts to teach others to treasure the flora and environment of Australia and, in particular, the botanically rich region of Cooktown and the Endeavour River
Endeavour River
The Endeavour River on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, Australia, was named in 1770 by Lt. James Cook, R.N., after he was forced to beach his ship, HM Bark Endeavour, for repairs in the river mouth, after damaging it on Endeavour Reef...
Valley, on Cape York Peninsula
Cape York Peninsula
Cape York Peninsula is a large remote peninsula located in Far North Queensland at the tip of the state of Queensland, Australia, the largest unspoilt wilderness in northern Australia and one of the last remaining wilderness areas on Earth...
, in far northern Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
.
Early life
Vera Scarth-Johnson, OAM was born in 1912 in MorleyMorley, West Yorkshire
Morley is a market town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England. It lies approximately south-west of Leeds city centre. Together with Drighlington, Gildersome, Churwell, Tingley and East/West Ardsley, the town had a population of 47,579 in...
, near Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
England. She attended school very near the birthplace of James Cook
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
. She was sent to finishing school in Paris, where she found little of interest except the garden. An avid gardener from childhood she was always keen to pursue a career in horticulture
Horticulture
Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
. She studied art at both the Leeds College of Art and the St. Albans College of Art. She was keen to pursue a horticultural career but could not find an employer willing to take on a female apprentice. She worked for a Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
market garden until her grandfather, a wealthy woollen manufacturer, by now resigned to her implacable choice of career, gave her two thousand pounds to start a piggery and market garden of her own.
Life in Australia
In 1947 Vera emigrated to Australia, and after some time in Victoria moved north, settling in the Wide Bay district of Queensland, where she purchased a small property near BundabergBundaberg, Queensland
Bundaberg is a city in Queensland, Australia. It is part of the Local Government Area of the Bundaberg Region and is a major centre within Queensland's broader Wide Bay-Burnett geographical region...
. Initially she grew vegetables and tobacco but soon changed to sugar cane, being only the second woman to obtain a sugar assignment. Vera was no slouch when it came to being involved in the hard work of farming and had a fund of lively tales of her life as a cane farmer.
In the evenings, particularly in winter, when farm work was less demanding, Vera sketched and painted flowers. In the mid-1960s she heard a radio interview featuring the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England. He was discussing how poorly funded botany was, and how the Gardens relied heavily on the voluntary assistance of collectors around the world. Vera wrote to him offering help and enclosed some of her drawings, so beginning her long association with herbaria at Kew.
Vera’s collecting trips, all at personal expense took her travelling over much of Australia – and around the Pacific Islands. Herbaria in Australia, in Europe and the North America benefited enormously from her research and passion.
Entranced by the beauty of the Endeavour River valley, in 1972, at the age of 60 Vera settled in Cooktown and began collecting and recording native plants of the region. With Aboriginal friends from the local Guugu Yimithirr people
Guugu Yimithirr people
The Guugu Yimithirr are an Australian Aboriginal tribe of Far North Queensland, many of whom today live at Hopevale , which is the administrative centre of Hopevale Shire. It is about 46 km from Cooktown by road. It is also the name of their language...
, Vera made extensive trips locating species and recording information on their uses.
Inspired by the early botanical work of Joseph Banks
Joseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. He took part in Captain James Cook's first great voyage . Banks is credited with the introduction to the Western world of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa and the genus named after him,...
and Daniel Solander
Daniel Solander
Daniel Carlsson Solander or Daniel Charles Solander was a Swedish naturalist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. Solander was the first university educated scientist to set foot on Australian soil.-Biography:...
and Lieutenant (later Captain) James Cook
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
’s voyage of discovery, she set out to paint the wonderful plants of the area. To her great sorrow, the onset of Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
meant she could only complete 160 works.
In 1990, Vera gave her wonderful collection of botanical illustrations to the people of Cooktown to enrich the public appreciation of the Endeavour River
Endeavour River
The Endeavour River on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, Australia, was named in 1770 by Lt. James Cook, R.N., after he was forced to beach his ship, HM Bark Endeavour, for repairs in the river mouth, after damaging it on Endeavour Reef...
area. The collection is exhibited in the striking building inspired by her – Nature’s PowerHouse, in the beautiful Cooktown Botanic Gardens.
Vera, tall, slim, distinguished, and very beautiful, was a feisty, larger-than-life character, who enjoyed friendships, a glass or two of claret and good conversation. There was no beating around the bush .... she made her straight-forward views known to all, from high-profile scientists and politicians, to farmers, fishermen and children.
Vera was an active campaigner against developments that could adversely affect what she called ‘my river’. In the 1970s there was a proposal to establish a silica sand mine on the north shore of the Endeavour. The Endeavour River National Park was created after Vera alerted people to this threat.
In 1995, Vera was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for her contribution to art and the environment. Vera died in May 1999 surrounded by loving friends and family.
The people of Cooktown are the proud guardians of her priceless collection of botanical illustrations, In 1989 Vera donated 140 of her botanical illustrations to the people of Cooktown of the flowering plants found in this unique region.
Vera managed to obtain a grant of land over a lovely heathland area of about 93.5 hectares or 231 acre (0.93482466 km²), as a wildlife reserve, about 17 km southeast of Bundaberg. In 2006, Burdekin Shire Council, formally named it “The Vera Scarth-Johnson Wildflower Reserve”.
Legacy
Vera's wish was that the Nature's PowerHouse Interpretive Centre would educate both current and future generations about the wonders and the importance of the environment and the need to protect the few remaining pristine parts of the planet.Vera was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in June 1996. A rare shrub, Argophyllum verae, commemorates her name.
The book of Vera’s collection, entitled National Treasures, enhances Cooktown’s international reputation and its important contribution to botanical history and Australia’s history. National Treasures includes 152 full-colour reproductions of Vera’s illustrations, her notes on them, and lots of other information.
Publications
- Wildflowers of the Warm East Coast. Vera Scarth-Johnson. 1967. The Jacaranda Press, Brisbane.
- Wildflowers of New South Wales. Vera Scarth-Johnson. 1968. The Jacaranda Press, Brisbane.
- National Treasures: Flowering plants of Cooktown and Northern Australia. Vera Scarth-Johnson. 2000. Vera Scarth-Johnson Gallery Association Inc. ISBN 0-646-39726-5 (pbk); ISBN 0-646-39725-7 (Limited Edition - Leather Bound)
Sources
- Nature's PowerHouse. http://www.naturespowerhouse.info/
- Brilliant Careers: Women collectors and illustrators in Queensland. 1997. Compiled by Judith McKay. Section on Vera Scarth-Johnson by John Clarkson. Queensland Museum. ISBN 0-7242-7693-9
- Cooktown Local News, Issue No.200, 20 May 1999
- Australian National Botanic Gardens