Journal of Ellis Rowan, 1859-circa 1870 [manuscript]
Creator
Rowan, Ellis, 1848-1922
Call Number
MS Acc07.175
Created/Published
[1859-ca. 1870]
Extent
0.03 m. (1 v.)
Items
87
Scope and Content
MS Acc07.175 comprises a journal created by Ellis Rowan. The journal appears to have been given to Rowan by her mother as a young girl, and inscribed by her mother and others with inspirational poems, etc., as well as some sketches, leading up to Rowan's first overseas trip (1 v.)
Background
Artist, naturalist and explorer. Marion Ellis Rowan (née Ryan) was born on 30 July, 1848, in Melbourne, where she attended Miss Murphy's private school, but received no formal training in art. In 1873 she married Frederic Charles Rowan, a British Army officer, and went to live in New Zealand. Encouraged by her husband and relatives, Rowan learned to paint wildflowers in her own style and it was this that brought her lasting fame. She received several awards for work she exhibited in international exhibitions in Australia and elsewhere. At Melbourne's Centennial International Exhibition of 1888 she was awarded the highest honours. After the death of her husband in 1892, Rowan travelled to New Zealand, London and the U.S.A. Her London stay brought fame and in 1898 she published Flower-hunter in Queensland & New Zealand, an account of adventures based on letters to her husband and friends. While in America she illustrated three botanical texts for Alice Lounsberry. In 1916-1918 she travelled to Papua and New Guinea where she found and illustrated many unclassified flowers and endangered birds of paradise. Rowan died at Macedon, Victoria, on 4 October 1922.