Emily Pelloe
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...
, and author of books, of the flowering plants of Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
. Her work in watercolour, extensive illustrations, and English language descriptions were included in a number of publications on the flora of the State.
Biography
St Kilda, Victoria
St Kilda is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip...
, later moving to Perth, Western Australia
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
where she married a banker, Theodore Parker Pelloe, in 1902. An early interest in equestrian sports was replaced with an interest in botany in 1916. In 1920 she wrote for The West Australian
The West Australian
The West Australian is the only locally-edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia, and is owned by ASX-listed Seven West Media . The West is published in tabloid format, as is the state's other major newspaper, The Sunday Times, a News Limited publication...
, in a column 'Women's Interests' as 'Ixia', and contributed to such organisations as the Country Women's Association
Country Women's Association
The Country Women’s Association of Australia is the largest women's organisation in Australia. It has 44,000 members across 1855 branches. Its aims are to improve the conditions for country women and children and to try to make life better for women and their families, especially those women...
, a writers club, and continued her interest with horse riding.
She began to paint and publish a large number of watercolours, her landscapes were also acquired by government departments. She collaborated with the state botanist, C. A. Gardner
Charles Gardner
Charles Austin Gardner was a Western Australian botanist.Born in Lancaster, England on 6 January 1896, he emigrated to Western Australia with his family in 1909....
, in producing her books, and was included in Hal Colebatch
Hal Colebatch
Sir Harry Pateshall Colebatch CMG , better known as Sir Hal Colebatch, was a long-serving and occasionally controversial figure in Western Australian politics...
's A Story of a Hundred Years: Western Australia, 1829-1929.
Aside from a number of paintings and illustrations, her most noted works are Wildflowers of Western Australia in 1921 and West Australian Orchids in 1930. These publications were intended to be accessible by amateur naturalists and enthusiasts, the scientific descriptions were accompanied with more 'subjective' exposition. The specimens are carefully illustrated, painted, and described, yet her Drosera and Cephalotus were presented as "bloodthirsty savages of plant life". The books were popular and commended.
Several publications were issued as Wildflowers Of Western Australia, another so-titled (1936) by the state's Tourist & Publicity Bureau was by Gardner, with a painting by Emily Pelloe. Another was published in 1941 by Gardner; 'localities and flowering seasons, by Emily H. Pelloe'.
These shorter publications were for the promotion and celebration of the states flora, and similar works continued to be produced as supplements in the West Australian newspaper for many years.
Legacy
Her career was abbreviated by ill health and she died while riding a horse in 1941.The large collection of paintings by Emily Pelloe was presented to the University of Western Australia
University of Western Australia
The University of Western Australia was established by an Act of the Western Australian Parliament in February 1911, and began teaching students for the first time in 1913. It is the oldest university in the state of Western Australia and the only university in the state to be a member of the...
in a ceremony the following year. The gift was made by her husband and received by the Governor of the State, Sir James Mitchell
James Mitchell (Australian politician)
Sir James Mitchell GCMG was the 13th Premier of Western Australia, serving on two occasions, the Lieutenant-Governor of Western Australia for 15 years and the 22nd Governor of Western Australia....
, who gave a eulogy. The collection of over 400 paintings is housed at St. Catherines College, and within the department of botany.