Person

Scott, Helena (1832 - 1910)

Born
11 April 1832
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died
24 November 1910
Harris Park, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation
Natural history artist and Naturalist
Alternative Names
  • Forde, Helena (married name)

Summary

Helena Scott, having an education from her father, Alexander Walker Scott, similar to her sister Harriet, was also a fine illustrator. In 1864 she married E. Forde and accompanied him on a survey of the Darling River between Wentworth and Bourke and made a collection of fodder grasses and other flora. Helena Scott was made an Honorary member of the Entomological Society. Nearly 300 of her specimens are in the National Herbarium of Victoria.

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Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

  • Australian Botanists - Biographies, MS 064; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Australian Museum

  • Helena Scott - Records, 1862, Series 151; Australian Museum. Details
  • Papers of Harriet and Helena Scott., Series 193; Australian Museum. Details
  • Papers of Harriet and Helena Scott., 1850 - 1890, Series 192; Australian Museum. Details

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

  • Edward Pearson Ramsay - Records, 1860 - 1912, ML MSS 563; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
  • Scott Family - Records, 1777 - 1925, ML MSS 38; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

  • McCarthy, Gavan; Morgan, Helen; Smith, Ailie; van den Bosch, Alan, Where are the Women in Australian Science?, Exhibition of the Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, First published 2003 with lists updated regulary edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, 2003, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/wisa/wisa.html. Details

Books

  • Finney, Vanessa, Transformations: Harriet and Helena Scott, colonial Sydney's finest natural history painters (Sydney: NewSouth Publishing, 2018), 220 pp. Details
  • Hooker, Claire, Irresistible Forces: Australian Women in Science (Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 2004), 215 pp. Details
  • Krefft, Gerard, The snakes of Australia : an illustrated and descriptive catalogue of all the known species (Sydney: Government Printer, 1869), 100 pp. Details
  • Krefft, Gerard, The mammals of Australia illustrated by Harriett Scott and Helena Forde for the Council of Education : with a short account of all the species hitherto described (Sydney: Government Printer, 1871), 45 pp. Details
  • Norton, Leonie, Women of Flowers: Botanical Art in Australia from the 1830s to the 1960s (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 2009), 126 pp. Details
  • Olsen, Penny, Collecting Ladies: Ferdinand von Mueller and Women Botanical Artists (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 2012), 248 pp. Details
  • Scott, Harriet and Scott, Helena, Historical drawings of moths and butterflies (Roseville, N.S.W.: Craftsman House, 1888), 146 pp. Details
  • Scott, Harriet and Scott, Helena; introduced and selected by Marion Ord, Historical drawings of native flowers (Roseville, N.S.W.: Craftsman House, 1988), 136 pp. Details
  • Scott, Harriet and Scott, Helena; with descriptions, general and systematic by A.W. Scott, Australian Lepidoptera and their Transformations Drawn from the Life [volume 1] (London: J. van Voorst, 1864), 30 pp. Details
  • Scott, Harriet and Scott, Helena; with descriptions, general and systematics by A.W. Scott, Australian Lepidoptera and their transformations. Vol. II (London: Sydney: J. van Voorst: Australian Museum, 1890-1898), 36 pp. Details

Book Sections

Journal Articles

  • Ord, Marion, 'The Scott Sisters: Art Treasures of the 19th Century Revealed', Australian Natural History, 22 (1987), 194-198. Details

Resources

Reviews

  • Norton, Leonie, Women of Flowers: Botanical Art in Australia from the 1830s to the 1960s (2009)
    Cohn, Helen M., Historical Records of Australian Science, 21 (2), (2010), 292-4, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR10012. Details

See also

  • Maroske, Sara and Vaughan, Alison, 'Ferdinand Mueller's Female Plant Collectors: a Biographical Register', Muelleria, 32 (2014), 92-172. Details

McCarthy, G.J.

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 5 April 2022

EOAS ID: biogs/P000140b.htm

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