Lee, Ida Louisa (1865 - 1943)

Summary

Ida Lee was an historical geographer who wrote several books on maritime exploration in the Pacific. In the late 1890s she moved to England and spent much of her spare time searching through British libraries, including the Admiralty. There Lee began to study and transcribe a number of journals and logbooks from many of the British historical voyages. Her books are published under either the name of Lee (maiden name) or Marriott (married name) and copies of most of her works are held at the Mitchell Library. Through her studies Lee developed a considerable knowledge of systematic botany and botanical taxonomy and was able to update Allan Cunningham's nomenclature. Lee was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of London 1913 and was only the second person to be made an honorary Fellow of the Royal Australian Historical Society.

Details

Chronology

1897

Career position - First piece of work published: The Bush Fire and other verses

1906

Career position - The Coming of the British to Australia, 1788 to 1829 published

1912

Career position - Commodore Sir John Hayes, His Voyage and Life published

1913 -

Award - Fellow, Royal Geographical Society of London (FRGS)

1915

Career position - The Logbooks of the 'Lady Nelson' published

1918 -

Award - Honorary Fellow, Royal Australian Historical Society

1920

Career position - Captain Bligh's Second Voyage to the South Sea published

1925

Career position - Early Explorers in Australia published

1927

Career position - The Voyage of the Caroline published

Archival resources

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

• Ida Louisa Lee - Records, 1819 - 1937, ML MSS 75; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
• Ida Louisa Lee - Records, 1919 - 1937, ML MSS 337; 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

• Lee, Ida, Early Explorers in Australia (London: Methuen, 1925), 167-426 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Rutledge, Marta, 'Lee, Ida Luisa (1865-1943), historical geographer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 10: 1891 - 1939 Lat-Ner, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1986), pp. 48-49. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100045b.htm. Details

Edited Books

• Radi, H. ed., 200 Australian Women: a Redress Anthology (Sydney: Women's Redress Press Inc, 1988), 268 pp. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q5987064. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/24976699. Details
• 'Lee, Ida Louisa (1865-1943)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-750071. Details