Cronin, Mary Ann (later Mrs Walter) (1871 - 1974)

Born in Kojinup, WA, 25 January 1871, died in WA 1974,

One of ten children, to settlers Michael Cronin (1842-1931) and Elinor Bridget née Noonan (d.1883).

The family established a farm at Kojonup in 1861, then Pallinup in 1863, and then the farming property 'Glencoe' near Katanning in 1873.

In response to a notice placed in a WA newspaper by Mueller, Mary Ann's father encouraged her to collect MEL specimens. She did so at the sources of the Pallinup River 1887; sources of the Blackwood River, 1888-1890, 1893; upper Blackwood River, 1889; Dumbleyung Lake, 1889; east of Geraldton, 1889; near Lake Wagin 1889-1890, 1895; Bunkin near Wagin, 1890- 1891; Lake Wagin, 1890, 1893-1896; King George Sound 1892; between the upper Blackwood River and Lake Lefroy, 1893-1894; Glencoe [now Katanning], 1894; Moorrarrie [?=Moorarie Homestead] 1894; and interior of south-west Australia, 1894.

She collected types of:

Athrixia croniniana F.Muell. (1888), named for her,
Styphelia kingiana F.Muell. (1893) (as 'Mrs Cronin') [current name Croninia kingiana (F.Muell.) J.M.Powell (1993)],
Conospermum croniniae Diels (1904), and
Tetratheca fasciculata Joy Thomps. (1976).

Mary Ann's cousin ELEANOR GROVER, and probably her cousin MARGARET CRONIN, also collected MEL specimens. There are also Mary Ann Cronin specimens at NSW and PERTH.

In 1907, Mary Ann married John E. Walter (d.1937) a businessman, and they had at least three children.

She died in WA in 1974 aged 103.

Source: extracted from: Maroske, Sara and Vaughan, Alison (2014) 'Ferdinand Mueller's female plant collectors: a biographical register', Muelleria Vol.32 [consult for source references]
Portrait Photo: 1970, as Mrs Walter, from above, from © West Australian Newspapers.