Croxford, Eileen (1912 - 2006)

Born 11 December 1912. Mannamead , Plymouth, Devon, England; died Albany 27 January 2006.

Family migrated to Denmark, WA, in 1924 under the Group Settlement Scheme.

"We just lived in these shacks - no floor, no doors, no windows. I was
out to work by the time I was 12. I was 20 when I got married and
then I proceeded to have a family. Then the war came, my husband
went away to Japan and didn't come back again".

She married second husband, Cliff, in 1954. He was in the air force and became the groundsman at the Albany airport.

A fascination with the wildflowers that grew around her house, near the airport in Albany, led florist Eileen Croxford to teach herself the botanical specifications of much of the south coast regional flora. She organised the opening of a new Albany Wildflower Society Branch and developed a regional herbarium. Although she had not been formally trained, the rigour of her method of collecting and recording gave the collection a scientific integrity that led to a partnership with the State Herbarium, now coordinated by the Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM), where more than 7,500 of her collections are now housed.

"I have always had a garden and I had a little business called the Garden Florist over the telephone. When I shifted to the Albany airport in 1961 I had to have a garden there, so I thought I will have a wild flower garden because I can remember the airport before it really was a proper airport and it was just a field of flowers - it was beautiful. So I used to go over to the back of the airport, very carefully remove little plants and plant them in the beds. They all died, so I decided I had to do it properly: I had to really learn about these flowers so I could grow them, and I started pressing flowers. Dr John Beard came to the airport one day, and I said to John, "Will you help me with these names?" He helped me a bit and said, "Eileen you must not stop doing this - there are no plans in this government to do any research into the Albany region until 1995. Because you are so interested in wildflowers, how about you convene a meeting to form an Albany branch of the West Australian Wildflower Society".
Well, I did this, not expecting very many people, and nearly 40 people turned up and we went on from there. That was 1963."

Source: Extracted from: Reid, Curry, Clews, (1999), Landscope Winter 1999, CALM WA 'Doing What Comes Naturally', Plus 'Setting the Scene, South Coast Regional Strategy for NRM 2004-2009' oral history project.
Portrait Photo: as above.

1924. Emigrated to Australia with Group Settlement Scheme to Parryville, Denmark West WA. Ended formal schooling to work and assist family.
1932 Married had 4 children
1943 War widow.
1945-48 Did correspondence courses in Floristry Nursery practice, Gardening, Booking, Drawing.
1954 Remarried.
1963 -2000
Convened first meeting of the Albany Branch of the WA Wildflower Society, became inaugural Treasurer/Secretary [1963]
Active member of Albany branch serving as President, Vice-President,Treasurer/Sec, inaugural Herbarium Coordinator
Branch Delegate.
Helped establish the first Wildflower Show.1964.
Helped to establish a Botanic Site in Albany
On original committee to establish Mt Martin Regional Park
Established the Albany Regional Herbarium the first State Regional Herbarium [1979]
Collected 8500 specimens for the Albany Herbarium
Discovered several new species.

AWARDS

1977 Life membership of the Western Australian Wildflower Society
1998 Quiet Achievers Award, Parliamentary Medal
1992 Town of Albany Citizens Award
1997/8 Calm Volunteers Appreciation Certificate.

Source: "Matthew Ivulich" pers com <ivulich@iprimus.com.au>

Collecting localities for 'Croxford, E.' from AVH (2021)

Data from 5,886 specimens