Eaton, Alice (later Mrs Heal) (1870 - 1932)

Born in WA 1 March 1870, died 19 April 1932.

Born the second of seven children to settlers Alfred Thomas Vile Eaton (1844-1921) and Mary Ann née Farmer (1838-1921). The family lived at Youndegin, WA, where they kept an inn.

Alice collected MEL specimens at the sources of the Swan River, 1888-1891, 1893; near York, 1888; at the sources of the Blackwood River, 1889; east of York, 1889; at Youndegin, 1889-1894; Northam, 1892; and Southern Cross, 1894.

She collected types of:

Helipterum fitzgibboni F.Muell. (1890),
Hydrocotyle corynophora F.Muell. (1890),
Trachymene eatoniae F.Muell. (1892), named for her,
Hibbertia eatoniae Diels & Pritzel (1904),
Eremophila woollsiana var. dentata Ewart & Jean White (1908),
Baeckia eatoniana Ewart & Jean White (1909), named for her, and
Thysanotus bentianus Ewart & Jean White (1909).

Alice's mother, MARY ANN EATON, and sister, MARTHA EATON, also collected MEL specimens.

In 1895, Alice married Arthur Heal (1849-1924), a farmer at 'Eastbourne', East Beverley. They had seven children.

Alice collected MEL specimens (as 'Mrs Alice Heal') at Southern Cross, 1895 and Youndegin, 1897.

There are also Alice Eaton specimens at NSW and PERTH.

She died in 1932 at Beverley aged 62.

Five letters from Alice to M survive.

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]