Flockton, Lilian Margaret (1861-1953)

Daughter of Francis (an artist) & Isabel Flockton, born in Essex, England in 1861.

Came to Sydney, Australia at the age of 19 and lived at "Tulagi", 30 Kemp St., Tennyson (a suburb adjoining Gladesville) until she died just before her 92^nd birthday.

Margaret Flockton commenced work at the National Herbarium at Sydney’s Botanic Gardens on 3^rd June, 1901, as an artist "at the rate of 2 shillings per hour".

She worked with J.H. Maiden, Director of the Gardens, on the Forest Flora of New South Wales and the Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus.

Miss Flockton’s time was ‘shared’ on the basis of 12 � hours a week at the Gardens and 25 hours at the Forestry Department.

Margaret Flockton executed drawings, lithographs, and coloured sketches, including enlargements on dissections in the best traditions of botanical art.

J.H. Maiden considered her to be "a gifted artist" and "the most accomplished botanical artist in New South Wales". He fought for many years to have her pay increased and by the end of 1920 she was earning �300. Her last day of service at the Gardens was 24 March, 1927.

In 1915 J.H. Maiden named a Western Australian species of Eucalypt after Margaret, Eucalyptus flocktoniae.

Margaret Flockton was a member of the Royal Art Society, which exhibited 33 of her paintings. Flockton also had a high reputation as a lithographic artist at a time when she was Australia’s only female exponent of the art.

She also independently published a book called "Australian Wildflowers", containing 12 plates of coloured lithographs, and produced decorative borders for a souvenir book called "Greetings from Australia".

N.Hall Botanists of the Eucalypts (1978); H.Hewson Australia - 300 Years of Botanical Illustration (1999)

Source: Pers. Comm. Miguel A. Garcia, Library, Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney