Hynes, Sarah B. (Sally)   (1859 - 1938)

Born: 30 September 1859 Gdansk, Poland; died: 27 May 1938 Randwick, NSW

Sarah Hynes was born in Gdansk, Poland (other references say Danzig, Prussia), and lived in England until migrating to Australia with her family in 1884, when her father became managing director of the Australasian Steam Navigation Co.

She was educated at Edinburgh Ladies' College, London, and at Chichester College, Sussex. She received a botanical certificate from South Kensington Museum, Science and Art Department.

After travelling to Australia, she enrolled at the University of Sydney and graduated in 1891 with a Bachelor of Arts and a major in botany, the first student to major in botany at the University of Sydney.

In 1892 she became the first woman to join the Linnean Society of New South Wales, which promotes the cultivation and study of the science of natural history.

She began her career in science as a teacher at Sydney Technical College in 1897. In 1898 she was offered a position as botanical assistant at the Sydney Technological (Powerhouse) Museum, thereby becoming the first woman to hold a government appointment in science in New South Wales, possibly Australia.

Her mentor, Government Botanist Joseph Maiden had been appointed director of the Botanic Gardens in 1896, and in in 1900 when the new Herbarium building was completed, Hynes transferred to the new Herbarium, where she was responsible for curating exotic specimens and identifying, classifying and preserving specimens for public display, education or further analysis.

Herbarium scandal
A scandal occurred in July 1910 when Maiden 'brought Miss Sarah Hynes, BA... before the Public Service Board on certain serious charges involving disposal of 'a basketful' of original labels from Henry Deane's eucalyptus specimens, then being held on trust in the herbarium.
Miss Hynes countercharged that Maiden had destroyed the labels. The mortified Director assured Deane, "I have not destroyed one of your labels in my life & no member of my staff dare destroy an original label'. He asked Deane to come & examine every specimen'.

The luckiess Miss Hynes was found guilty of insubordination and disobedience, fined, and tranferred to the Department of Public Instruction to teach botany.

In 1913 she returned to school teaching, first at Cleveland Street then at Petersham High Schools, seeing out her career in 1923 at St George Girls' High School.

She led a campaign in 1921 which appealed successfully to the federal government to purchase the paintings of her friend, Ellis Rowan. She was later instrumental in raising funds to commission a portrait of Rowan by Sir John Longstaff, which became part of the National Library collection.

In 1934 she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

Source: Extracted from:
Carey, Jane, Takiing to the field, a history of Australian Women in Science, Monash Uiniversity Publishing (2023)
Gilbert, Lionel The Royal Botamic Gardens, Sydney: A History 1816-1985 (Melbourne: Oxford UP, 1986), 120, 130;
https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P005757b.htm
https://trove.nla.gov.au/people/1462133
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Hynes
Portrait Photo: Wikipedia above.

Collecting localities for 'Hynes, S.' from AVH (2023)

Data from 32 specimens