Kennedy, Mary Bozzum (née Hume)   (1838 - 1915)

Born at Burrowa, NSW, 7 September 1838; died in Melbourne 10 December 1915.

Born at 'Castlesteads Station', Burrowa, NSW, one of 14 children, to Rawdon Hume (1803- 88), and Emma née Mitchell (1814-1887). In 1858, Mary married Robert Henry Kennedy (1826-95), of 'Wunnamurra Station', and they had eleven children. In 1879, the family moved to 'Wonnaminta Station' north of Broken Hill.

Mary collected MEL specimens at the Barrier Range, 1885; the Darling River and Wilcannia, 1885-1889; Yandarlo, 1885- 1886; Mount Lyell, 1886; Netallie, 1886; and Wonnaminta, 1886-1887.

She collected types of:

Bassia longicuspis F.Muell. (1891),
Eragrostis kennedyae Turner (1894), and
Ptilotus calostachyus var. kennediae Ewart & Jean White (1908), named for her.

She also recorded Aboriginal names for plants.

Grevillea kennedyana F.Muell. (1888) was also named for her.

Mary's husband, and daughters JESSIE ANN COTTER and MISS E. KENNEDY, also collected MEL specimens. Mary's husband also collected specimens for Joseph Maiden.

Mary died in Melbourne in 1915 aged 77.

One letter from Mueller to Mary survives.

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]

Collecting localities for 'Kennedy, M.B.' from AVH (2021)

Data from 564 specimens