Kenny, Margaret (née Lillywhite) (1909 - 1976)

Margaret Kenny was a botanical assistant at the South Australian Museum. After her retirement she was appointed Honorary Associate in Botany.

With the establishment of the State Herbarium of South Australia in 1954, the botanical holdings of the SA Museum were transferred to that institution. However the 'Botanical Section' of the Musuem continued for another 20 years. An unusual but extremely popular feature for a museum was a weekly display of freshly cut wildflowers begun in 1940 when the Botanical Section was formed. Many of these live specimens were supplied by Alison Ashby from her garden at 'Wittunga', or from May Burdett of Basket Range, from their gardens or collected in the wild. Between 70 and 200 species of named Australian flowers were on display each week. A second display, 'Weeds of the month' was instigated at the suggestion of John Cleland and also proved immensly popular with visitors.

Margaret Kenny was the person implementing these displays and and for many years (up till 1966) providing a free advisory and plant identification service.

Source: Extracted from: Twidale, C.R. et al (1986) 'Ideas and Endeavours - The natural Sciences in South Australia', Royal Soc Sth Aust., p.137

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

Data from 1,993 specimens