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Atkinson, Caroline Louisa Waring (1834 - 1872)

Born
25 February 1834
Berrima, New South Wales, Australia
Died
28 April 1872
Occupation
Naturalist and Writer
Alternative Names
  • Calvert, Caroline (married name)

Summary

Caroline Atkinson was home-educated in New South Wales, a keen student of natural history and an accomplished botanical illustrator. She was also a populariser of science and published in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Horticultural Magazine.

Details

Taught by her mother, Atkinson developed a keen interest in botany and zoology. She wrote popular articles on botany, made drawings and sent numerous specimens to eminent botanists including William Woolls and Ferdinand von Mueller (q.v.). She was also an able taxidermist.

Atkinson was commemorated in the naming of the Loranthaceous genus Atkinsonia, also Erechtites atkinsoniae and Epacris calvertiana. A horticulturally distinct fern, ranking as a form of Doodia caudata, was named Doodia atkinsonii in her honour.

Atkinson married James Snowdon Calvert.

Archival resources

Macleay Museum, University of Sydney

  • Caroline Louisa Waring Atkinson - Records, 1860 - 1865; Macleay Museum, University of Sydney. Details

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

  • Caroline Louisa Waring Atkinson - Records, 1859 - 1908, A4496-501; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

Published resources

The Australian Women's Register Exhibitions

Books

  • Vries-Evans, Susanna De, Pioneer Women, Pioneer Land: Yesterday's Tall Poppies Angus & Robertson, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1987, 280 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • Margaret, Swann, 'Mrs. Meredith and Miss Atkinson, Writers and Naturalists', Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, vol. 15, 1929, pp. 1-29. Details

Online Resources

Elle Morrell

Created: 9 February 2001, Last modified: 4 May 2009

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Site-wide information and acknowledgements

National Foundation for Australian Women The University of Melbourne, eScholarship Research Centre

http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0047b.htm

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