Menadue, Margaret Anne (1942 -) later Wilson, Margaret Anne
Perth. Botanical artist and illustrator. Illustrated Flora of the Perth
Region (1987), some Western Australian contributions to the Flora
of Australia and H.J.Hewson, Plant Indumentum (1988).
Source: J.Gooding Wildflowers in Art (1991); H.Hewson Australia
- 300 Years of Botanical Illustration (1999)
Many of Paul Wilson's publications are illustrated by
the incredibly fine and beautiful line drawings,
or occasionally coloured plates, prepared by
Margaret Wilson (née Menadue) whom he
married in 1990.
Born in Melbourne, Margaret
relocated to the USA in the 1960s, where she
was introduced to scientific illustration via a
short course at Cornell University.
Following
this, she spent from 1966 to 1970 illustrating
taxonomic characters for The Moths of America,
North of Mexico (Hodges 1971, onwards).
She
subsequently moved to West Berlin and in 1973
completed colour paintings of tropical fish for
the Institut für Meereskunda an der Universität
Kiel.
Margaret's professional association with
Paul dates from 1974 when on a visit to Western
Australia from her then home in West Berlin
she showed Bob Royce (Curator of the Western
Australian Herbarium) and Paul a pen and ink
sketch of Hemiandra pungens, her first-ever
illustration of an Australian plant (it was never
published).
Unfortunately, there was no funding
for a botanical illustrator at the Herbarium at
that time and Margaret returned to West Berlin,
after which Paul maintained a correspondence
with Margaret, promising to let her know if any
illustration work came up in Perth.
Margaret returned to Australia in the late 1970's
to undertake artwork for Mangroves of Western
Australia (Semeniuk et al. 1978). She then
commenced working on illustrations for Flora
of the Perth Region (Marchant et al. 1987).
Under Paul's guidance Margaret produced all the
black and white drawings, and the watercolour
painting for the cover for that Flora.
It was
always Margaret's preference to work from living
material and Paul normally helped to source this
material.
The Perth Flora was the first of many
very enjoyable and productive collaborations
between the two of them, with Margaret either
working in Paul's office or from home.
These
included contributions published under the
auspices of: - 1. The ABRS:
Flora of Australia (vol. 4, Chenopodiaceae; vol.
26, Rutaceae; vol. 37, Asteraceae 1, and the
as-yet unpublished vol. 38, Asteraceae 2) and
Plant Indumentum, a Handbook of Terminology
(Hewson 1988). - 2. The Department of Conservation & Land
Management (now Department of Biodiversity,
Conservation & Attractions): research papers in
Nuytsia authored by Paul and other botanists,
Broome and Beyond (Kenneally et al. 1996)
and two booklets on the vegetation of Western
Australian freshwater rivers and creeks,
estuaries and saline waterways (Chalmers &
Wheeler 1997). - 3. The Western Australian Naturalist's Club:
Mangroves of Western Australia (Semeniuk et
al. 1978).
Much of Margaret's original artwork is deposited
at the Library of the Department of Biodiversity,
Conservation and Attractions in Perth.
Source:ASBS Newsletter No.201 Dec 2024 p.4-31
Lepschi et al 'The indefatigable botanist - Paul Graham Wilson (January 1928 - July 2024)' Portrait Photo: seeking portrait
Australian National Herbarium - updated
13 November, 2007
by webmaster (cpbr-info@anbg.gov.au)