Susan Fereday (botanical artist) explained

Susan Fereday
Birth Date:	1815
Birth Place:	Leicestershire, England
Death Date:	21 October 1878
Death Place:	Sale, Victoria, Australia
Other Names:	Susan Georgina Marianne Apthorpe
Fields:	algology and botany
Known For:	the study of algae and scientific illustration
Spouse:	Rev. John Fereday
Spouses:	)-->
Children:	Elizabeth Henty Fereday

Susan Fereday (Apthorpe) (1815, Leicestershire, England – 21 October 1878, Sale, Victoria, Australia)^[1] was an algologist, botanical illustrator, artist and Sunday school teacher who made scientifically significant collections of botany specimens in Tasmania, Australia.^[2] She was also a talented artist known for her accurate paintings of the local flora of Tasmania.^[3]

Life

Fereday was born Susan Georgina Marianne Apthorpe in Leicestershire, England in 1815, to Freder Apthorp and Susan Athorp, née Hubbard.^[4] She married John Fereday in London on 29 December 1836 and emigrated with her husband to Australia aboard the Aden on 5 November 1845. The couple arrived at what was then Van Diemen's Land on 26 February 1846. Fereday lived in "The Grove" in George Town, Tasmania and used the local flora as inspiration for her paintings. Fereday exhibited her art at the Melbourne Intercolonial Exhibition of 1866-1867.^[5] She was part of the Tasmanian contingent of this exhibition alongside fellow botanical artist Louisa Anne Meredith.

Fereday was also a keen collector of algae specimens and established a scientifically significant collection. William Henry Harvey named two species after Fereday to honour her contribution to the study of algae, Dasya feredayae and Nemastoma feredayae.^[6]

Fereday Place in the Canberra suburb of Conder is named in her honour.^[7]

Family

Fereday married her husband the Reverend John Fereday in 1837 and had six children with him. She moved to Sale, Victoria to live with her daughter and son-in-law after John's death in 1871.

Works

Sketchbook 1831-1834, Germany, Italy etc, National Library of Australia

[Sketchbook] / [Susan Fereday], National Library of Australia

Scrap book and sketches, National Library of Australia

See also

List of Australian botanical illustrators

External links

• List of paintings by Fereday held at the National Library of Australia
• Images of "The Grove", the house where Fereday lived in Tasmania

Notes and References

1. Web site: Fereday, Susan, 1815-1878. nla.gov.au. National Library of Australia. 21 April 2017.
2. Web site: Fereday, Susan (1810-1878). Trove. National Library of Australia. 5 March 2017. en.
3. Book: Norton. Leonie. Women of Flowers: Botanical Art in Australia from the 1830s to the 1960s. 2009. National Library of Australia. Canberra. 9780642276834. 48–57.
4. Book: Heritage: the national women's art book; 500 works by 500 Australian women artists from colonial times to 1955 . 1995 . G+B Arts International . 978-976-641-045-2 . Kerr . Joan . Australia.
5. Web site: Susan Fereday . 5 March 2017 . www.cpbr.gov.au . Australian National Herbarium . en.
6. Book: Hooker. Joseph Dalton. The botany of the Antarctic voyage of H.M. discovery ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839-1843 :under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. 1844–1860. Reeve Brothers. London. 5 March 2017.
7. News: National Memorial Ordinance 1928 Determination of Nomenclature Australian Capital Territory National Memorials Ordinance 1928 Determination of Nomenclature. 1988-08-31. Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. Periodic (National : 1977 - 2011). 2020-01-08. 1.