‘My dear Hooker’: the botanical landscape in colonial New Zealand

Abstract

ABSTRACT From the 1860s, there was a flurry of activity around the natural sciences in colonial New Zealand, as the native flora of this place was collected, analysed, identified and classified. While males dominated the professional world of knowledge production in the recently established field of ‘serious’ scientific botany, the amateur field was populated by highly talented females, including Georgina Hetley and Sarah Featon. James Hector, first Director of Wellington's Colonial Museum, was a keen botanist, and regularly communicated with 'My dear Hooker', Joseph Dalton Hooker of Kew Gardens. Hector supported several scientific publications by males in the 1870s and 80s, yet his lack of support for locally produced works by females is notable. This paper investigates the networks that both supported and restricted female activity in this field. It will consider the contributions of female practitioners, highlighting that the life of a ‘flower painter' occupied a liminal realm – never fully at home either in the world of science, or of art. It will imagine how different these women’s lives and careers may have been if they had been privileged to communicate with 'My dear Hooker' and to receive letters addressed in turn to, for example, 'My dear Hetley'.