Fanny Osborne (née Malcolm, 29 January 1852 – 12 March 1934) was a prominent New Zealand botanical illustrator.[1] She was born in Auckland in 1852. A collection of her paintings of Great Barrier Island plants was published in 1983.

Fanny Osborne
Born	Fanny Malcolm (1852-01-29)29 January 1852 Auckland, New Zealand
Died	12 March 1934(1934-03-12) (aged 82) Auckland
Resting place	Great Barrier Island
Known for	Botanical illustration

Early life

Osborne was born in Auckland in 1852, the second child of thirteen born to parents Neill and Emilie Malcolm .[2] Neill Malcolm, of Clan Malcolm of Argyll, had been a barrister at the Inner Temple, London, but lost his inheritance due to a poor decision by a trustee, and gave up his law career. Malcolm married Emilie Monton Wilton, the daughter of a retired army colonel in 1848, and they emigrated to New Zealand two years later, arriving on the SS Victory in February 1851.[2]

At the age of six Osborne moved with her parents and three sisters to Great Barrier Island, about 90 km (56 mi) to the north-east of Auckland. Osborne's parents began cattle farming at Rosalie Bay in the south of the island, in partnership with another settler, Robert Barstow.[2] Barstow took a position as magistrate on the mainland three months after the Malcolms arrived, leaving them as the only European settlers in Rosalie Bay.[2] The farm was dilapidated, the cattle had to be re-domesticated, and Emilie had a further nine children to look after. Growing up in such an isolated location was challenging, but Osborne's mother Emilie recognised artistic talents in her daughter at an early stage, and ordered art materials from Auckland.[2] The Malcolms had difficulty proving title to the farm, despite repeatedly attempting to get the farm surveyed. When twenty new settlers arrived in Rosalie Bay in 1867, the Malcolms were forced to pay £56 for a reduced lot of 80 acres, which rankled as the new settlers received government grants of land without fees. Emilie Malcolm refused to socialise with the new neighbours, and was especially bitter towards Alfred Joe Osborne, who occupied land at Tryphena that they had previously considered part of their farm. Osborne's father, a wool trader in Auckland, had purchased the land.[2]

In 1874 Osborne, aged 21, eloped with the 26 year-old Alfred Joe Osborne; they were married 15 January 1874 by Bishop Cowie at Bishopscourt in Parnell. They settled at Tryphena at the southern end of Great Barrier Island and commenced raising a family of 13 children. Neither set of parents approved of the match, and from that point on Osborne was estranged from her mother.[2] In 1884 Alfred Osborne became the first teacher at a school in Tryphena. He was well-educated, having studied music and languages for four years in Berlin.[2]

Career

As Osborne did not date her paintings it is not known when she commenced painting the indigenous plants of Great Barrier Island. However, over a period of some decades her work reached the highest quality and is now greatly appreciated from both artistic and scientific points of view.[1] Osborne started to produce sets of paintings of native flowers before 1900, but was most creative from 1911 to 1916. By the 1920s her renown had grown, and she was visited twice by the Governor-General's wife Lady Alice Fergusson, who sketched and Osborne home and garden, and purchased a set of Osborne's paintings.[2]

Her paintings of the Adams mistletoe (Trilepidia adamsii) are particularly important as this species is now considered extinct, and no colour photographs of it exist. A collection of her paintings of Great Barrier Island plants was published[3] in 1983 by Jeanne Goulding of the Auckland Museum, whose botany department holds the largest collection of Osborne's works.

Death

Osborne was widowed on 9 January 1920. Towards end of her life she was crippled with arthritis, and moved to the mainland to live with her daughters Constance and Winifred only reluctantly, when she was aged 77. Osborne died in Auckland on 12 March 1934 and is buried on Great Barrier Island.[1] Osborne had 13 children. Her daughter Lilian Gibbard became a noted painter of wildflowers.[2] Son Charles Osborne was a naturalist and conchologist, and kept a shell museum.[2] Son Cedric Osborne was known for his skill with inlaid wood, and created two panels depicting native flowers, which were presented to the Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh as a wedding present from the people of New Zealand.[2]

References