Flower Hunter: The Remarkable Life of Ellis Rowan

by Christine Morton-Evans, Michael Morton-Evans

Published by the National Library of Australia. Ellis Rowan was one of Australia's most accomplished artists and an incredible if somewhat unexpected adventurer. During World War I Ellis ventured alone into the tropical jungles of New Guinea in search of all 72 known species of the Bird of Paradise. Not only was she the first white woman to do such a thing, she was also 70 years old. The Flower Hunter is the incredible story of a woman who went to extraordinary lengths to paint her beloved subject matter, journeying to some of the most wild and inhospitable areas of Australia and beyond. On her death in 1922 there was hardly a household in Australia that didn t know her name. Sadly today she is all but forgotten, yet her work lives on in the 970 paintings carefully preserved in the National Library of Australia and in this, the definitive story of Ellis Rowan s remarkable life.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Art History, History, Australia

329 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Meg Dunley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Phew! What an epic read! It was very interesting information about a woman from over a century ago in Victoria, NSW and QLD, and because of my interest in painting and indigenous plants and flowers, I stayed for the journey. However, and it is a very big however, I found this to be a long and hard journey.
I did think many times that it may have been more interesting to read the articles that Ellis had written along her travels, or The Flower Hunter that she had written, with just a brief introduction by Christine and Michael Morton-Evans.
Their job was made difficult with a large amount of personal information being destroyed once she died, however, the book did appear to carry a great deal of bitterness for her life that didn't really seem apparent in the way that she conducted herself. I found that this took away from the essence of Ellis Rowan. I felt that they really drew out the pitfalls in her character that actually held her back from really being recognised as a person of significance that she so wished for.
A rather long drawn out book with rather interesting subjects of art, and botany. Difficult to score...7/10

[Julie Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a book of wonderment and history of the time.Ellis Rowan was certainly a woman out of her time . What she accomplished in the contribution of identification of Australasian plant species has never been rightly fully attributed to her. She travelled to inaccessible places and painted its flora. She sent her paintings back to be catalogued. One was named after her. I strongly recommend this book for anyone who loves reading about amazing role models ,flowers, history of Australia in the 1880’s to her death in 1922.

[Rowena Eddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A highly readable account of the indefatigable flower painter, Ellis Rowan. She knew her worth, and needed income from her work. So as well as painting, she also needed to promote herself and her work. She had a sad personal history, and her son suffered from her neglect. But her flower painting are very beautiful. It is easy to be sniffy about decorative work, but it’s a form of intellectual snobbery. Her work doesn’t have the depth of great art, but it would be easy to live with

[Kerry · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fairly dry account of an amazing flower painter/artist who the men of the day (1930's in Melbourne)looked down on (she painted flowers and birds instead of real stuff like scenery).

[Erin72 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mildly interesting in parts, but so could not relate to her. Always find it a struggle to read of people who put their art before their family.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A captivating read about a feisty, Victorian adventurer and artist. A highly entertaining biography about a remarkable woman.