Jean Galbraith (28 March 1906 – 2 January 1999) was an Australian botanist, gardener, writer of children's books and poet.
Galbraith was born at Tyers, Gippsland, where she lived for her whole life. The family's sprawling native garden at their cottage "Dunedin" formed the backdrop to her first articles on growing native flowers.Author Meredith Fletcher working on biography of Jean Galbraith ABC 19 March 2009 As a teenager, Galbraith joined the Field Naturalist Club and began to train herself in botany. Despite her lack of formal qualifications, Galbraith became a highly respected botanist.Holmes, K., (1997) 'A literary gardener', Australian Garden History, 9 (1), pp. 4–7. She was counted an "important and influential woman gardener",Bev Roberts. Treasures of the State Library of Victoria 2003 Page158 and "natural successor" to Edna Walling.Obituary. The Sydney Morning Herald, 11 January 1999
Galbraith used the pseudonym "Correa" for her early works.John Arnold, John A. Hay, Sally Batten The bibliography of Australian literature, Volume 2 2001 p119 She first started writing at the age of 19, and was widely published from the age of 26. For 50 years she contributed monthly to two magazines, The Garden Lover and The Victorian Naturalist, as well as occasional articles for The Age.Trisha Dixon Under the Spell of the Ages: Australian Country Gardens 2007 p64 Galbraith collected some of her Garden Lover articles and published them in 1939 as Garden in a Valley.
Galbraith collected thousands of specimens for the National Herbarium of Victoria. The species Prostanthera galbraithiae was named for Galbraith as co-discover of the species and advocate for its protection. In 1936 she donated the first wildflower sanctuary in Victoria, established by the Native Plants Preservation Society of Victoria at Tyers, near Traralgon in Victoria's Latrobe Valley. She was recipient of the 1970 Australian Natural History Medallion and founding member of the Latrobe Valley Field Naturalists Club.
In addition to poetry Galbraith also wrote the lyrics for hymns, such as "O Christ our Lord whose beauty".(set to music by Ian Hyndman) in Hymns from Christadelphian Conferences and Youth Conferences,1957–1984 "She held a deep Christian (Christadelphian) faith which sustained her at all times".Helen I. Aston. Jean Galbraith 28 March 1906 – 2 January 1999 A Tribute The Victorian naturalist, Volumes 116–118 1999 p73
In 1993, rare aniseed boronia, Boronia galbraithiae was named in her honour.
Galbraith died in Ringwood, Victoria, in 1999.
Works In all Galbraith wrote ten books:
Botany and gardening: Wildflowers of Victoria, 1967 Collins field guide to the wild flowers of south-east Australia, including temperate regions of N.S.W, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Queensland 1977 A gardener's year, 1987 A garden lover's journal (1943–1946), 1989 Wildflower diary, Winifred Waddell, Jean Galbraith, Elizabeth Cochrane, 1976 Fruits, Jean Galbraith, John Truscott, 1966
Books for children: Grandma Honeypot, 1963 The wonderful butterfly; the magic of growth in nature, 1968 From flower to fruit, Jean Galbraith, Moira Pye, 1965
Autobiography: Garden in a valley, Jean Galbraith – Biography and autobiography, 1985 Doongalla restored: the story of a garden, 1991, 123pp (First published in The Australian Garden Lover' between 1939 and 1941 under the title Two and a Garden) Kindred spirits: a botanical correspondence, Anne Latreille, Jean Galbraith, Australian Garden History Society, 1999
Poetry: Poems for Peter, () She also wrote regularly for the NSW School Magazine, ran a series of broadcasts on the ABC for children, and in 1964 and 1965, contributed a monthly page for the Educational Magazine called "Beauty in Distress – a plea for the preservation of our native plants".
References
Latreille, A. (2002), 'Galbraith, Jean ('Correa')', in R. Aitken and M. Looker (eds), Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens, South Melbourne, Oxford University Press, pp. 241–42.
External links (Open Access)
Jean Galbraith in 1926 A Day with Jean Galbraith Based on a 1990 interview this ABC Radio National explores her relationships with her family and friends.