Jean Galbraith facts for kids
Jean Galbraith (born March 28, 1906 – died January 2, 1999) was an amazing Australian botanist, gardener, and writer. She also wrote poems and books for children.
Jean lived her whole life in Tyers, a place in Gippsland, Australia. Her family's garden, full of native plants, was where she first started writing about growing local flowers. Even though she didn't go to university for botany, Jean taught herself a lot. She joined the Field Naturalist Club when she was a teenager and became a very respected botanist. People saw her as an important and influential gardener, following in the footsteps of famous gardener Edna Walling.
Jean started writing when she was 19. She often used the pen name "Correa" for her early articles. By age 26, her work was published widely. For 50 years, she wrote monthly articles for The Garden Lover and the Victorian Naturalist magazines. She also wrote for The Age newspaper sometimes. In 1939, she gathered some of her Garden Lover articles into a book called Garden in a Valley.
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Protecting Australian Plants
Jean Galbraith helped discover a plant called Prostanthera galbraithiae. This plant was named after her because she helped find it and worked hard to protect it.
In 1936, Jean donated land to create Victoria's first wildflower sanctuary. This special place was set up by the Native Plants Preservation Society of Victoria in Tyers, near Traralgon. It helped protect many beautiful native flowers. For all her important work, Jean received the Australian Natural History Medallion in 1970.
Another rare plant, the aniseed boronia (Boronia galbraithiae), was also named in her honor in 1993.
Jean Galbraith's Writings
Jean Galbraith wrote many different things, including ten books. She also wrote lyrics for hymns, like "O Christ our Lord whose beauty." Her strong Christian faith guided her throughout her life.
She wrote regularly for the NSW School Magazine and even had a series of radio shows for children on the ABC. In 1964 and 1965, she wrote a monthly page for the Educational Magazine called 'Beauty in Distress'. This page encouraged people to protect Australia's native plants.
Books About Plants and Gardens
- Wildflowers of Victoria (1967)
- A field guide to the wild flowers of south-east Australia (1977)
- A gardener's year (1987)
- A garden lover's journal (1943–1946) (published in 1989)
- Wildflower diary (1976) – written with Winifred Waddell and Elizabeth Cochrane
- Fruits (1966) – written with John Truscott
Books for Young Readers
- Grandma Honeypot (1963)
- The wonderful butterfly; the magic of growth in nature (1968)
- From flower to fruit (1965) – written with Moira Pye
Her Life Story in Books
- Garden in a valley (1985) – This book is about her life and garden.
- Doongalla restored: the story of a garden (1991) – This book was first published in The Australian Garden Lover between 1939 and 1941.
- Kindred spirits: a botanical correspondence (1999) – written with Anne Latreille and the Australian Garden History Society
Poetry
- Poems for Peter
