Margaret Senior facts for kids

Margaret Senior OAM (1917 – 25 January 1995) was a talented English-Australian Illustrator. She was famous for her drawings of nature, animals, and pictures for children's books. Her art helped people learn about Australia's amazing plants and animals, especially in the early days of exploring the country. You can find her artworks in special collections, like at the University of Newcastle. She also created many posters and detailed drawings of plants for the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, including posters to help prevent bushfires.

Margaret Senior's Life and Art

Margaret Senior grew up in London, England. In the 1940s, she moved to Australia, which became her new home. She loved helping young artists who wanted to draw nature and animals. Because of this, she left a generous gift of money and many of her original artworks to the University of Newcastle. This helped support students studying natural history illustration.

She also set up a special prize called the Margaret Senior Wildlife Illustration Award. This award was given each year to a talented student who was graduating.

Awards and Recognition

Margaret Senior's important work for wildlife was recognized with a special award. In 1988, she received the Medal of the Order of Australia. This award is given to people who have done great things for their community or country. It showed how much her efforts in wildlife conservation were appreciated.

Books Illustrated by Margaret Senior

Margaret Senior illustrated many books throughout her career. This means she drew all the pictures inside them! One of her most famous books was 'The Australia Book', which won a big award in 1952: the Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers.

Here are a few examples of the books she helped bring to life with her drawings:

• Little Brown Piccaninnies of Tasmania (1950)
• The story of Kurri Kurri the Kookaburra (1950)
• The Australia Book (1952)
• Bush Haven Animals: An Australian picture story (1952)
• The story of Koonaworra the black Swan (1957)
• Australia's animals (1987)