Mary Ann McHard

Mary Ann McHard (1825–1912), née Jones, was a pioneering Western Australian woman who contributed to Australian botany by collecting over 2000 plant specimens for Ferdinand von Mueller and sending them to the newly created National Herbarium of Victoria.[1]

Mary Ann McHard
Born(1825-12-25)25 December 1825
Died18 June 1912(1912-06-18) (aged 86)
Bunbury, Western Australia
NationalityBritish (1825–1901)
Australian (1901–1912)
Scientific career
FieldsBotany
Collections map
Collections by year (AVH)

Life

Mary Ann McHard arrived in Australia at the age of four; arriving together with her family in Fremantle, Western Australia, on 29 October 1829 aboard the Lotus.[2] Within a year of the family's arrival, her mother died, and her father was left to look after the five young children.

The family lived in Perth, where she married Thomas McHard in 1845, by whom she had four daughters. With the death of her husband in 1864, McHard, her children, her father and her two unmarried brothers, took up land near Balingup on the Blackwood River. After the death of their father, the two brothers and McHard continued working the property but with the death of R.T. Jones (a brother), she and her remaining brother moved to Bunbury, where she died in 1912.[2]

Collections

She collected from Blackwood River (1873–1895), Preston River (1876), Geographe Bay (1881), Busselton (1884), Augusta, Cape Leeuwin and York (1885), Bayswater (1887), Gingin (1892–1893), Victoria Plains (1893), from near the Murchison River (1894) and from Dardanup. Some of her specimens were types: Pultenaea skinneri F.Muell. (1873 MEL 2057199A), Xerotes endlicheri F.Muell. (1874) (current name Lomandra odora), and Boronia machardiana F.Muell. (1875) honouring her (current name Boronia crenulata subsp. viminea (Lindl.) Paul G.Wilson).

In all, the National Herbarium of Victoria (MEL) still holds 2022 of the specimens she collected for Mueller (recorded under the various names of Mrs M. McHard / Mrs McHard / Mrs MacHard/ Mrs McHardy / Mrs M. Hard),[3] while the website Bionomia shows her as having collected at least 2072 extant specimens, and that 12 of these have contributed to a recent (2020) scientific paper.[4][5]

The seven surviving letters between Mueller amd McHard[3] do not indicate how McHard started to collect for Mueller, but it is difficult not to believe that Mueller's extensive advertising in colonial papers[6][7][8][9][10] was influential.

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References
  1. The University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre. "McHard, Mary Ann - Biographical entry - Encyclopedia of Australian Science". www.eoas.info. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  2. "Obituary: Mrs Mary Ann McHard". Southern Times (Bunbury, WA). 20 June 1912. p. 5. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  3. Maroske, S. & Vaughan, A. (2014). ""Ferdinand Mueller's female plant collectors: a biographical register"" (PDF). Muelleria. 32: 126, 167.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. Shorthouse, D.P. (5 June 2020). "Mary Ann McHard (Bionomia)". web.bionomia.net. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  5. Li, M.; He, J.; Zhao, Z.; Lyu, R.; Yao, M.; Cheng, J.; Xie, L. (9 March 2020). "Predictive modelling of the distribution of Clematis sect. Fruticella s . str . under climate change reveals a range expansion during the Last Glacial Maximum". PeerJ. 8: e8729. doi:10.7717/peerj.8729. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 7067196. PMID 32195054.
  6. "Australian Botany". Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954). 19 August 1876. p. 3. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  7. "The Flora of Australia". Western Star and Roma Advertiser (Toowoomba, Qld. : 1875 - 1948). 12 May 1879. p. 4. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  8. "BOTANY". Geraldton Observer (WA : 1880 - 1881). 7 September 1880. p. 2. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  9. "CIRCULAR FROM BARON FERD V. MUELLER". West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954). 20 January 1880. p. 2. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  10. "The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954) - 24 Jul 1883 - p2". Trove. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
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