Botanical artist honoured

Botanical artist Dr Celia Rosser, who is the first to have painted all known species of banksia, was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws by the chancellor, Mr Jerry Ellis, at a recent graduation ceremony.

Dr Rosser was further honoured last week when, on behalf of the Australian people, the Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, presented the Queen with the third volume of her work The Banksias.

Dr Rosser was appointed to Monash in 1970 as the Faculty of Science artist. This appointment provided her with the opportunity to forge ahead as a botanical artist, and she soon published two works - Salt Marsh Plants of Southern Australia in 1971 and Mosses of Southern Australia in 1975.

Dr Rosser's work also became widely known through her celebrated designs commissioned by Australia Post. The first of these issues, four stamps and First Day Covers depicting Australian fungi, appeared in 1981.

The culmination of her career as a botanical artist has been her magisterial work The Banksias, a definitive study in watercolour of the 76 known species of the genus banksia. This work, commissioned by the university and, begun in 1974, occupied her until August 1999.

Dr Rosser was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1995 for her contribution to botanical art, and the Linnean Society of London honoured her with the Jill Smythies Award in 1997.

The citation read at the ceremony noted Dr Rosser's outstanding achievement had rightly brought her recognition as one of the great botanical artists, not only of Australia in the 20th century but of any age and country.