Bringing the natural world to life with their detailed botanical illustrations, Harriet and Helena Scott forged a path for women in the arts and sciences. Step into their world of determination and artistic brilliance, where nature and resilience flourish side by side.
Known as the Scott sisters, Harriet and Helena Scott are recognised as two of Australia’s most prominent natural history illustrators. They are also widely considered to be our country’s first professional female artists in the fi eld, a space largely dominated by men in the 19th century.
Harriet and Helena were born in the Rocks area of Sydney in 1830 and 1832, respectively, to Harriet Calcott, daughter of an ex-convict, and Alexander Walter Scott, a wealthy man who would become known in the colony as an entomologist, grazier, and entrepreneur.
Growing up on Ash Island
In 1846, the sisters, then aged 16 and 14, moved from Sydney to the isolated Ash Island in the Hunter River estuary. There, surrounded by unspoiled native vegetation and under the inspiring tutelage of their artistic father, their shared fascination with the natural world grew.
For almost 20 years, the sisters lived and worked on the island, faithfully recording its flora and fauna, especially the butterflies and moths. In 1868, Harriet and Helena were elected honorary members of the Entomological Society of NSW – a rare distinction for women at the time.
Illustrating Australia’s insects & animals
The Lepidoptera (scaly, winged insects) provided an impressive showcase for the sisters’ artistic talents, and their father, a long-time trustee of the Australian Museum, had a wide circle of scientific friends in need of illustrative assistance. The sisters went on to execute most of the artwork for other scientific literature in Sydney. This included Snakes of Australia (1869) and Mammals of Australia (1871). Their illustrations for these publications were highly praised at the Sydney Intercolonial Exhibition in 1870.
Recognition & hardship
Despite their creative success, the year 1866 was particularly sad for the Scott family. The sisters lost their beloved mother in January, and a year later their father was declared bankrupt. Helena’s husband, Edward Forde, passed away in June 1866, two short years after they wed.
With mounting financial struggles, the sisters had no choice but to leave their beloved island home and return to Sydney.
It became increasingly necessary for the sisters to face the social disgrace of having to seek payment for their artwork commissions. In 1866, when completing some plates of birds’ eggs for her childhood friend Edward Ramsay, who later became the curator of the Australian Museum, Harriet pleaded, “… above all … let nobody know you are paying me for doing them for you.”
Forced through circumstance to become two of Australia’s earliest ‘professional’ female illustrators, it was a di_ cult road for the sisters. It seems Harriet had always been aware of the limitations women faced in the 19th-century world of arts and sciences. In a letter to Edward Ramsay in 1865, she’d revealed her frustrations and great desire to distinguish herself: “… in some way or other, and if I were only a man, I might do it, but as I am a woman, I can’t try, for I hold it wrong for women to hunt after notoriety … clearly I ought to have been Harry Scott instead of Hattie Scott.”
A legacy beyond the canvas
Harriet and Helena Scott dedicated their lives to capturing the beauty of the natural world. Their legacy lives on – not only in their exquisite depictions of Australia’s flora and fauna, but also in the groundbreaking role they played as pioneering female artists, whose work continues to inspire and inform.
This article was originally published under the title Drawn to Nature in Issue 41 – Her World Awaits. You can purchase previous issues and enjoy more enchanting content here.
