Finally I must thank Geordie Williamson, Mathilda Imlah, Georgia Douglas and the team at Picador who saw the potential for this project more clearly than I did and whose encouragement and confidence allowed me to do far more than I might ever have had the courage to attempt on my own.
Endnotes
Archival Sources
Kate Baker, 1942, Series 2. Biographical sketches ‘Silhouettes’, File 3 Edith Coleman (Box 3–4) Papers of Kate Baker, 1893–1946, MS 2022, National Library of Australia (NLA)
Rica Erickson Papers MN 1740, ACC5448A, 8588A/4.2, State Library of Western Australia (SLWA)
Teaching Records, Education Department Records, Public Records Office of Victoria (PROV)
Student Records, University of Melbourne Archives (UMA)
State Library of Victoria (SLV)
Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (FNCV)
National Herbarium of New South Wales (NHNSW)
Personal collections of John Thomson, Peter Thomson and Peter Harms
Chapter 1: Edith Coleman of Walsham
P1 ‘If you love . . .’ from Edith Coleman [Maman Cochet] 1927, ‘Spring Blossoms: A rose wilderness’, The Age, 5 November, p29. pp3–4 This reconstruction is based on details in Kate Baker, 1942, Series 2. Biographical sketches ‘Silhouettes’, File 3 Edith Coleman (Box 3–4) Papers of Kate Baker, 1893–1946, MS 2022, NLA, as well as Lois Meyer, 1998, ‘Memories of Dorothy Coleman’, Tintern News, p7 and the recollections of John and Peter Thomson. Animals from Edith’s own papers. Descriptions of Blackburn from A. W. Steel, quoted in Robin Da Costa, 1977, Picturesque Blackburn (Pioneer Design Studio; Lilydale) p100. p5 ‘needed no introduction’ from the byline to Edith’s first article in Your Garden, 1 December 1947, p28. ‘name ought to . . .’ H. Montague R. Rupp, Letter to Edith Coleman, 15 March 1933, quoted in Kate Baker, 1942, p13. ‘Edith Coleman of . . .’ from Kate Baker, 1942, p1. Details on White from James Fisher, 1946, ‘Introduction’, in Gilbert White (first published 1788) The Natural History of Selborne (Cresset Press: London). p7 ‘It is hard . . .’ Jean Galbraith, 1951, ‘Edith Coleman: A personal appreciation’, Victorian Naturalist, 68, p46. p11 Danielle Clode, 2006, A Continent of Curiosities (Cambridge University Press: Melbourne). p12 Danielle Clode, 2005, ‘Professional and popular communicators: Norman Wakefield and Edith Coleman’, Victorian Naturalist, 121, pp274–281. pp15–16 Extract from Edith Coleman, 1929, ‘A garden wilderness: Old fashioned favourites and familiar friends’, The Argus, 3 August, p3.
Chapter 2: The blackbird’s song is in her blood
p17 ‘As I ramble . . .’ from Edith Coleman [E.C.] 1938, ‘A garden of simples’, The Age, 9 April, p2. pp19–21 This reconstruction is largely derived from W. H. Bateman, 1936, Rambling recollections of old Guildford (Billing and Sons: Guildford) p3 and George’s handwritten notes therein. Edith’s recollections are from Edith Coleman [E.C.] 1945, ‘The Herb Garden: Licorice famous for twenty centuries’, The Age, 7 April, p7, and Kate Baker, 1942, pp15–16. Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) leased ‘The Chestnuts’ next to Guildford Castle in 1861 for his six unmarried sisters, whom he stayed with regularly until his death. He provided a letter of introduction for Harry Harms when he went to Australia. p22 Frances Charlotte Bouverie, 1854, Memorials (John Masters: London) and the recollections of George Harms, 1963, quoted in Peter Harms’ family history. p24 The recollections of Ivo Harms in Peter Harms’ family history. ‘There had always . . .’ Edith Coleman, 1943, ‘The story of my honey-bees: Part I’, Victorian Naturalist, 60, p3, also mentioned in Kate Baker, 1942, p15. p26 Details of Lottie’s family from M. Edmunds, 2016, ‘Charlotte Sarah (Edmunds) Harms’ https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Edmunds-522 and ‘Maria Kaye’ https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Kaye-399 [accessed 28.01.2017]. p28 Details of the Harms family’s early life from Peter Harms’ family history. ‘Like Hood . . .’ (a reference to Thomas Hood’s poem ‘I remember, I remember’) and ‘My earliest memories . . .’ from Edith Coleman, 1941, ‘Wall Gardening in Australia’, The Age, 15 March, p11. p29 The photo of Hale Lodge could have been reproduced by Edith’s brother Harry, or her father Henry, who was also known as Harry. For clarity I have retained the use of Henry to refer to Edith’s father throughout. p30 Amy M. King, 2013, ‘Publication of Gilbert White’s The Natural History of Selborne, 1789’, BRANCH: Britain, Representation and Nineteenth-Century History. http://www.branchcollective.org/?ps_articles=amy-m-king-publication-of-gilbert-whites-the-natural-history-of-selborne-1789 [accessed 20.12.2016]. ‘late in the . . .’ and ‘long words and . . .’ from Richard Jefferies, ‘Preface’, in Gilbert White, 1887, The Natural History of Selborne (Walter Scott, London) pxxii, pvii. ‘the close and loving . . .’ and ‘Father was . . .’ are quoted in Kate Baker, 1942, p 15. pp31–34 Details of the early life of Harry and George Harms from the recollections of Ivo Harms and George Harms (respectively) quoted in Peter Harms’ family history. p34 ‘the fairy-like beauty . . .’ from Edith Coleman [E.C.] 1942, ‘Coffee from the herb garden: Dandelion returns to favor’, The Age, 24 October, p6. ‘old-fashioned musk . . .’ from Edith Coleman [E.C] 1942, ‘America’s gift to garden lovers: Plant-like links – floral affinities’, The Age, 4 April, p7. In general I have retained the taxonomic names Edith used in her own writing, but provide the current accepted name in the notes where possible. This species is now known as Mimulus moschatus. pp34–35 ‘One of the happiest . . .’ from Edith Coleman [E.C.] 1937, ‘Fragrance in the garden’, The Age, 13 March, p6. ‘I did not know . . .’ Edith Coleman [E.C.] 1938, ‘A garden of simples’, The Age, 9 April, p2. p35 ‘Some thickets made . . .’ from Francis Bacon, ‘Of Gardens’ (Essay 46) The Essays or Counsels (Penguin Classics: London). p36 ‘a charming picture . . .’ is quoted in Kate Baker, 1942, p15. pp37–39 Extract from Edith Coleman, 1930, ‘Wind in the willows: Nature’s Æolian harps’, The Argus, 14 June, p3.
Chapter 3:
