Kathleen McArthur (1915–2000) was an Australian naturalist, writer, botanical illustrator and conservationist. She was born in Brisbane, Queensland, to Catherine and Daniel Evans. Her mother was a daughter of the Durack pastoral family, her father a co-founder of the engineering firm Evans Deakin and Company. She married Malcolm McArthur in 1938 and had three children before divorcing in 1947. From 1942 she lived at Caloundra on the

Sunshine Coast, Queensland The Sunshine Coast is a peri-urban region in South East Queensland, Australia. It is the district defined in 1967 as "the area contained in the Shires of Landsborough, Maroochy and Noosa, but excluding Bribie Island". Located north of the ce ...

Environmental activist

McArthur was a strong environmentalist and a co-founder, with Judith Wright, David Fleay and Brian Clouston, of the

Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland The Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland (Wildlife Queensland) based in Queensland, Australia is a not-for-profit organisation which aims to engage communities to deliver conservation outcomes. Founded in 1962, Wildlife Queensland works ...

in 1962, and served as vice-president from then until 1965. In 1963 she founded the Caloundra branch of the society. She was involved in several campaigns during the 1960s and 1970s to preserve landscapes threatened by economic development, including the Pumicestone Passage, the Great Barrier Reef and the Cooloola section of the Great Sandy National Park. Much campaign work was funded through her growing and selling native plants as well as through exhibitions of her wildflower paintings. She was especially concerned for the Wallum country of South East Queensland, a habitat characterised by floristically-rich coastal heath and swamps on deep sandy soils. The spider, ''

Ozicrypta ''Ozicrypta'' is a genus of Australian Barychelidae, brushed trapdoor spiders first described by Robert Raven in 1994. Species the genus contained twenty-five species found in the Northern Territory (NT) or Queensland (QLD): *''Ozicrypta austr ...

mcarthurae'', was named after her for her outstanding contribution to conservation. In 1996 she was awarded an

honorary An honorary position is one given as an honor, with no duties attached, and without payment. Other uses include: * Honorary Academy Award, by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, United States * Honorary Aryan, a status in Nazi Germany ...

doctorate by

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cairn ...

of North Queensland.

Currimundi Lake (Kathleen McArthur) Conservation Park Currimundi Lake (Kathleen McArthur) Conservation Park is a protected area that is located in Wurtulla, north of Currimundi, approximately north of Caloundra, Queensland, Australia. The park is named after Kathleen McArthur, a local artist, co ...

is named after her.

Writing

McArthur wrote a weekly column, "Wildlife and Landscape", for her local paper. She also started the Lunch Hour Theatre in Caloundra, a monthly event for which she wrote scripts based on environmental, biographical and historical subjects. Books authored (and illustrated) by McArthur include: * 1959 – ''Queensland Wildflowers – A Selection''. Jacaranda Press: Brisbane. * 1978 – ''Pumicestone Passage: A Living Waterway''. Bacchus Printing: Brisbane. * 1981 – ''Bread and Dripping Days: An Australian Growing Up in the 20s''. Kangaroo Press: Kenthurst. * 1982 – ''The Bush in Bloom: A Wildflower Artist’s Year in Paintings and Words''. Kangaroo Press: Kenthurst. * 1985 – ''The Little Fishes of Pumicestone Passage''. Artworks: Brisbane. * 1986 – ''Looking at Australian Wildflowers''. Kangaroo Press: Kenthurst. * 1989 – ''Living on the Coast''. Kangaroo Press: Kenthurst.

Environmental activist

Writing

See also

Footnotes

Further reading