Anna Mary Winifred Brotherton

Anna Mary Winifred Brotherton (1874–1956), better known as Winnie Brotherton, was the founder of the Castlemaine Art Museum, a Red Cross volunteer, Girl Guide leader, and botanical collector who corresponded with Ferdinand Mueller.

Anna Mary Winnifred Brotherton
Portrait of Winnie Brotherton in 1901.
Born1874
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died1956
Australia
Occupation(s)Botanical collector, Red Cross Bureau volunteer, Girl Guide leader, and a founding member of the Castlemaine Art Museum
Years active1894–1895 (botanical collector)

Life

Born in Melbourne, in her youth her family moved to Woodlands, an estate on Burnett Road near the Castlemaine Botanical Gardens[1] where she remained until a significant fire.[2] Winnie attended Castlemaine Grammar School, and matriculated at the University of Melbourne in 1891.[3] She organised for academics in Melbourne to travel to Castlemaine and give lectures for the education of the community.[4]

She was closely associated with the wider Victorian artistic community of the time. Her sister, the amateur poet and artist Alice Brotherton, married G. Rodney Cherry who exhibited his photography at the Victorian Academy of Arts.[5] Her cousin was the New Zealand painter Frances Mary Hodgkins.[6]

In 1913 a committee of women, including Brotherton, established the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum (CAGHM).[5][2] Brotherton took the minutes, "emphasised the imperative of establishing a museum in which to preserve the heritage of the town, and the museum was later to be given her name in her honour."[7]

Opening of the Castlemaine Art Gallery and Historical Museum in 1931

Her attendance at the opening of the custom-built Castlemaine Art Gallery and Museum in 1931 was immortalised in a sketch of Castlemaine Stalwarts by the cartoonist Samuel Garnet Wells (1885-1972).[8][2] Furthermore, she received an award for thanks from the Girl Guides Association in 1956, along with her niece.[9] As noted by Marjorie Theobald, she is the only woman depicted in the sketch, but it is telling that she is not identified as a founder of the gallery, but by her role in the Guiding movement as a district commissioner,[2] a position that she held until 1934.[10][11] By 1953, Miss Brotherton was described as the curator of the historical section of the Castlemaine Art Museum.[12] Her archives are held at the art gallery.[13]

After her sister Alice's early death, her daughter Nan Brotherton-Cherry was raised by her aunt, Winnie, and in the 1920s they were both involved in running "a boarding school for children of special needs."[5][2]

The Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Bureau, London

During the First World War, on Boxing Day 1916, Winifred Brotherton and her niece travelled to England, and by 1917 had joined the London office of the Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Bureau.[4] She was assigned to the records department at the Australian Imperial Force (A.I.F.) headquarters on Horseferry Road in Westminster and in the evenings worked at the Enquiry Bureau headquarters on Grosvenor Place in Belgravia.[4][14] In 1918 she was awarded with a "silver badge for meritorious service."[15]

Botanical interests and botanical collections
Example of a herbarium specimen label associated with Miss Brotherton's collecting activities.

Brotherton was a member of the Castlemaine Field Ramblers Club.[16] She corresponded with Ferdinand Mueller regarding the identification of local wildflowers, and Mueller had been acquainted with her father.[17]

The specimens collected by Miss Brotherton around the Castlemaine district are today held in herbarium collections around the world, distributed by Mueller. This includes the National Herbarium of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria,[17] the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University,[18] the National Museum of Natural History,[19] and the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium.[20]

Further reading

References
  1. Supplementary Register of Teachers and Supplementary Register of Schools for 1923 (PDF). Melbourne: Victoria Government. 6 March 1923. p. 14.
  2. Theobald, Marjorie (September 2020). "Theobald on Miss Brotherton". Castlemaine Art Gallery. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  3. "University of Melbourne". The Australasian. Vol. L, no. 1292. Victoria, Australia. 3 January 1891. p. 26. Retrieved 28 November 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. Linda, North. "Miss Brotherton from Castlemaine: Red Cross Bureau Volunteer". Victorian Collections. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  5. Lauretta, Zilles. "Insights into the Levinys of Buda and the Castlemaine Art Museum Connections". Buda Historic Home and Garden. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  6. "Brotherton, Anna Mary Winifred, 1874-1956". Alexander Turnbull Library. National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  7. "[Castlemaine Art Museum]". Wikipedia. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  8. Wells, S.G. (1931). "Castlemaine Stalwarts, 1931". Castlemaine Art Gallery. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  9. The Girl Guides Association (Victoria) (1955–1956). "Annual Report 1955-1956" (PDF). 30th Annual Report 1955-1956. Wm. Caulfield & Sons Pty. Ltd., Printers. p. 11. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  10. The Girl Guides Association (Victoria) (1930). "Executive Committee" (PDF). Victorian Supplement to Rules, Policy, and Organisation 1930. p. 23. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  11. The Girl Guides Association (Victoria) (1 January 1934). "Resignation" (PDF). Matilda. Vol. 10, no. 7. Malvern: McKellar Press. p. 40. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  12. "Pistols Stolen from Museum". The Age. No. 30585. Victoria, Australia. 11 May 1953. p. 4. Retrieved 28 November 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. "A. Brotherton". Castlemaine Art Museum. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  14. "Australian Imperial Force Headquarters (London), Administrative registry medical/personal files, 1914–18 War". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  15. "Items of News". Castlemaine Mail. Castlemaine, Vic. 3 April 1918. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  16. "Castlemaine Field Ramblers' Club". Mount Alexander Mail. No. 11666. Victoria, Australia. 23 September 1896. p. 2. Retrieved 28 November 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. Maroske, S.; Vaughan, A. (2014). "Ferdinand Mueller's female plant collectors: a biographical register". Muelleria. 32: 92–172. doi:10.5962/p.295690. hdl:1885/70771. S2CID 162442089. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  18. "Caladenia R.Br. Collected in Australia". GBIF. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  19. "Specimens Collected: Anna Mary Winifred Brotherton (US)". Bionomia. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  20. "Specimens Collected: Anna Mary Winifred Brotherton (NY)". Bionomia. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
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