Kathleen McArthur and preservation of the gateway to Fraser Island

Kathleen McArthur was born in Brisbane, Queensland in 1915 and died in Caloundra, Queensland, in 2000. She began painting wildflowers in 1950, eventually publishing Queensland Wildflowers in 1959. She went on to publish and retail wildflower prints. Kathleen along with poet Judith Wright founded the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland in 1962 (Australian National Herbarium, 2019).

Kathleen was pivotal in ensuring the gateway to Fraser Island -  the Cooloola National Park was preserved. She was chosen as the Sunshine Coast Citizen of the Century in 2002.

The library has several books by Kathleen:

• Queensland wildflowers:a selection 1915-2000.
  1959 Brisbane : Jacaranda.
• A living river - the Noosa. 1974 Caloundra, Queensland : Wildlife Preservation Society Of Queensland Inc.
• Bread & dripping days : an Australian growing up in the 20's 1981 Syd. : Kangaroo Pr.
• Pumicestone Passage : a living waterway. McArthur, Kathleen, 1915-1978 Caloundra, Qld.: K. McArthur.

Do you have any memories of Kathleen and the preservation of Cooloola?

References:
Australian National Herbarium (2019) Kathleen McArthur - biography retrieved from https://www.anbg.gov.au/biography/mcarthur-kathleen.html 20th of November, 2019.

The Conservation Media Group  (2019) Hidden Women of History retrieved from   https://theconversation.com/hidden-women-of-history-kathleen-mcarthur-the-wildflower-woman-who-took-on-joh-bjelke-petersen-110269 on the 20th November, 2019

Tags #KathleenMcArthur #frasercoastlibraries #preservation #wildflowers #paint #FraserIsland