Officer, Edith   (1872–1908)

Born at ‘Zara’, NSW, on 19 December 1872, and died in Melbourne, Victoria, on 4 August 1908.

Edith Officer was born and spent the early part of her life at ‘Zara’, a family property located c.13 km NW of Wanganella, southern NSW.

Her nephew Colin recalled in 2006: “Edith was educated privately, then at Burnley Horticultural School for Women. Edith and [her brother] Ernest were most interested in Australian native plants, and Edith certainly grew them at Zara around 1900 or earlier. She was still remembered for this in Deniliquin [Deniliquin Historical Society] in quite recent years. Edith was strong minded enough to overcome the patriarchy (or was it matriarchy?) and start a nursing course at the Alfred Hospital. Here unfortunately she developed an infection from which she died. Unmarried.”

Edith Officer collected the type of Podolepis cupulata Maiden & Betche (Oct. 1903).

Since her brother, Ernest Officer, also of ‘Zara’, also collected plants it is difficult to distinguish their individual collections from southeastern Australia, as specimens are usually attributed only to ”E.Officer“.

Sources: Extracted from:
Forster, C.E.H. (2009), Officer family tree. PDF
Wilson, P. (Sept. 2023), “The Officer family of ‘Zara’ ”, ASBS Newsletter 196: 18–21. PDF
Portrait Photo: none known

Collecting localities for 'Officer, E.' from AVH (2023)

Data from 497 specimens
These would include collections made by Edith Officer or by her brother Ernest Officer.