Windback Wednesday - Fanny de Mole

In commemoration of International Women’s Day on 8 March, this our Windback Wednesdays will put the spotlight on women of history in the City of Burnside.

Fanny de Mole (1835-1866) left England and arrived in South Australia in 1857 and lived with her family at ‘The Waldrons’ in Burnside. This house was demolished in the 1960s, but the stone boundary wall exists on Glynburn Road and Young Street. Fanny was an artist with a love for nature. At age 26 she published the first book illustrating the flora of South Australia under the name “F. E de Mole” – disguising her gender from readers. Her paintings were exhibited at the annual exhibitions of the South Australian Society. Her illustrations were sent to London to be printed, then hand coloured by Fanny in Australia. Her illustration of the Sturt Desert Pea is vivid and textured, and her work paved the way for other botanical artists in South Australia. Fanny died of tuberculosis at the age of 31.

Photographs: Fanny de Mole, circa 1856. Courtesy of National Library of Australia. Sturt Desert Pea from F E de Mole ‘Wildflowers of South Australia” 1857.