Fiveash, Rosa Catherine (1854 - 1938)

Fiveash was commissioned by the government conservator of forests to illustrate Forest Flora of South Australia which commenced publication in 1882. Her best known paintings were done in collaboration with Professor R. S. Rogers and were published in 1911 in South Australian Orchids.

Rosa Fiveash also painted illuminated addresses and is credited with introducing china painting to Adelaide. On a trip to England, she was astonished to see some of the designs that passed muster as Australian flowers, being manufactured by some of England's best known china firms.

There are over 200 works by Rosa Fiveash in the South Australian Museum. She lived for 75 years in her family home in North Adelaide where she looked out of her studio onto a garden filled with her favourite subject, Australian wildflowers.

Extracted from: Jennifer Phipps (1986) Artists' Gardens - Flowers and Gardens in Australian Art 1780s-1980s, Bay Books, Sydney. [consult for source references]