Notes:
Isobel Kendall Bowden, conservationist, teacher and author, was born at Woodford, NSW, in 1908, second daughter of Federal Parliamentarian and Minister for Defence, Eric Kendall Bowden, and his wife Reinette, nee Murphy. Miss Bowden spent most of her life in the Blue Mountains where she developed an abiding interest in local and natural history and bush walking and a concern for the environment.
Not a great photo and the location and date are not known but photos of her when she was still actively bush walking are few and far between, she appears to be standing next to a large termite mound.
For some years, Miss Bowden also operated the tea and craft shop at Woodford Academy. She died in August 1986 after a long illness.
Format: colour slide
Date Range: c.1950
Location: in later life Miss Bowden lived at south Wentworth Falls township, within walking distance of the gorge and waterfalls of Valley of the Waters. Provisional location is near the Conservation Hut at the main track head above the Valley of the Waters.
Licensing: Attribution, share alike, creative commons. .
Repository: Blue Mountains City Library bmcc.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/default/
Part of: Local Studies Collection - LS Images
Provenance: SHS
Links:
www.bluemountains.org.au/documents/submissions/bs150209-i...
archival.sl.nsw.gov.au/Details/archive/110315666
Notes: illustrations from Orchids of the Blue Mountains by Isobel Bowden.
Dendrobium speciosum is not only a widespread Australian orchid but also a very variable orchid, forming a species complex. Its varieties can be found in wildly varying habitats as an epiphyte (on branches of rainforest trees) or a lithophyte (on sandstone in open forest) in a continuous distribution along the east coast of Australia and in distinct populations along the Tropic of Capricorn. As a lithophyte, it forms gigantic spreading clumps on rocks and cliff faces, often in full sun, with its roots forming dense, matted beds across the rock. It can be found from sea level to mountain tops.
Format: original watercolour illustration
Date Range: illustration c.1950
Location: Miss Bowden lived in Fletcher St, within walking distance of Wentworth Falls and Valley of the Waters.
Licensing: Attribution, share alike, creative commons. .
Repository: Blue Mountains City Library bmcc.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/default/
Part of: Local Studies Collection - LS Images
Provenance: Bowden Archive
Links:
www.bluemountains.org.au/documents/submissions/bs150209-i...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrobium_speciosum
Tags: orchids water colour
Notes: illustrations from Orchids of the Blue Mountains by Isobel Bowden.
Format: original watercolour illustration, 23 cm x 26 cm
Date Range: illustration c.1950
Location: Miss Bowden lived in Fletcher St, within walking distance of Wentworth Falls and Valley of the Waters.
Licensing: Attribution, share alike, creative commons. .
Repository: Blue Mountains City Library bmcc.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/default/
Part of: Local Studies Collection - LS Images
Provenance: Bowden Archive
Links:
www.bluemountains.org.au/documents/submissions/bs150209-i...
Tags: illustrations orchids
Format: Document, inscription by Isobel Bowden
Licensing: Attribution, share alike, creative commons.
Repository: Blue Mountains City Library bmcc.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/default/?
Part of: Local Studies Collection
Provenance: Isobel Bowden estate
Date Range: 1963
Tags: australia nsw blue mountains crossing celebrations William Charles Wentworth letter history
Notes: Gertie McManamey (left) and Isobel Bowden in the side passage of the Academy near the doorway of the gold storage room, used when the gold escort coach stopped overnight from the goldfields to Sydney. On the left is a banana passionfruit vine.
Format: B&W photograph, June 1, 1963.
Licensing: Attribution, share alike, creative commons.
Repository: Blue Mountains Library - library.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/
Part of: Local Studies Collection PF1052
Provenance: Isobel Bowden
Tags: australia nsw blue mountains woodford academy Isobel Bowden Gertie Mack foaf:depicts=http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-915798 xmlns:foaf=http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/ history