Plant disease illustrations by Margaret Senior

These coloured illustrations were commissioned by the Division of Science Services of the then NSW Department of Agriculture in 1964. (NSW Department of Primary Industries incorporates the former NSW Department of Agriculture.) The artist, Mrs Margaret Senior, was originally commissioned to produce 24 coloured paintings of plant diseases and other aspects of biology at the princely sum of £21 each. She eventually produced more than 80 superb illustrations which are still used in publications produced by NSW Department of Primary Industries today. The original drawings are stored in the Agricultural Scientific Collections Unit at Orange and are protected under the Agricultural Scientific Collections Trust Act 1983. Ownership is vested in the Scientific Collections Trust.

Margaret Senior was one of the celebrated artists of her time. She was the illustrator for Eve Pownall's "The Australia Book" which won the Children's Book of the Year award in 1952 and illustrated other children's books, some of which also won awards. She was an excellent illustrator of Australian natural history, producing the illustrations for a series of highly popular posters on Australian Parrots, Raptors, Waterfowl and Reptiles for the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. She left a bequest to NPWS in her will to be used to promote natural history illustration and the Margaret Senior Wildlife Illustration Award is presented annually by the University of  Newcastle.

These scientific illustrations and other select works are available for purchase through Redbubble

The following are examples of Margaret Senior's illustrations.