Helena Scott

Helena "Nellie" Scott (1832 Sydney – 1910) was an Australian illustrator of natural history. She was also a botanical collector who collected a number of type specimens. She and her sister Harriet Morgan (1830–1907) were the daughters of the Australian entomologist Alexander Walker Scott. Family life In 1846, the family moved from Sydney to the remote Ash Island in the Hunter River estuary, near Hexham. Located in an untouched area of native vegetation and wildlife, they flourished under the guidance of their artistic father and Harriet Calcott, their mother. For a period of some 20 years, they remained on the island, documenting its plants and wildlife, with an emphasis on the butterflies and moths. Harriet and Helena kept unusually detailed records which are held by the Australian Museum Archives. They compiled a handwritten catalogue in 1862 entitled "The Indigenous Botany of Ash Island", a list of their well-preserved botanical specimens. Their striking depictions and descriptions of the island's moths and butterflies attest to the enormous dedication of the family to their self-imposed project.