Euphemia Ethel Elizabeth Spencer Middleton Henderson b. c.1822

  • Artist (Painter)
Painter, from 1842 to the 1860s she lived on Phillip Island, Victoria where she painted botanical watercolours. At the 1866 Melbourne Intercolonial Exhibition Henderson's oil painting, 'The Pinnacle Rock, Western Port', was exhibited by her brother.
You are viewing the version of bio from Feb. 12, 2013, noon (moderator approved).
Go to current record

painter, was raised on Guernsey, a daughter of James Henderson and Catherine, née Black, and a sister of John Black Henderson . She came to Victoria in 1838 with her sister, Georgiana, and Georgiana’s husband, John David McHaffie. In 1842 the trio settled on Phillip Island, a bird and animal sanctuary run by the Victorian Acclimatization Society under McHaffie’s management. Henderson worked intermittently as a governess, and collected seaweed and painted botanical watercolours as hobbies. Early in 1862, while painting flowers in the Melbourne Botanical Gardens, she met Ferdinand von Mueller , the director. The following year they were engaged but von Mueller soon broke it off on the dubious grounds of his ill-health. When John McHaffie was dispossessed of the Phillip Island lease by the Victorian government in the 1860s Henderson and the McHaffies moved to Yanakie, South Gippsland. At the 1866 Melbourne Intercolonial Exhibition Euphemia’s oil painting, The Pinnacle Rock, Western Port , was exhibited by her brother. She died, unmarried, at Kew, Victoria, in 1907.

This entry is a stub. You can help DAAO by submitting a biography.

Writers:
Staff Writer
Date written:
1992
Last updated:
2011

Difference between this version and previous