This was published 7 years ago
Deirdre Bean's mangrove illustrations reflect a lifelong passion
By Nick Galvin
At first glance the world of the botanical illustrator would appear to be one of calm gentility with little, if any, excitement.
But that couldn't be further from the truth for Deirdre Bean, who, regularly tackles crocodiles, clouds of mosquitoes and marauding green ants as she pursues her quarry – the not-so humble mangrove.
Deirdre Bean: A lifelong passion for mangroves. Credit: Janie Barrett
Her closest call came while hunting Sonneratia alba on the estuary mouth of Newell Beach, near Port Douglas.
"I was looking for this thing and I thought I'd come back the next day because I didn't want to pick anything if I wasn't going to use it," Bean says. "I went back the next day to get a flower and I heard this splashing and there was a crocodile standing in my footprints from the day before!"
Then there are the crocs on the South Alligator River in Arnhem Land.
"They're something else! Enormous. I once saw a crocodile that would have been 5m go almost vertically up a sand bank. That scared the daylights out of me."
These Mick Dundee-esque tales of derring-do are in sharp contrast to her exquisitely detailed illustrations of many of Australia's 45 mangrove species.
There is a crucial distinction between botanical illustration and botanical art.
"Botanical illustration has to be absolutely scientific – that's the difference," she says. "Everything has to be measured."
A specialist should be able to identify a particular species from her illustrations.
"It's like a language for scientists," she says.
Not that the selection of her works being displayed in an exhibition at the Royal Botanic Garden are coldly scientific.
Each study radiates a subtle charm that reflects a passion first conceived as a child growing up around Hawks Nest.
"I grew up in a little house surrounded by bush and I only had to walk down the road and there were mangroves," she says. "I learned to swim in the Myall River."
"I was always in mangroves and, apart from gum trees, I think they were the only plant I could name at that age."
A spell living in the UK not far from Kew Gardens, which she visited often, first made her aware of the art of the botanical illustrator
"I looked at the pictures and thought, 'I'm going to do this one day'," she says.
Mostly self-taught, she is at the top of her profession with a shelf full of prizes from here and overseas.
But while she sometimes does her fieldwork with scientists – in particular Dr Norm Duke - she is also resigned to the fact most people don't share her passion. Collecting trips are often solitary affairs.
"I can take someone else into the mangroves - I love it so much – and they come out all hot and sweaty and I say 'Wasn't that fun!'.
"But they tend not to come again so I end up going by myself."
And don't dare suggest mangroves are, well, a little dull compared to some of the more showy Australian natives.
"I'm offended by that!" she laughs, drawing me towards one of her works. "Look at this beautiful showy Barringtonia, if you go see it on the river at the right time of year the flowers drop off onto the surface of the water and it is the most amazing sight. It's like a fairyland. It's the most magical place."
Mangroves of Australia: Living on the Edge is at the Royal Botanic Garden's Red Box Gallery until June 9