Rica Erickson

Rica Erickson’s early illustrated books, Orchids of the West (1951), Triggerplants (1958) and Plants of Prey in Australia (1968) have inspired botanical artists for decades. These guidebooks combined wonderful illustrations, simplicity of expression and good scientific information which encouraged readers to be inquisitive and to look closely at plants in the Western Australian bush. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s Rica contributed articles to magazines such as Wildlife and Outdoors and the Australian Orchid Review. Although she retired from painting in1991, Rica’s experience in publishing and extensive botanical knowledge accumulated over years of committed work as a naturalist made her a greatly valued member of the Botanical Artists Group. She died in September 2009 a year after launching Brush with Gondwana at the age of 100.

Awards

Awarded, Order of Australia (General Division) for services to arts, history and literature, 1987
Awarded, Life membership of Fellowship of Australian Writers, WA, 1982
Winner, Western Australian Citizen of the Year for contribution to the arts, 1980
Awarded, Honorary Doctor of Letters, The University of Western Australia, 1980
Awarded, Life membership of the WA Naturalists’ Club, 1966

Books available from Fremantle Press

• Brush with Gondwana 2013

Other Books by this Author

• Orchids of the West
• Plants of Prey in Australia
• The Drummonds of Hawthornden
• The Victoria Plains
• Flowers and Plants of Western Australia
• Old Toodyay and Newcastle
• Her Name is Woman
• The Dempsters
• The Dictionary of Western Australians (4 vols)
• The Brand on his Coat: Biographies of Some Western Australian Convicts
• She’s No Milkmaid: A Biography of Dame Raigh Roe, DBE.
• The Bride Ships: Experiences of Immigrants Arriving in Western Australia 1849–1889
• The Misfortunes of Phoebe
• Rica Erickson: A Naturalist’s Life