Louisa Anne Meredith

• Name — Louisa Anne Meredith • Birth Name — Louisa Anne Twamley • Born — 20 July 1812 • Birthplace — Birmingham, England • Died — 21 October 1895 • Place of death — Collingwood, Victoria, Australia • Resting Place — Melbourne General Cemetery, Carlton North, Victoria • Occupation — Writer, illustrator • Notable Works — "Tasmanian Friends & Foes - Feathered, Furred and Finned" (1880) • Spouse — Charles Meredith

Louisa Anne Twamley was born in Birmingham, England, the daughter of Thomas Twamley and Louisa Ann née Meredith. On 18 April 1839, she married her cousin, Charles Meredith at Old Edgbaston Church, Birmingham. Charles had emigrated to Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) in 1821 with his father George and family. They had been pioneers of grazing, whaling and other activities around Swansea on Tasmania's East Coast. Charles had become a squatter in the Canberra district of New South Wales.

At the end of 1840 she relocated to Charles' father's property Cambria in Oyster Bay in Tasmania, where the couple's second son was born in 1844 at their newly built neighbouring property Spring Vale, in Great Swan Port. Severe economic depression in New South Wales caused their loss of 'all we owned in that colony.' Charles was appointed the Port Sorell police magistrate in 1844 by Lieutenant-Governor Eardley-Wilmot, after which the family, now with three sons, returned in 1848 to live on part of Charles' father's Cambria. In 1891, Meredith worked to publish Last Series, Bush Friends in Tasmania. Published at the beginning of a severe financial depression in the Australian colonies, this project and the collapse of the bank where most of her savings were held ruined her financially. In her final years Meredith had chronic sciatica and became blind in one eye. She died in Collingwood, Victoria (a suburb of Melbourne) on 21 October 1895, and was buried at Melbourne General Cemetery in Carlton North, Victoria. • Illustration — Louisa Anne Meredith's Gravestone at Melbourne General Cemetery

Her husband Charles was a member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council for several terms between the mid-1850s until just before his death in 1881. She was an early member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and influenced her husband to legislate for preservation of native wildlife and scenery.

Louisa Anne Meredith was recorded at birth as Louisa Ann Twamley. The authorities additionally record the headings Miss Louisa Twamley, Louisa Ann née Twamley, Louisa Ann Meredith, Louisa Meredith and Meredith. Her recorded language was English. She married Charles Meredith.

Louisa Anne Meredith is recorded with the occupation botanical illustrator. Recorded as botanical illustrator, poet, illustrator and novelist.

Meredith published a range of books for children in England, Australia, and abroad throughout her life. These works depict the landscape, flora and fauna of the West Midlands and Tasmania. Recent scholarship has renewed interest in these works as they have been overlooked by critics.