Conabere, Elizabeth Vivienne (1929 - 2009)

Born 3 June 1929 in Alexandra, Victoria. Died 29 October 2009.

Her father was Perce Balding, a pharmacist, who married an English nurse while on service in World War 1. Betty studied fashion design in Melbourne. She married Roly Conabere, a businessman, in the early 1950s, but the marriage was short-lived. She then worked as a rural governess. Eventually she returned to Mansfield and bought a little cottage where she lived for the rest of her life. For a while she worked for her father.

She started painting in the late 1960s.

Around 1969 publisher Thomas Nelson commissioned what would be released as a boxed set of two volumes of wildflower paintings with botanist Ros Garnet supplying text - Wildflowers of South-eastern Australia (1974). She bought a VW Kombi camper and set out in 1970 to explore Victoria's and SE NSW national parks, collaborating with local rangers to collect plants to illustrate.

She followed this by undertaking a series of Victorian weeds, which toured as an exhibition. She later did a series of stamps for Australia Post.

Source: E.Conabere An Australian Country Woman's Diary (1986); H.Hewson Australia - 300 Years of Botanical Illustration (1999);
Youl, Rob (2009) 'Elizabeth Vivienne Conabere - 3 June 1929 - 29 October 2009', privately published, South Melbourne.