Margaret Lilian Flockton (29 September 1861 Sussex – 12 August 1953 Sydney), is most commonly recognized as a botanical artist famous for her botanical illustrations of "The Forest Flora of New South Wales" (some 300 plates), "A Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus", and the genus Opuntia, all by the botanist and forester, Joseph Henry Maiden. She was also a painter, commercial artist, and art teacher at different points of her life. She was the first botanical illustrator at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney. She was also the first female lithographer in Australia which gave her a high reputation at the time. Early life Margaret Flockton was born on September 25, 1861 into a well-to-do family in Leyton, England. However, at the age of four her father abandoned a job with a stable income to pursue his passion as an artist. As a result, her family began to struggle. Flockton admired her father’s decision regardless of the price and said that it was around this time that she began to take up drawing on her own. By the time Flockton turned ten her family was impoverished. As a result, they relocated to a cheaper area to live in New South Wales. Here, Flockton attended the Cardiff Science and Art school. The school was a branch of the South Kensington National Art Training School and was established by the British government. The teachers at who taught at the school were all graduates from the South Kensington schools and classes in drawing, sculpture, painting, engraving, and lithography. Flockton was also a student at the Miss Gann’s Life School which was also a branch of the South Kensington schools. It was here that Flockton was recognized for her artistic abilities and was sent off to the and art department’s principle school to finish off her studies in London and receive an art teaching certificate in 1885. Shortly after, Margaret and her family received an immigration opportunity and moved to Sydney, Australia in 1888. The family settled here and never returned to London. In Sydney, Flockton went through another decade of training and became the most thoroughly female trained artist living there at the time. Early career After Flockton’s training was completed, she quickly found work as a lithographer in Sydney with printers and publishers Gibbs Shallard & Co. and S.T. Leigh. She continued her work as a commercial artist for publishers for