Flower painter and designer, was a talented artist whose wildflower paintings are in the Art Gallery of Western Australia. In 1991 Janda Gooding included examples of her watercolours of WA wildflowers c.1907 signed 'A. Dorrington’ in her exhibition catalogue/book Wildflowers in Art . They apparently come from the series of wildflower paintings she contributed to a display promoting local industries and products in the WA Court at the Franco-British Exhibition in London in June 1908; works by another wildflower artist, Percy Stanway Trapp, were also included. Annie was one of the five winners – out of 32,823 entrants – who shared the £200 first prize for the design of the Australian flag first flown in 1901 (and the only woman among the winners).
One of seven Whistler sisters whose mother, Sarah, did not want her daughters to marry 'wild colonial boys’, Annie alone defied her. As a result she was entirely cut off. Her neice, Kath Dowsing, said in 2001 that her name was simply never mentioned. Pictured in 1901 as a striking and beautiful woman, she was said to have suffered from depression and ended up mentally disturbed. She died alone in 1926, apparently having separated from her husband some years previously. A tombstone – apparently incorporating a Commonwealth of Australa flag or accompanied by a real flag – was finally erected over her unmarked grave in 1999 by the Australian National Flag Association.
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1999
- Last updated:
- 2011
