Anna Friederich

Cover of Deutsche verb-tabellen, 1886. This copy was used at the Adamsdown school for girls in Malvern, Victoria.

Madame Anna Friederich, née Rühl was a governess and naturalist who migrated to Australia in 1885. She was highly active for a decade on the continent as a German-language educator and science communicator for adults and children alike.

Early life Little of Anna Friederich's life is known before arriving in Australia. She was born in Greifswald,

Work in Australia Friederich arrived in Sydney in 1885 before travelling further on to Melbourne.

While she was initially appointed as a teacher at Ruyton Girls' School in Kew, She also advertised a German literature class at the Melbourne Athenaeum, and her availability as a private tutor. By 1888 she moved to Randwick, Sydney, to teach German at Lachford College. Finally, she taught at the Canargroo School in Bathurst, before returning to Melbourne by 1892.

She was a prolific writer of popular science pieces in newspapers, and member of multiple natural history and scientific organisations in Victoria and New South Wales. These included the Natural History Association of New South Wales (the predecessor of the Field Naturalist's Society in which she also participated), and the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria. She appears in records in 1891 in Bathurst, New South Wales as a member of the Bathurst Science Society, and was elected to the Victorian Branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia in 1892.

She was also associated with the Ministering Children's League in Bathurst, becoming the Canargroo branch's honorary secretary. In 1889 she received the silver humanity medal from the Bands of Mercy.

Writing and specimen collecting In 1886, as a self-described "professor of languages," she published Friederich's Deutsche Verb-Tabellen: The accidence of the German verb, a practical aide-mémoire with George Robertson & Company "Orchids in Australia," part 1 and part 2 "Mosquitos," 1889. "The German Stag," 1889.

And two serialised columns: Animal Stories for the Children, 1888 (part 1), (part 2), (part 3), (part 4), (part 5), (part 6) Elementary Animal Physiology for Girls and Boys, 1888 (part I), (part II), (part III), (part IV)

In 1888, she donated insect specimens to the Australian Museum. Friederich also collected botanical specimens for Ferdinand von Mueller in New South Wales between 1887 and 1888, of which 46 are still extant and held at the National Herbarium of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. She also collected plants around Portarlington, Victoria, and exhibited her collections of "pressed flowers" with the Natural History Association.

Disappearance from Australian records It has been assumed that she left Australia around 1893, as she disappears from records at this time. Other aspects of her life remain unknown.