Constance Le Plastrier

Constance Mary Le Plastrier (23 January 1864 – 7 February 1938) was an Australian schoolteacher, botanist and writer. She was the first woman to be elected president of the Field Naturalists' Society of New South Wales. Shortly before her death she received the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal established by Pope Leo XIII.

Life Le Plastrier was born in St Kilda, Victoria on 23 January 1864. She began her teaching career in Melbourne, at Presentation Convent and in 1895 she converted to Roman Catholicism.

With her sister, she moved to Sydney in 1900. It was at Redlands that she taught Thistle Stead, and fostered her interest in Australia's flora, before Stead went on to study botany at university.

She was a long-term contributor to both the Catholic Press and Sacred Heart Messenger. Her 1916 textbook, Botany for Australian Students, co-written with Agnes A. Brewster, was considered "the best work to date on Australian botany, a book which has obtained a high reputation in botanical circles, at home and abroad". At the same time she was president of the Assistant Mistresses' Association, Her funeral left her home at 22 Provincial Road, Lindfield for the Northern Suburbs Cemetery.

Works

As herself

Le Plastrier, Constance M. (1929), The Cloudy Porch, Sands

As Mary Lee

Lee, Mary (1929–30), "The Heir of Tramore" (serialised), Catholic Press Lee, Mary (1930–31), "Tempering the Steel" (serialised), Catholic Press