Elizabeth Coxen

Elizabeth Frances Coxen ( 1825–1906) was an English-born Australian naturalist and meteorologist. She made many contributions to the Queensland Museum and served as its curator. She was the first woman elected a member of the Royal Society of Queensland.

By 1847, Elizabeth had met her future husband Charles Coxen as he had come to town with cattle during one of the floods. On 27 December 1851, Elizabeth, aged 26, married Charles at St Ann’s Church of England, Ryde, Sydney and the couple settled in Bimbian. In 1860, he became a politician and was elected as member for the Northern Downs in Queensland’s first parliament and he held the seat until 1867. After her husband's death, she became the first female elected a member of the Royal Society of Queensland. By the 1890s, she was one of several women members of the Royal Society; the majority were teachers and included Eliza Fewing. and was buried with her husband in the cemetery of Christ Church in Tingalpa. Her friends commissioned a plaque commemorating her at St John the Baptist Anglican Church at Bulimba. She is commemorated in the name of the land snail Spurlingia coxenae (now known as Spurlingia dunkiensis).