Florence Mary Taylor

Florence Mary Taylor (; 29 December 1879 – 13 February 1969) was the first qualified female architect in Australia. She was also the first woman in Australia to fly in a heavier-than-air craft in 1909 However, she is best known for her role as publisher, editor and writer for the influential building industry trade journals established in 1907 with her husband George, which she ran and expanded after his death in 1928 until her retirement in 1961.

Early life Taylor was born at Bedminster, in Somerset (now a part of Bristol), England to John Parsons and Eliza (née Brooks), working-class parents who described themselves as "stone quarryman" and "washerwoman" in the British census of 1881. Her family migrated to Australia when she was a child, arriving in Sydney in 1884 after a short stint in Queensland. Her father soon found work as a draftsman-clerk with the Parramatta Council, and also in the sewerage construction branch of the NSW Department of Public Works.

Career

Following the deaths of her mother in 1896 and father in 1899, Taylor was forced to find work to help support herself and her two younger sisters. She eventually found a position as a clerk in the Parramatta architectural practice of Francis Ernest Stowe, an acquaintance of her father's. Inspired by the example of draftspeople in the same office who were earning far more than herself, she enrolled in night classes at the Sydney Technical College where she became the first woman to complete final year studies in architecture in 1904. However she was not accepted at this time, and she later claimed to have been "blackballed" by a groundswell of hostility from the all-male membership who did not wish to admit a woman member. After the Institute had a reorganisation and dropped their entrance exam, she eventually became their first woman to be associate member having "practised as an architect and at present is serving in an advisory capacity to architects as well as assisting in the production of "The Building Magazine"". She was admitted as a full member in 1923.

In April 1907, Taylor married Sydney-born artist, inventor, and craftworker George Augustine Taylor at St Stephen's Presbyterian Church in Sydney. They were both passionate about architecture and town planning, amongst many other interests and activities. Max Freeland described them as "possibly the most amazing couple in Australia's history".

Within a few months of their wedding George and Florence Taylor had established a publishing company, Building Publishing Co. Ltd that specialised in building industry journals, spearheaded by Building magazine, three journals of which Florence edited: Harmony, Young Australia and the Australian (later Commonwealth) Home. Taylor's personal assistant was Mary Emily Haworth (1901–1998). Journalist John Canner (1882–1978) also worked on "Building Ltd" where he met and later married Mary Haworth.

For some years following their marriage the Taylors lived in Bannerman Street, Cremorne, in a house designed by the innovative architect, Henry Austin Wilshire, before moving to an apartment on Loftus Street, Sydney, where their publishing business was also located. In 1913 they were founding members of the Town Planning Association of New South Wales, and Florence served as its secretary for many years.

Following her husband's sudden death, drowning in his bath associated with an epileptic seizure in 1928, Taylor maintained their publishing business and while forced to close eight of their eleven journals, she maintained Building (later Building, Lighting and Engineering) (1907–72), Construction (1908–74) and the Australasian Engineer (1915–73), editing them herself

Taylor was also closely involved in the Arts Club, Royal Aero Club of New South Wales, Society of Women Writers, New South Wales branch of the Australian Forest League, Australian-American Association, Royal Empire Society, and the Bush Book Club. Florence Taylor Street in the Canberra suburb of Greenway is also named for her.

In 1930, Taylor also established the George A. Taylor Memorial Medal with the Master Builders Federation of Australia. This medal is presented annually to the winner of the "Building Construction Prize for completion among Technical Schools throughout the Commonwealth".

The biography Florence Taylor's Hats: Designing, Building and Editing Sydney by Bronwyn Hanna and Robert Freestone was published in 2008 by Halstead Press .

Since 2006 a three-storey high portrait of Taylor adorns an apartment building facing the railway on the southern approach to Sydney's Central railway station, states that Florence Taylor was the "inspiration behind" the magazine, and provides a brief biography of her.

A tunnel boring machine used in New South Wales is named after her.

A portrait of Taylor by Jerrold Nathan is held by the Mitchell Library, Sydney. Florence Mary Taylor was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001.