Sarah Hynes

Sarah (Sally) Hynes (30 September 1859 – 27 May 1938) was a Kingdom of Prussia-born, Australian botanist and teacher.

Family Sarah (Sally) Hynes was born on 30 September 1859 in Danzig, Prussia (now Gdansk, Poland) to master mariner William John Hynes (1831–1909), and his wife Eliza Adeline Bell (1837–1895). She never married, taking on the care of her older, mentally disabled sister, Eliza Adeline Hynes (1857-1947).

Education Sarah was educated at Edinburgh Ladies' College, Upton House in St John's Wood, London, and at Bishop Otter College, Chichester in Sussex. She earned a botanical certificate from South Kensington Museum, Science and Art Department.

Hynes came to Sydney around 1884 when her father took a job as managing director of the Australasian Steam Navigation Company. She enrolled at the University of Sydney in 1888, studied the sciences, majored in botany, and graduated Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) on 11 April 1891.

Hynes was the first woman to be appointed to the Linnean Society of New South Wales, in 1892. She was also active on the fund-raising committee which was working toward the construction of the university's Women's College.

Later life

Hynes was an active political feminist, with strong opinions. She maintained her father's connection to the National Association, and maintained her own within the Randwick branch of the same. She was a member of the United Australia association. In 1928 she lobbied state government approval for the appointment of volunteer rangers to safeguard 29 protected species from damage.

She was a founder of the Forum Club in Sydney, and its Senior Vice-president in 1933.

Death Hynes died on 27 May 1938 at her home in Randwick, The Powerhouse Museum holds ephemera from Hynes. The University of Sydney Archives also holds material relating to Hynes. On 15 October 1939, a memorial plaque was unveiled at St Jude's Church, Randwick by the federal politician John Jennings. In 1978 a street in the Canberra suburb of Chisholm was named Hynes Place in recognition of her work as a botanist and first woman member of the Linnean Society of New South Wales.

Works 1922: "Mrs Ellis Rowan: An Appreciation", The Sydney Morning Herald, (Tuesday, 10 October 1922), p. 8. 1929: "Mr. W.V. Fitzgerald: Explorer and Botanist's Death", The Sydney Morning Herald, (Wednesday, 14 August 1929), p. 16.

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