Annie Forsyth Wyatt
| Annie Forsyth Wyatt | |
|---|---|
| Born |
3 January 1885 Redfern, New South Wales |
| Died | 27 May 1961 (aged 76) St Ives, New South Wales |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupation | Conservationist |
Annie Forsyth Wyatt (3 January 1885 – 27 May 1961) OBE was an Australian community worker, conservationist and Red Cross worker. She is celebrated as the driving force behind the establishment of the National Trust movement in Australia, establishing the organisation in 1945 to protect Sydney's historic natural and built sites.
As a conservationist, lover of colonial history, and humanitarian, Wyatt observed women working effectively in the community during World War I, and came to believe that women could make a difference in community issues. Over her lifetime she worked for many causes apart from the National Trust of Australia (NSW), including the Red Cross and the NSW Prisoners' Aid Association (for 20 years). She donated the proceeds of her book Doors that slam: a romance of early Sydney, to the Prisoners' Aid Association.
Wyatt was born in Redfern, New South Wales in 1885, lived for much of her life in a cottage in Gordon, and died in St Ives. Annie resided with her family at 90 Cleveland Street, Redfern. She was the eldest of eight children of Isabella Anne Evans (née Forsyth) and George Trotter Evans. The growing family moved from their Redfern home in 1891 to a house named Fairholme in the semi-rural Rooty Hill area, with Annie boarding at Burwood Methodist Ladies College from the age of 10. Annie's love of Australia's bushland and history is evident in her childhood memories of Rooty Hill. Pony rides to lovely old homes such as Bungaribee, Mamre, Horsley and Graystanes featured largely in her childhood memories of wildflowers and bushlands now gone.
Annie's maternal grandfather Archibald Forsyth (1826–1908) had arrived in Australia in 1848 from Scotland. After working as a cedar-getter, a gold miner and a timber merchant he established the first rope works in New South Wales at Waterloo in 1864. His outspoken public role as a Protectionist, and a member of Parliament, and his actions as a philanthropist in setting up the Animals Protection League, and supporting the sick and hungry must have influenced his young granddaughter, who found herself speaking out about public issues in the 1920s. Believing women had a part to play, her voice was often heard asking the question "What about the women?" at various local meetings. She was an early supporter of the United Associations of Women in 1929.
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