Mrs Robert, zoo keeper

PERSONAL
It is with regret that we have to announce the death yesterday of Mrs. Roberts, of ''Beaumaris" Hobart. She was in her 81st year. When well advanced in age, she developed a hobby for zoological studies, and established at her home a collection of examples of Tasmanian fauna that made her famous amongst nature lovers. Her private zoo had been visited by many thousands of people. She had shipped specimens to the (London Zoological Gardens, and also to other zoos, and was probably the greatest authority on the character and habits of the Tasmanian devil and the Tasmanian tiger. She was the widow of Mr H L Roberts, one of the founders of the firm of Roberts and Co Ltd, Hobart, which is still managed by members of the family.
The Mercury, 28 November 1921


From Australian Dictionary of Biography:
"In 1877 Mary and her husband built Beaumaris on two acres (0.8 ha) of land between Newcastle Street and Sandy Bay Road. Mrs Roberts was interested in birds: her aviary may have been started in her former home, Ashfield, but the major hobby-collection she developed in the grounds of her new home became the basis of the Beaumaris Zoo, opened to the public in 1895.

"Mrs Roberts had no formal scientific training, but was skilled in animal care. Her zoo, set in attractive gardens, became noted for its display of thylacines as well as birds. The first Tasmanian zookeeper to attract international attention to indigenous Tasmanian fauna, she was elected a corresponding member of the Zoological Society of London in 1910. She was well known as the first to breed Tasmanian devils in captivity, publishing a study of her achievement in the society's Proceedings of 1915.

"Mrs Roberts joined in many social issues. Concerned for the welfare of native animals, she founded the Game Preservation Society and the Anti-Plumage League (1910) and was responsible for the Royal Society of Tasmania's campaign to strengthen the State's protective legislation. She helped to found the Tasmanian branch of the Girl Guides' Association, was a council-member of the Art Society and the Mothers' Union, committee-member of the National Club and Young Women's Christian Association and a delegate to the Tasmanian National Council of Women. She also belonged to the Royal Society of Tasmania, Victoria League, Hobart District Nursing Association, Cat Society, (Royal) Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Avicultural Society, Tasmanian Field Naturalists' Club, Linnean Society, Liberal League, Queen Mary Bridge Club and the Orpheus Club.

"Mrs Roberts had strong moral views (disapproving of a 1912 pantomime because of the brevity of the mermaids' costumes) and was intensely patriotic. She raised a fund to erect a statue to King Edward VII and during World War I ran charity afternoons at the zoo, often with vice-regal patronage; when St David's Cathedral refused to lend seats for a Belgian Relief Day she transferred her religious allegiance to St George's, Battery Point."

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