Emma Cheeseman
1846–1928 · English-born New Zealand painter and taxidermist
Emma Cheeseman (England, 1846 – Remuera, Auckland, 1928) was a painter and taxidermist. Born in England, she emigrated to New Zealand as a child with her family, and her career reflects the part women played in the scientific life of the colony in the nineteenth century. Her work is held in the collection of the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
Her father, Thomas Cheeseman, was a Methodist minister who moved the family to New Zealand in the hope that the climate would cure a throat complaint he suffered from. The family arrived in Auckland on 4 April 1854 aboard the Artemesia. Emma had four siblings: two brothers, William and Thomas, and two sisters, Ellen and Clara.
She drew and painted specimens for the Auckland Museum, where her brother Thomas was curator. She also learnt taxidermy and, working at home, prepared and mounted animal specimens for the museum, particularly birds. She died at her home in the Auckland suburb of Remuera on 2 October 1928 and was buried at Purewa Cemetery.
In 2017 she was chosen by the Royal Society of New Zealand as one of its "150 women in 150 words", a project celebrating women's contributions to knowledge in New Zealand.