Tepper, Isabella (Belle) Wilhelmina Victoria (later Mrs Cowan) (1870 - 1966)

Born at Neu Mecklenburg, SA, 28 October 1870; died at Kensington, Adelaide, 17 April 1966.

One of three children, to Johann Gottlieb Otto Tepper (1841-1923) and Jane née Brock (b.1847). Belle's father was a teacher and natural history collector, who corresponded with Mueller and collected MEL specimens. Educated by her father, Belle began collecting and drawing natural history specimens as a teenager, and trained as an artist at the South Australian School of Art. Belle's parents divorced in 1881, and the children seem to have stayed with their father.

Belle collected MEL specimens in NSW (as 'Miss Tepper') on the road to Broken Hill, at 'Culpaulin Station', Darling River, 'Kinchega Station', and Wilcannia, June-August 1893.

Her brother, J.W. Otto Tepper, also collected specimens.

In 1895, Belle married William Lachlan Cowan (d.1912), a stock dealer and miner, who was absent for long periods from home. They did not have any children.

Belle died in 1966 at her home in Kensington, Adelaide, aged 95.

Source: extracted from: Maroske, Sara and Vaughan, Alison (2014) 'Ferdinand Mueller's female plant collectors: a biographical register', Muelleria Vol.32 [consult for source references]