The Ellis Rowan Collection comprises 919 watercolours and gouaches painted between about 1870 and 1920. About two-thirds of the paintings depict Australian wildflowers, while one-third are of flowers and birds of Papua New Guinea and the Torres Strait Islands.

There are 81 bird paintings.

Most of the Australian works were painted in Queensland and Western Australia, but flowers of all the states are represented in the collection. Many of the paintings contain brief inscriptions on the reverse, giving the name of the flower or bird, or the place where they were seen.

Some of the inscriptions were written by Rowan, others by associates such as Ferdinand von Mueller and CJ White. The early paintings are generally dated, but virtually none is dated after 1889.

The collection in the Library is probably less than one-third of Rowan's total output. She had remarkable skill and was able to apply the paints without the aid of pencil under-drawings. Although many of the works lack inscriptions, the subjects are portrayed accurately and can be identified with reasonable certainty.

Rowan had rudimentary training as a botanist and consequently she was not a botanical illustrator like Ferdinand Bauer. She did not set out systematically to paint the flora of a region. Her prime task was to make artistic compositions and she tended to paint the more colourful and attractive flowers in close-up compositions, juxtaposed against scenery or a distant sky. She often painted bunches of wildflowers.

The following are some of the Australian flower genera depicted in the paintings:

• acacia
• alyogyne
• banksia
• boronia
• calytrix
• capparis
• clematis
• clerodendrum
• correa
• Dryandra
• eremophila
• erythrina
• eucalypytus
• eugenia
• gardenia
• gompholobium
• hakea
• hibiscus
• melaleuca
• nymphaea
• olearia
• pandanus
• pimelea
• scaevola
• stylidium
• thysanotus
• verticordia
• wistaria.

The New Guinea flower genera include:

• amorphophallus
• bombax malabaricum
• frangipani
• hibiscus
• ipomea
• maniltoa
• pandanus and phaleria

while birds represented in the collection include:

• birds of paradise
• bowerbirds
• cockatoos
• flying foxes
• fruit pigeons
• herons
• hornbills
• kingfishers
• lorikeets
• riflebirds
• starlings
• swifts.

There is one painting of tropical fish.

The Library holds an oil portrait of Rowan by Sir John Longstaff, painted in 1926 and based on a photograph. It also has several photographs of Rowan, including:

• a portrait by William J Stubbs
• a photograph of Rowan and her son Eric (circa 1886)
• a photograph of Rowan painting at her easel (1887).

The Ellis Rowan Collection contains a small quantity of personal papers, including:

• letters to Rowan from Sir Ferdinand von Mueller (1892–1896)
• a list of medals awarded to Rowan
• notes by George Meudell on watercolours by Rowan, exhibited at Stanford University
• a cutting book – the cuttings are undated, but the book seems to date from 1895 to 1922. It includes a number of letters about the sale of the collection.

The Australian Government agreed to purchase the paintings of Rowan in 1921, but criticism in Parliament and disagreements about the price caused delays.

In 1923, the Government finally purchased 952 paintings from Rowan's sister, Blanche Ryan.

The collection was stored in the Treasury vaults in Melbourne until 1933, when 947 of the paintings were transferred to the Commonwealth National Library. (The other 5 were placed in Government House.)

In 1953, many of the paintings were lent by the Library to Australian diplomatic posts and other government agencies. Most were returned to the Library between 1968 and 1970, but 28 were lost.

The papers of Rowan were donated by Lady Casey, the niece of Rowan, in 1956 and 1968.

The paintings by Rowan, the portrait by Longstaff and the photographs are held in the Pictures Collection.

Most of the paintings have been individually catalogued and digitised. The catalogue descriptions are based partly on the inscriptions and partly on the conclusions of botanists who have studied the collection.

The personal papers are held in the Manuscripts Collection, including the:

• papers of Ellis Rowa (1873–1895)
• cutting book (1895–1922)
• papers relating to Ellis Rowan.

The following books are available for purchase:

• Ellis Rowan (2024)
  Featuring 80 stunning watercolours and gouaches from the National Library's collection and with an essay by Patricia Fullerton, this book offers a glimpse into pioneering botanical artist Ellis Rowan’s extraordinary career as a painter, naturalist and explorer.
• Ellis Rowan – A life in pictures (2020)
  The extraordinary Ellis Rowan was no mere 'lady flower painter'. To great effect, she cast herself in the role of 'intrepid lady explorer' and became as well known for her lively accounts of flower-hunting exploits as for her paintings.

Paintings by Rowan are held in the National Gallery of Australia and most of the state galleries.

The Queensland Museum holds 125 flower drawings that were acquired from Rowan in 1912.

In 1995, a collection comprising of 36 paintings of butterflies was sold at Christie's in London for £183,900 (in 2025 in AUD, valued at between $545,000 and $772,000).

This guide was prepared using these references:

• Australian National Library, Flower Paintings of Ellis Rowan: From the Collection of the National Library of Australia, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 1987 (with introduction by Margaret Hazzard).
• Patricia Fullerton, The Flower Hunter: Ellis Rowan, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 2002.
• Margaret Hazzard, Australia’s Brilliant Daughter, Ellis Rowan: Artist, Naturalist, Explorer, 1848–1922, Greenhouse Publications, Melbourne, 1984.
• Margaret Hazzard, Rowan, Marian Ellis (1848–1922), Australian Dictionary of Biography online
• Judith McKay, Ellis Rowan, a Flower-hunter in Queensland, Queensland Museum, Brisbane, 1990.
• Christine and Michael Morton-Evans, The flower hunter: the remarkable life of Ellis Rowan, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 2009.
• HJ Samuel, Wild Flower Hunter: The Story of Ellis Rowan, Constable, London, 1961.