Georgina King

King's father, a fellow of St Paul's College, oversaw her education and encouraged her to read widely including books on evolution and natural history.

Discouraged by her father and Bennett from marrying, King looked after a nephew and niece at Springwood from the 1870s until 1881, and then travelled to Britain and Europe.

She met many distinguished scientists through this meeting and later corresponded with R. L. Jack, who had done extensive geological surveys of Queensland and (Sir) Frederick McCoy of Victoria.

Recalling the geological history she had been taught in her youth, and inspired by the work of McCoy and others, King proposed a 'Tertiary Period Catastrophism' theory to the wider scientific community.

[1][4] When her paper on this theory was rejected by the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1892, King sent them to be published in newspapers like the Sydney Morning Herald.

Her theory of "Tertiary Period Catastrophism" described mineral deposits and all geological structures as having been created by forces of heat, magnetism, and electricity which had been produced through "volcanic action".

[6] King collected botanical specimens (at least 295) for Ferdinand von Mueller, from the Blue Mountains (1892-1893, 1895, 1897), Port Jackson (1893-1896), and various other parts of New South Wales and Queensland.

[12] King was an author of numerous pamphlets including, "The Mineral Wealth of New South Wales", "The Discovery of Gold and How It Was Found", "Two Stone Ages, Australia", and "The Antiquities of the Australian Aborigines" these appearing in the Sydney Morning Herald.