Joseph Henry Maiden (1859-1925) was born in England and emigrated to Australia in 1880. He specialised in economic botany and published many journal articles and volumes about Australian plants and timbers, the use of natural oils, the taxonomy of Australian Eucalypts, and a large work on the forest flora of NSW. Maiden contributed to Australian society in a number of senior public servant positions: curator of the Technological Museum; director of the Botanic Gardens; government botanist; oversaw several vice-regal properties, Centennial Park and the Domain; and created the National Herbarium of NSW.  Maiden valued the educational role gardens played as well as acknowledging the restorative effects on body and emotion. He argued for urban development which included parks and retained trees rather than removing them from the landscape.