HPSC20002 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Burke And Wills Expedition, Agriculture, George Bentham
24 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
DAY 6: COLONIAL BOTANY IN THE ANTIPODES
Inland Exploration and Ferdinand Mueller's documentation of Australia's Flora
Botany's Medical origins in the 18th C.
• Plant studies included in European university medical course
• Medical students studies plants cultivated in gardens
• These gardens became the first European botanic gardens
• Herbarium collections: began at University of Pisa - began pressing plant specimens to form a 'dried garden'
o Can study all year round
• 3 essential botanical resources:
o Botanic gardens
o Herbarium specimens
o Botanic books
• Plants from colonies: prompted taxonomic interests of botanists
o Plant names were getting longer
19th C
• Plant specimens collected for science
• Herbarium specimens were deposited in European museums
• Botanic gardens displayed plants in European and colonial towns
• Public libraries held books and journals with plant descriptions
• Colonies explored in search of useful resources and plant specimens were sent to European institutions and
individuals
o Had botanic gardens that were used as testing grounds - to determine which of the worlds plants could be
grown commercially
Colony of Victoria
• 1852 Governor meets a botanist - understood importance of plant in the economy, knew Victoria's flora had only
been collected partly
• Recognised Mueller as the 'Government Botanist' (For 40 years)
o Brought knowledge and specimens with him
o Director of Melbourne's Botanic Garden for 16 years
Mueller
• Instantly, 3 extensive expeditions to survey flora of Victoria - first substantial survey
• Adds 1000's of specimens to the government herbarium and documents collections in annual reports
• Joins British expedition across Northern Australia and it permitted to keep a set of plant specimens (in Australia)
• Worked in Sydney to compare his findings to Leichardt's
• Aware of the importance of expedition specimens, as such seeks to ensure plants are collected during future
exploration and survey expeditions - Hermann Beckler
o Went on the Burke & Wills expedition
• Mueller receives Beckler specimens, and those from relief expeditions
o Names and describes new species
• Send specimens to George Bentham who is preparing the Flora of Australia
o Written in Britain
• Beckler's plant collections:
o South Coast of NSW and west edge of NSW, as well as central Victoria
• Mueller named some new genus' and species' when identifying specimens
• Added specimens to Victoria's government herbarium - many which represented undescribed species
o Added to the universal lexicon of scientific names
• Transformed the Victorian government herbarium into the premier Australian reference collection
McCoy's Acclimatisation Theory
• Anti-Darwinian, believed nature had a natural balance, and that balance was not in place in Victoria
• Part of colonial agriculture:
o Helped establish Acclimatisation Society of Victoria in 1861
• Believed acclimatisation was a matter of studying local and exotic organisms, looking for gaps in the economy of
nature (ecology) and introducing useful representative species
• Identified the (ecological and agricultural) problem: locusts eating farmer's crops
o Released sparrows all over Melbourne
o Sparrows ate locusts, and the crop
o Farmers convinced Governor to declare sparrows as pests
• Blackberry - believed the Australian bush would be made more productive
o Imported seeds, trialled exotic plants in various Australian climatic conditions (Melbourne Botanic Gardens),
spread seeds, integrated into landscape, now weeds
Document Summary
Inland exploration and ferdinand mueller"s documentation of australia"s flora. Plant studies included in european university medical course: medical students studies plants cultivated in gardens, herbarium collections: began at university of pisa - began pressing plant specimens to form a "dried garden" These gardens became the first european botanic gardens: can study all year round. Plants from colonies: prompted taxonomic interests of botanists: plant names were getting longer. Plant specimens collected for science: herbarium specimens were deposited in european museums, colonies explored in search of useful resources and plant specimens were sent to european institutions and. Botanic gardens displayed plants in european and colonial towns. Public libraries held books and journals with plant descriptions individuals: had botanic gardens that were used as testing grounds - to determine which of the worlds plants could be grown commercially. 1852 governor meets a botanist - understood importance of plant in the economy, knew victoria"s flora had only been collected partly.
