sign in sign up
<<
Home , Acacia pycnantha, Anigozanthos manglesii, Epacris impressa, Floral emblem, Gloriosa (plant), Swainsona formosa

BOTANICAL HISTORY OF THE FLORAL EkBLEA/S OF

BY Sophie C. Ducker

HIS PAPER CELEBRATES THE 40Th ANNIVERSARY of the Baillieu Library and at the same time shows how books in libraries are essential for the elucidation of botanical problems. It is the older generation of librarians and botanists that we have to thank, however, that we can use today their priceless heritage invested in the older books so necessary for stories of exploration and the science of botanical determination. To show how exploration and botanical history are integrated I have chosen the used as floral emblems of the States of the Commonwealth.

All the floral emblems of Australia were chosen after Federation and in the 20th century, but the botanical histories of the plants of the emblems go back to the earliest exploration of Australia. They all show the diversity of the history of the states of Australia and the differing progress of botanical exploration of the regions. The descriptions and illustrations are varied not only in age, quality and origin but also in availability, so I have chosen only four pertinent illustrations.

THE COMMONWEALTH century. Mitchell was later sur- veyor general of New South . EMBLEM Early explorers always sent their The of the Common- trophies to their home country wealth of Australia is the of where they were then described. the golden wattle pycnantha The English botanist , which is a shrub widely Bentham (1800-1884) named 228 spread in south eastern Australia Australian , including A. and particularly plentiful in pycnantha in the London Journal of in open woodland, where it grows Botany in 1842. It was he, assisted up to ten metres high flowering in by Ferdinand Mueller the cold winter months. It was first (1825-1896), who later wrote collected by Thomas Mitchell Flora Australiensis. (1792-1855) on his exploring expe- The first Australian illustration dition into in the of the golden wattle was published first half of the 19th century. The relatively late by J. E. Brown in the story is told in his Three continued on page 26 Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia (1838). This is an important document because it pro- vides the first description of the Fig. 1 : The floral emblem of Australia: Golden wattle in John E. Brown, The interior of New South Wales and Forest Flora of , Victoria in the early part of last 1886-1891. (Special Collections, University of Melbourne Library.)

THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE LIBRARY JOURNAL • 1 999 25 from page 25 La Boussole and L'Astrolabe to Forest Flora of South Australia explore the Pacific. After a visit in 1884 (Fig. 1). Since 1908 it to Port Jackson in January 1788 has been incorporated in they disappeared without a trace. Commonwealth floral emblems The riddle of the fate of La such as stamps, the Order of Perouse and the general interest Australia insignia and presenta- in New Holland led the king to tions made by the dispatch another expedition with Commonwealth, but designated two ships Recherche and officially as late as 1988 (see Esperance under Bruny Boden, 1985 and for other D'Entrecasteaux, with the emblem data). botanist La Billiardiere (1755-1834) on board. On his return to , La Billiardiere THE EMBLEM OF published an account of the journey (1800) and the first flora NEW SOUTH WALES of Australia (1804-1807). While Famous is the New South Wales in northern he col- floral emblem the waratah, lected the Australian blue gum, (Sm.) R. globulus Labill in Br. This was first collected Recherche Bay in 1792; back in New South Wales in 1791 by home it was described and illus- John White (1756?-1832), a trated in his account (1800). The naval surgeon and also a natu- first Australian illustration (Fig. ralist who arrived here with the 3), however, is by the artist and First Fleet in 1788. It was writer Louisa Anne Meredith described and figured in Smith's Fig. 2: The floral emblem of New South Wales: (1812-1895) in her lovely book Waratah in James Edward Smith, Botany (1793) as Embothrium A Specimen of the Some of My Bush Friends in Botany of New Holland, 1793. speciosissimum Sm. (Fig. 2). (Grimwade Collection, Tasmania published in London University of Melbourne Library.) The famous English botanist in 1860 and dedicated to Queen Robert Brown (1773-1858), Victoria. It is shown intertwined who sailed with Flinders round with the love creeper Australia, renamed the waratah Telopea Comosperma volubile Labill. The from the Greek telepos "seen from afar" Tasmanian blue gum is found widely in (1810). The brilliant heads Australians from other states were Tasmania but also in eastern Victoria appear in the spring on a large shrub unable to identify with the emblem so and south eastern New South Wales and which is found in New South Wales, the wattle was chosen in the armorial has been used extensively for plantation particularly in the Blue Mountains and bearings of the Commonwealth of planting. The handsome tall tree with in central coastal regions. At the turn of Australia. The waratah was proclaimed smooth is useful for timber and the last century there was a move afoot the floral emblem of New South Wales honey production. It was declared the to name the waratah as the floral in 1962. Tasmanian floral emblem in 1962. emblem of Australia. Sir Baldwin Spencer (1860-1929) and possibly Ferdinand Mueller were in favour of it THE TASMANIAN EMBLEM THE VICTORIAN EMBLEM (see Mulvaney and Calaby, 1985). So it Although the Dutch and English decorates the Mueller Medal, designed La Billardiere is also the collector and explorers were here early and collected author of by Spencer for his friend and estab- impressa Labill, the lished in 1899 to be given annually by some isolated plants and animals, it is common heath, and he published it in the Australasian Association for the really the French who did the major his second book on the flora of New Advancement of Science for early recording of our Australian flora Holland in 1805. It was collected by La "Researches in Natural Science". and fauna. Cook's expedition in the Billiardiere in 1792 on the same expedi- Endeavour, with Sir Joseph Banks and tion under the leadership of There was a general fashion in the Dr Daniel Solander on board, fired the D'Entrecasteaux. The locality is the use of the waratah in Australian decora- imagination of King Louis XVI of same as that of the Tasmanian blue gum tive art (see Baker, 1915), but France. He sent La Perouse in the ships in capite Van-Diemen, namely northern

26 1HE UNIVERSITY OF ME1BOupNE L BPARY JOURNAL • 1 999 Tasmania. This time an artist on the animals he collected, described and annual or bi-annual creeper with bril- expedition, Piron, gives us the first illus- illustrated was the flower of the Sturt liant flowers and found in tration, but there is practically no infor- pea (Fig. 4). This was collected on , the , mation known about him Frans Stafleu, Rosemary Island, the present day East and South Australia the editor of the facsimile edition, writes Lewis Island in the Dampier where it was declared the floral emblem in 1966, Archipelago. His plant collection will be in 1961. With the preparations for the Piron (fl. 1791-1795). No particulars are on loan from the Oxford Herbarium for tercentenary and special emphasis on known to me of Piron, the artist of the the tercentenary celebrations in Dampier a new name, Dampia formosa expedition, except that he, like La this year. However, the type of Sturt pea (G. Don) A. S. George, has been sug- Billardiere, belonged to the republican was collected at the Ashburton River by gested because the flower differs so faction on board la Recherche and l'Esperance. The drawings by Piron the marine surveyor Phillip Parker King much from the characters of the those of were probably mostly made on the spot. (1791-1856) during his first exploration other members of the The illustration in the book is an of the Western Australian coast in the (see A. S. George, "Willdampia, a New engraving by the sculptor Plee. The Mermaid (see A. S. George, William Generic Name For Sturt Pea"). common heath is also men- Dampier in New Holland). tioned in Mitchell's 1838 book into the explorations into eastern WESTERN AUSTRALIA'S Australia because the plant is common and widespread in EMBLEM southern Victoria occurring manglesii D. Don, mainly in heath land. It occurs Mangles kangaroo paw, is the floral also in South Australia and emblem of Western Australia, des- southern New South Wales. It ignated in 1960. This characteristic flowers all year but mainly in Australian plant is found only in the winter months in red, pink Western Australia from Shark Bay and white forms. It was declared to the south. Anigozanthos was first the Victorian floral emblem in collected and named by La 1958. Victoria was the first state Billardiere (1800) when he dis- to proclaim officially a floral cusses the unequal parts of the emblem. flower, hence, it is believed, anis, Greek for unequal. A. manglesii was first collected by James THE EMBLEM OF Mangles (1786-1867) at the Swan River in 1833 when he stayed with SOUTH AUSTRALIA his cousin Ellen Stirling née A plant which recalls the Mangles, the wife of Sir James explorer Stirling (1791-1865), first lieu- (1795-1869) is the well known tenant governor of Western Sturt pea Australia. It was described by (G. Don) J. Thompson. This is David Don (1799-1841), an Fig. 3: The floral emblem of Tasmania: Blue gum in English botanist who was at the one of the first plants ever fig- Louisa Anne Meredith, • Some of My Bush Friends in time the librarian to the Linnean ured in a book from the Tasmania: native flowers, berries, and insects, drawn from Society. James Mangles also Australian continent, namely in life..., 1860. (Special Collections, University of William Dampier's book, A Melbourne Library.) received seed from Georgiana Journey to New-Holland, in Molloy which was grown and 1703. It is the account of flowered in 1839 at Whitmore Dampier's second visit to Lodge, Berkshire, the seat of his Australia in September 1699 brother Robert Mangles (see when he was in command of HMS First described as Donia formosa by Hasluck, 1955). It was first illustrated Roebuck. This buccaneer turned sea cap- George Don (1789-1836) to honour his by Robert Sweet in 1835, apparently tain was not only an extraordinary sailor father George (1764-1814), Swainsona from dried specimens, in the British and gifted in his writing but also a keen formosa has undergone many name Flower Garden, (see D. Geerink, 1970). naturalist. Among the plants, birds and changes, the latest being made by the Sydney botanist Joy Thompson. It is an continued on page 28

L [', joukNAL • 1999 27 from page 27 Buffalo in Victoria. The royal blue bell is found generally in THE NORTHERN grassy places between boulders TERRITORY'S on mountain tops of the at about 5,000 EMBLEM feet. It was described by Noel The emblem of the Northern Lothian (1915—), a botanist and Territory is Sturt's desert , garden director in 1947, who Gossipyum sturtianum J. H. thought it worthy as a garden Willis, gazetted in 1961, which plant in cooler areas. is found also in the drier and * * * * * * rocky regions of all other states except Tasmania. The name hon- he botanical historyry of the ours also Captain Charles Sturt royal blue bell illustrates who discovered and named the Twell an important point: Murray River and the Darling there are three distinct periods in River. Sturt collected the plant the history of the Australian "in the beds of the creeks on the flora. During the first period, Barrier Range" as he says in his plants were collected by explorers who haphazardly Narrative of an Expedition into Central Australia (1849). found these plants on their Dr James Willis (1910-95), fleeting visits and then took who made the new combination their trophies home to their (1947), was the government countries to be described. This is exemplified by the common botanist in Victoria. However, in Fig. 4: The floral emblem of South Australia: Sturt pea in heath. During the second period some older texts Sturt's desert William Dampier, A Voyage to New Holland, 1703, rose is called Sturtia gossypi- (Grimwade Collection, University of Melbourne Library.) the plants were collected by oides, a name first applied by Australian residents who sent Robert Brown in 1849. G. sturtianum their collections to European is closely related to commercial cotton experts. This is well illustrated by the Gossypium arboreum Linneus. seed collections made by Georgina Molloy or the botanical history of nearly low altitude, semi-arid regions in all of our acacias. During the third and Queensland from the Archer River to last period Australian botanists have THE EMBLEM OF Torres Strait and Papua and New been collecting and describing the ZIEENSLAND (see Upton, 1989). However, earlier Australian plants such as the royal blue specimens were flowered in Kew bell. I The Queensland floral emblem is the Gardens in in 1824. purple Cooktown orchid, Queensland at its centenary in 1959 pro- bigibbum Lindley. The flower was claimed the Cooktown orchid as its Dr Sophie C. Ducker is a Senior Associate described and figured for the first time emblem. (formerly Reader) in the School of Botany, in Paxton's Flower Garden by Lindley University of Melbourne. and Paxton, 1853. It was described by (1799-1865), the first pro- fessor of botany at University College THE A.C.T.'S EMBLEM London. He was famous as an orchidol- Naturally the Australian Capital ogist and named many of our Australian Territory emblem has been nominated orchids. The plant was collected by a only recently, in 1982. It is the royal Dr Thompson, probably a ship's sur- blue bell, N. geon, on Mount Adolphus, a small Lothian. The name honours the Swedish island north of Cape York in Torres botanist Goran Wahlenberg This work was carried out in three libraries: Strait and given to Mr Loddiges at a (1780-1851), a friend of J. D. Hooker. in the Baillieu Library where I thank the ever Hackney nursery, where it flowered in The original collection was made by the helpful Merete Smith; in the Royal Botanic 1852. In the wild it is an epiphyte botanist P. R. H. St John (1872-1944) Gardens Library where the expert guidance of Helen Cohn is much appreciated; and growing, like many orchids, on trees in in March 1930 on the summit of Mount thirdly in my private library.

28 THE' IIVERSITY MFMOuRN 1 ' , PY,j0lIPNA. • 1999 FLORAL EMBLEM REFERENCES Region", Proceedings of the Linnean • Frans A. Stafleu and Richard S. Cowan, Society of N.S.W., Vol. 71,1947, p. 224. Taxonomic Literature, Vols 1-7, The • R. T. Baker, The Australian Flora in Hague, 1979-1988. • Louisa Anne Meredith, Some of My Applied Art, Part 1: the waratah, Bush Friends in Tasmania, London, • Charles Sturt, Narrative of an Expedition Department of Public Instruction, 1860. into Central Australia, Facsimile, N.S.W., 1915. , 1964 [1847]. • Thomas Mitchell, Three Expeditions • George Bentham, "Notes on into the Interior of Eastern Australia, • Joy Thompson, "A Revision of the Genus Mimoseae", London Journal of Botany, London, 1838. Swainsona ()", Telopea, Vol. 5, Vol. 1,1842, pp. 318-392. 1993, pp. 427-581. • D.J. Mulvaney and J.H. Calaby, So • George Bentham, Flora Australiensis, Much That is New: Baldwin Spencer, • Walter T. Upton, Dendrobium Orchids of 7 volumes, London, 1863-1878. 1860-1929, a biography, Melbourne, Australia, Ferntree Gully, 1989. Anne Boden, Floral Emblems of 1985. • James H. Willis, "A New Name for the Australia, Australian Government • James Edward Smith, A Specimen of Australian Cotton Plant (or `Sturt's desert Publishing Service, , 1985. the Botany of New Holland, Vol. 2, rose')", Victorian Naturalist, Vol. 64,1947, John E. Brown, The Forest Flora of 1793, pl. 7. pp. 9-11. South Australia, Adelaide, 1886-1891. Robert Brown, "On the Proteaceae of Jussieu", Trans. Linn. Soc. London, Vol. 10,1810, pp. 15-226. AND Robert Brown, 1849, "Botanical THE UNIVERSITY SEAL THE LIBRARY appendix to Captain Sturt....Central by George Tibbits Australia" Miscellaneous Works of Robert Brown Vol.1. in Ray Society, London, 1865. HEN THE UNIVERSITY of Melbourne Council, which preceded everything, William Dampier, A Voyage to New set about creating the University by Holland, London, 1703. W gaining a site, appointing professors, and D. Geerinck, "Revision du genre- having the Quadrangle built, it needed a seal Anigozanthus", Bull. Jard. Bat. Etat. with which to endorse and give legal standing Vol. 40,1970, pp. 261-276. to its first contracts. It called for expressions of • A. S. George, "Willdampia, a New interest. These were the days before the Generic Name for Sturt Pea", Western University angel. Of the artists who submitted ideas none were successful, and of their Australian Naturalist, Vol. 22,1999, survive. pp. 191-193. designs none After which, the University instructed its architect, Francis • A. S. George, William Dampier in New Malony White, who had designed the Quadrangle at the end of 1853, to make a Holland, Melbourne, 1999. design for a seal based on the design of the building whose basements were just • Alexandra Hasluck, Portrait with then being built. As with the unsuccessful artists, White's design does not survive, Background, Melbourne, 1955. though a seal used by the University Library suggests what it was like. On the front cover board of very old books in the Library there is a gold embossed view • Jacques Julien Houton La Billardiere, of the Quadrangle building from the south east. This was "the University" as it Relation...de la Perouse, Paris, 1800. was called, and without doubt the perspective is the one which F. M. White pre- • Jacques Julien Houton Labillardiere, pared for the University seal. This was a view that lost favour because its main 1804-06[07], Nova Hollandia feature, the towered south front of the Quadrangle, was never built. Later views Plantarum Specimen..., Facsimile, f "The University" were always from the north east across the lake towards the Paris, 1966 [1804-06(07)]. Quadrangle. The Library seal on its oldest books therefore shows the earliest • John Lindley, and Joseph Paxton, "prime view" of the University, an image of the unrealised south front of the seal from a time before the angel appeared as the Paxton's Flower Garden, London, Quadrangle. It is a university 1850-1853. ethereal spirit of the University. I • Noel Lothian, "Critical Notes on the George Tibbits is a fellow in the Australian Centre at the University of Melbourne. He is Genus Wahlenbergia in the Australian an architectural historian and composer.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE LIBRARY JOURNAL • 1999 29