CSIRO PUBLISHING www.publish.csiro.au/journals/hras Historical Records of Australian Science, 2004, 15, 285–300

Review Section

Compiled by Libby Robin

Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies (CRES), Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 0200, Australia. Email: [email protected]

David Johnson: The Geology of Australia. authorial voice shaping a coherent narra- Cambridge University Press: Melbourne, tive. This is not a text-book assemblage of 2004. 288 pp., colour illus., expert chapters, but rather one writer’s line ISBN 0 521 84121 6 (HB), $150. on a subject that clearly fascinates him. The opening chapter introduces both Australia and dating techniques that help us understand its deep-time dimensions. Australia is not just the subject of the study, it is also the place where key dating techniques, such as SHRIMP (Sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe), have developed (p. 5). This is a technique that can date the magmatism (or zircons) of the original rocks, and can also be used on grains of sand. This is not a collation of facts about Australia, but a history of how Geology is a reputable Earth Science. It is geological ideas have changed here and also—and has been since the time of elsewhere. Under the heading ‘Why we Charles Lyell—a natural history. David know more than we did 50 years ago’, we Johnson’s new book, The Geology of Aus- find some of the key scientific and techno- tralia, is about the latest in science, but he logical developments that inform geology. also takes his subject’s natural history These include: using sonar to map the dimensions very seriously. It is the latter ocean floors; the Deep-Sea (later Ocean) that makes the book very accessible to an Drilling Program, which recovered rocks outside reader like myself. for dating the ocean floor; and satellite There are several unusual features in imagery that provided high-altitude views this book that make it very much more of Earth, and made sense of it as one of than a textbook of geology. The first is the many rocky planets in the solar system. delightful design. Richard Rudd’s beautiful The second chapter takes us on a quick aerial photograph of Kata Tjuta on the run through the history of Earth, including cover signals what follows. This is a slim the plate tectonics revolution of the past and pleasantly weighted book that includes 35 years. It also introduces four styles of lots of colour and succinct text with photo- techniques for age-dating rocks and graphs and diagrams, all clear and help- minerals—by their magnetic signature fully captioned. Quickly, we discover that (historical reversals in magnetic polarity); the organizational structure of the book is by thermoluminescence (emission of also well designed and, unlike many light); by the fossils trapped within their ‘science books’, there is a strong, singular sediments; and by fission-track (based on

© Australian Academy of Science 2004 0727-3061/04/02028510.1071/HR04007 286 Historical Records of Australian Science, Volume 15 Number 2

the uranium-238 content). The chapter wanathia, p. 270), and one of the most assumes very little, explaining both primitive life forms—cyanobacterial mats common types of rocks and minerals, as or stromatolites—dating from 2700 well as basic geological processes such as million years ago, a variety of which is still folding, uplifting and erosion. evident in the salty waters of Shark Bay The next five chapters take us through (p. 68). But we also find a very different the Ages of Earth, from the Precambrian to Australia in Precambrian times. The neat flowering plants, mammals and deserts. little boundaries of our island-continent The next three chapters are more descrip- take many chapters to emerge. All the tive, taking some of Australia’s ‘special populous east coast is deep under water, cases’ and explaining them: volcanic activ- and even the narrow western edge on ity in the Great Dividing Range; the conti- which Perth stands is missing, although the nental shelf and coastlines; and the Great Western Australian wheatbelt stands prom- Barrier Reef. The final two chapters take a inent on the large Archaean Yilgarn craton reflective step beyond Australian and more than 2500 million years ago. It is a regional considerations, and consider strikingly different Australia—comprising planets, moons, meteorites and impact most of the parts where humans have craters and the cycles of a continental settled most sparsely, and which, in journey. European times, have been subject to least The striking thing about Johnson’s development apart from the mining indus- narrative is the historical consciousness it try. Almost every major mineral-based set- displays, simultaneously, at a range of tlement from Broken Hill to Mt Isa and scales. The Age of the Earth—even the north-eastern Cape York, across to the place of the earth in the solar system and Pilbara and Kimberly, and down to beyond, is balanced with human-scale Kalgoorlie can be marked on a Pre- stories of explorers and geologists making cambrian map—but none of the places sense of puzzles, using geological obser- where the biggest cities have grown. vations. David Carnegie, making the over- Johnson also reminds us of why it is land camel trek from Kalgoorlie to Halls important to look beyond the commonly Creek in the nineteenth century, survived cited northern hemisphere examples to the desert because he recognized granites understand the Ages of the Earth. Chapter and noted their power to trap small under- 5 deals with the Carboniferous/Permian ground reservoirs (p. 56). The sight of the age—named for and described as a ‘tropi- scattered erratics in the Inman River valley cal’ era, because that was what was hap- in South Australia had Walter Howchin pening in the north. But this was an speculating as early as 1918 about ancient icehouse time for Gondwana, literally connections between Australia and down-under 300 million years ago, with Antarctica (p. 103). This is geology with a Australia’s land mass right near the South human history, and a sensitivity to the Pole. This did not always mean glacial particularities of Australia and its scientific conditions, however. Towards the latter era traditions. of the Gondwanan supercontinent, the The Australian focus throughout is climate warmed—and despite being within insistent, yet conscious of the rest of the the Antarctic circle, both Australia and world. Whilst Australia has some big Antarctica were covered in rainforest boasts, the narrative is not all ‘strut’. Sure, (p. 149). We did not fully break away from we find the planet’s oldest mineral grain (a Antarctica and start to have our recogniz- zircon) in the Pilbara (p. 53), one of the able shape until chapter 7, about 84 million earliest plants (from Victoria—a Barag- years ago. Review section 287

I commend this carefully crafted and an ‘important source-book on the nine- unfolding story, rich in both facts and teenth century’, and indeed it is a useful reflection. My only regret is the price. The contribution. But he does not tell us any- publisher’s inexplicable decision to release thing about its author, Joan Webb, or why it at a ‘library price’ (despite prominent her travels have taken her into so many sponsorship from a mining company) is European herbaria. The abundance of going to mean many of the book’s most primary sources from Kew Gardens enthusiastic potential readers—the intelli- archives shows us that Webb has done gent general public—will miss its treats. considerable research at Kew, England, but Roll on a second, paper-back edition! there is little other information about her. If I resort to my bookshelf and to the Libby Robin Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies internet, I discover that Webb has also Australian National University written a biography of botanist and activist Thistle Harris, a history of the Australian Wildlife Preservation Society, and has co- written a guide to plants, Sydney Sand- stone Flora. Joan B. Webb: The Botanical Endeavour: After brief introductions to Australia’s Journey towards a Flora of Australia. botanical history and the value of herbaria, Surrey Beatty & Sons: Chipping Norton, including the recent debate about maintain- 2003, viii +290 pp., illus. (maps, portraits), ing such archives, The Botanical Endeavour ISBN: 0 949324 92 2 (PB), $40. deals with the lives, publications and botan- ical collections of a number of individuals. Philip Short: In Pursuit of Plants: Those who are dealt with at greater length Experiences of Nineteenth and Early are the botanist and botanical patron Philip Twentieth Century Plant Collectors. Barker Webb (1793–1854); Lieutenant- University of Western Australia Press: Colonel William Paterson (1755–1810), Nedlands, 2003, xvi+351 pp., illus., ISBN: Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales 1 876268 98 0 (HB) : $54.95. and a Fellow of the Royal Society of London; explorer and ‘King’s Botanist’ Allan Cunningham (1791–1839); the Western Australian residents James Drum- mond (1784–1863) and Georgiana Molloy (1805–43); Tasmanian collector Ronald Campbell Gunn (1808–81); ‘foreign liter- ati’ Amalie Dietrich (1821–91) and Ludwig Preiss (1811–83), George Bentham (1800–84); Ferdinand Mueller (1825–96); and Joseph Henry Maiden (1859–1925). Most of these lived, worked and collected plant material in Australia. Only Philip Barker Webb and George Bentham did not, and their contributions to Australian botani- cal collection and classification are indis- putable. Philip Barker Webb acquired, for In the preface of The Botanical Endeavour, example, the herbarium of Jacques Julien and on the back cover, British botanical Houtou de Labillardière, with its plants historian David Mabberley describes it as from Bruny d’Entrecasteaux’s expedition, 288 Historical Records of Australian Science, Volume 15 Number 2

and Bentham’s seven volume Flora Austra- and quoting Joseph Hooker on Ronald liensis was a most significant nineteenth Gunn, we find that: century contribution to Australian botany There are few Tasmania plants that Mr (p. 217). As well as looking at the lives of Gunn has not seen alive, noted their habits these individuals, Webb examines Austra- in a living state, and collected large suites of lian herbaria, particularly the Melbourne specimens with singular tact and judge- Botanic Gardens herbarium with its origins ment. These have all been transmitted to England in perfect preservation, and are in the work of the director of the Gardens, accompanied with notes that display von Mueller. remarkable powers of observation, and a Each chapter introduces its subject or facility for seizing important characters in subjects, and has sections on the life, jour- the physiognomy of plants, such as few neys, collections, and significance of the experienced botanists possess. (p. 174) subject, followed by chapter notes with Webb’s researches have been extensive, detailed references. And though it is a but sometimes even these are hidden from modestly-produced printing in soft-cover, the reader. I took a moment to realize that there are interesting black and white illus- when she write about ‘two of the many trations, maps, and —most welcome!—an specimens examined in 1999 by J. Webb’, index. she is referring to her own labours. My The nineteenth century that Webb erudition and facility with languages are writes about did not lack exciting times, certainly not at all comparable with those and we know that even from the thor- of Philip Barker Webb—adept in French, oughly dried pages of herbarium speci- German, ancient and modern Greek, mens, lively tales can spring. Peter Raby’s Italian, Latin, Portuguese and Spanish— Bright Paradise: Victorian Scientific whose chapter begins with a small tribute Travellers (Princeton University Press from S. Gay: 1996) covers a similar period and similar Son Phytographia canariensis peut, pursuits, with a clarity and verve that make indépendamment de ses riches ornements, it hard to put down. But this is not such a soutenir la comparaison avec tout ce qui a book. Motivated perhaps by desire to été fait de mieux dans ce genre. (p. 28) respect the truth of the scientific detail she So I would have been grateful for an presents, Webb does not breathe the same English translation of this quotation. [His life into the moments of discovery, and Phytographia canariensis can, independ- there are parts of the book where a reader’s ently of its ornamental riches, compare interest might falter over the detailed cata- favourably with the best of its type.] Some logue of the pursuit and preservation of of the other language Webb uses in telling plants of Australian significance. But these the stories of these men (and one woman) are leavened by generous inclusion of also minimizes the chances of enticing interesting primary sources, and by useful general readers: the concepts embodied in and succinct appraisals of her characters. technical terms such as ‘floristic regions’ Webb writes, for example, that: require some measure of scientific back- William Paterson may have endeared him- ground, while ‘lectotypes’ and ‘holotypes’ self to the general populace in the colony of New South Wales, but as an administrator belong to the highly specialized world of he showed no ability for government; as botanical taxonomy. This makes the best- commanding officer of the New South informed audience for this book a small Wales Corps he showed no determination; one, though historians will also be glad to and both as administrator and as command- ing officer he allowed himself to be the tool refer to it, and will appreciate Webb’s of designing persons. (p. 69) careful presentation of the facts. Review section 289

lectors, such as Joseph Dalton Hooker, feature in more than one category. The book is a handsome production from the University of Western Australia Press, a well made hard-cover with good- quality colour photographs of plants and reproductions of some older illustrations. The layout is clean and enticing to the eye. Some relatively small changes or additions to the text and to the arrangement of quotations would have made the book more useful. In particular, it is not at all obvious on first reading that the text quoted (for Vogel, for example) consists Dr Philip Short’s book does not lack not of one letter or quotation, but of a drama. It begins: series of excerpts run on in the text with In 1792, David Burton died of gunshot only a fresh heading to indicate a break wounds on the banks of the Nepean River, and change of date in the writing. This near Sydney … Richard Cunningham died could easily be clarified by giving the date of spear wounds. In 1844, Franz Sieber of writing of each quotation with each ended his days in a lunatic asylum and, in heading, instead of having them buried the following year, John Gilbert was fatally within the (excellent) endnotes for the speared in the neck. (p. vii) chapters. And many non-botanist readers This makes us sit up and take notice. would have appreciated the use of some And we continue to do so. The life of this common and Aboriginal names—some- book is in the presentation of the original thing botanists including Short often like writings of Short’s nineteenth and twenti- to avoid—in addition to the scientific eth century subjects, all except one (like names given here for plants. It would seem Joan Webb’s subjects) are men. Extensive entirely a useful thing, for example, to quotations form almost the whole bulk of know that the Ptilotus rotundifolius illus- each section. Short himself is a taxonomist trated on page x is one of the ‘mulla- whose specialty is the daisy family. He has mullas’ of the Hamersley Ranges. On this written for, and edited, the History of point, it’s interesting to see Short’s discus- Systematic Botany in Australasia. And he sion of plant names (on p. 323). too has spent time at Kew’s Royal Botanic Short mentions (p. xiii) that he has Gardens in 1991–2 as the Australian standardized some abbreviations and spell- Botanical Liaison Officer, which provided ings in these quotations —for example, him with the opportunity for finding and ‘wagon’, not ‘waggon’, and ‘botanised’ assembling these articles. not ‘botanized’. This is neither necessary Short divides In Pursuit of Plants into nor justifiable: it is an unnecessary uni- seven regions: Africa, Asia, Australia and formity imposed for no sake but its own, New Zealand, Europe, North America, and results in an irritating loss of historical Central and South America, and Oceans accuracy and of the richness of detail and Islands. Each of these features a which accretes to tell the story of changing number of collectors, just three for the language usage. Short’s readers are surely Oceans and Islands and as many as eleven made of sterner stuff: we can cope with for Australia and New Zealand. Some col- more than one spelling of familiar words, 290 Historical Records of Australian Science, Volume 15 Number 2

and we deserve to see things they way they Patricia Fara: Sex, Botany & Empire: The really were in a collection of quotations. story of Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks. Short gives a brief (one-paragraph) Thriplow: Cambridge UK, Revolutions in introduction to each selection, such as the Science: Icon Books 2003. 168 pp., illus., following one for the passage on ISBN 1 84046 573 5 (PB), $29.95. F. J. Gillen he chose: Born in South Australia, Francis James Gillen (1855–1912) was for many years associated with the Overland Telegraph Line that ran between Adelaide and Dar- win, and in 1892 was appointed the post and telegraph stationmaster at Alice Springs. From an early age he had interests in natural history and anthropology and in 1894, when the Horn Scientific Expedition visited Alice Springs, his interests were further stimulated. Sometimes he was assisted in collecting specimens by Aborig- inal people and undoubtedly the harnessing of their skills was usually beneficial. This was not always the case, as the following extract from a letter of Gillen’s to Professor Baldwin Spencer shows. (p. 190) I would very much like to have seen Short include more detail on his reasons (apart from the obvious one of availability) This is only a small book, pocket-sized in for choosing the particular individuals fact, but with a very big subject. As the gathered here and attempt to fit each writer author herself says, it is about how the and each passage selected into a larger links between the three ‘S’s, Sex, Science picture. It would have added punch to the and the State, were revealed in the careers collection to have a more substantial com- of Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus mentary interpreting, analysing and (1707–78) and British naturalist and putting into context what is ultimately an patron of science Joseph Banks assemblage of quotations, and it need not (1743–1820). In themselves these themes have entailed a great addition to the size of and individuals have been well-covered by the final work. A small concluding chapter historians of science, as the list of further drawing together the themes of the book reading at end of Sex, Botany & Empire would have been valuable for the same acknowledges, but this is not so of Fara’s reason. It would also have been good to particular combination, especially in have thumbnail maps locating each piece regard to Linnaeus and Banks who were of writing (especially in the case of almost of different generations, and did not obscure islands such as the southern Indian ever meet each other. Fara writes with a Ocean one of Kerguelen (p. 297)). But it is light touch and many asides that is more a fine book. characteristic of a Georgian romp than a Bernadette Hince scholarly treatise. Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies Fara connects sex and botany through Australian National University, Canberra the so-called ‘sexual system’ of classifi- cation that was devised by Linnaeus. Unlike its predecessors it used the male and female parts of the reproductive Review section 291

organs to assign plants to different ranked the recent books of John Gascoigne, an groups. Botany and empire are linked by Australian scholar, on Banks. the exploring expeditions in the eighteenth Sex, Botany and Empire, however, is century that looked for plants and other clearly not intended to be a closely argued natural history objects at the same time as work. It draws on the research of other opportunities for the commercial exploi- historians, including Gascoigne, reflects tation and political acquisition of new on large themes and makes novel connec- lands. Finally, Fara uses sex as a metaphor tions. Fara also makes extensive use of to characterize imperial relationships— illustrations, and her comparison of two conquering, subduing, deflowering, and portraits of Linnaeus and Banks as explor- clearly not consensual—although she also ers encapsulates what they did and did not indicates that much actual sex also took have in common. Both men are shown place between explorers and natives in the exhibiting a new plant named according to South Pacific. the Linnaean system, which was also a These links are evident in the careers of potential commercial product. But while both Linnaeus and Banks although more the ‘Lapp Tea’ brewed from Linnaeus’ so in that of Banks, who consequently Linnaea borealis was deemed disgusting dominates Fara’s book. Linnaeus recruited even by his son, Banks’ Phormium tenax, a a number of disciples to promulgate his kind of flax, was influential in getting the system of classification and to bring plants British to settle Australia. from new lands to Sweden. While not one Sara Maroske of these disciples himself, Banks adopted Department of History and Philosophy of Science the sexual system and used it to classify his University of Melbourne specimens from Cook’s Endeavour voyage. Like Linnaeus, Banks was also interested in using science to enrich the state, but his position in the Establishment of a more powerful nation than Sweden enabled him to do so on a grander scale. Linnaeus may have published more scien- tific works than Banks, but Banks was more successful in influencing commerce and imperial expansion. Fara thinks Banks has been hard done by in Britain, concluding that ‘very few British people have heard of [him]— unless, that is, they have visited Australia, where Banks became a national hero.’. She thinks this is because British scholars have only recently begun to appreciate that ‘books are not necessarily the best way to measure scientific achievement.’. She also thinks that enthusiasm for Banks waned in Australia ‘towards the end of the 20th century’ as it ‘was severing its ties with Britain’ but this is difficult to sustain in the light of the Australia’s decision to retain the monarchy in a referendum in 1999, and 292 Historical Records of Australian Science, Volume 15 Number 2

Jeffrey D. Stilwell (ed.): The World’s First produce a facsimile of the surviving edi- Shell Collecting Guide from 1821: tions, to prevent their loss to shell and rare John Mawe’s The Voyager’s Companion or book enthusiasts. The first and the lost Shell Collector’s Pilot. Western Australian second edition are cumbersomely titled: Museum: Perth, 2003. xii + 81 pp., colour A Short Treatise, Addressed to Gentlemen illus., ISBN 1920843043 (PB), $39.95. visiting the South Seas, and All Foreign Countries; More particularly to Com- manders, &c. of Ships, and Gentlemen Residing on Shore, With a View to Encour- age the Collecting of Natural History. This could be read as a collision of Mawe’s primary interests, commerce and natural history education. Dissemination is clearly as important to Stilwell as it was to John Mawe. He wrote that he wanted Mawe’s work to reach a wider audience than rare book collectors and historically-conscious conchologists: A quick glance at most library catalogues ‘I decided to reproduce the book here—so reveals an abundance of books about that many more people could enjoy one of shells, shell-collecting, shell classification the greatest rarities of early nineteenth- and illustrated guides to shells dating back century natural history’. He, and the at least to the late eighteenth century, Western Australian Museum, have cer- enough to vindicate Jeffrey Stilwell’s tainly gone some way toward achieving assertion that ‘Shells (phylum Mollusca) this aim, producing a beautifully illus- have a mystique that transcends time’. His trated, well-researched and affordable little production of John Mawe’s The Voy ager’s book combining two facsimile reprints, Companion; Or Shell Collector’s Pilot was prefaced by several short essays by Stilwell itself a labour of love. Stilwell is a palae- and a foreword by the eminent shell collec- ontologist at Melbourne’s Monash Univer- tor S. Peter Dance, a former president of sity, specializing in Australian fossil the Conchological Society of Great Britain mollusca. His passion for shells and for and the British Shell Collectors’ Club. rare books coalesced in a bookshop in Within his commentaries, Stilwell has Cambridge in 1995, when he found a well- helpfully included brief extracts from preserved copy of the 1821 third edition of letters by Mawe about shell-collecting and The Voy ager’s Companion. also illustrations from other nineteenth- Subsequently he hunted down the even century books on shells, and from Mawe’s rarer fourth edition of 1825. The existence mineralogical catalogues. of a ‘first edition’ of Mawe’s book, an Several times, including in the title, eleven page pamphlet with a different title, Stilwell reiterated the primacy of Mawe’s published in 1804 held in the collection of work as the world’s first shell-collecting the Mitchell Library, State Library of New guide. He made the bold claim in his South Wales was brought to Stilwell’s introduction that the 1821 edition of The attention by a colleague. Only the first and Voy ager’s Companion is ‘the first detailed the third editions are reproduced in this and all-encompassing account of shell col- facsimile. The editor was unable to trace an lecting’. I am not satisfied that his search extant copy of the second edition. This for antecedents was sufficiently exhaus- failure in part motivated his decision to tive. He made no reference, at least, to Review section 293

Thomas Martyn’s 1784 publication, The porating advertisements for his products. Universal Conchologist, whose subtitle His entrepreneurial skills are no more promises to exhibit ‘the figure of every evident than in Stilwell’s gorgeously pro- known shell, accurately drawn, and painted duced edition of the Voy ager’s Companion after nature, with a new systematic which, like The Mineralogy of Derbyshire arrangement’. Martyn’s work was self- and Travels in Brazil, is part treatise, part published in London and sold from his travelogue and part tourist guide. house. It is in four volumes, written in There is much of interest in Stilwell’s English and French. accessible chapters on the practicalities According to Stilwell, John Mawe and tribulations of shell-collecting at a (1766–1829) was the son of a prosperous time when ‘large areas of the globe were, Derbyshire baker and merchant. He spent conchologically speaking, unknown’, in several years at sea on a merchant ship, but his ‘brief history’, including an archae- was later described as ‘a practical mineral- ology, of shell-collecting, and in his short ogist’. This is born out by the informed biography of John Mawe. Nevertheless, I ease with which he discussed matters geo- am disappointed that he attempted neither logical in two of his best-known books The to place Mawe in a more detailed fashion Mineralogy of Derbyshire, with a descrip- within a cognitive community of early tion of the most interesting mines in the nineteenth-century naturalists, collectors North of England, in Scotland, and in and dealers in natural history objects, nor Wales (1802) and Travels in the interior of to unpack and contextualize his ideas Brazil, including a voyage to the Rio de la about change in the Earth. Furthermore, in Plata, and an historical essay upon the the context of this publication, Stilwell revolution in Buenos Ayres (1812). Both seems interested in shells largely as col- went into several editions, and the latter lectable objects. Differences between book was widely reviewed. A natural fossil and living mollusca were recognized history entrepreneur and avid publisher, as markers of faunal change in the geo- Mawe began selling minerals as early as logical record during the late eighteenth 1794 and published a number of descrip- and early nineteenth centuries. They were tive catalogues of minerals, gems and integral to Georges Cuvier’s work on rocks, aimed at students and collectors of extinction (as Stilwell himself pointed geology. These catalogues were often out), to William Smith’s stratigraphic intended as guides to the stock in his mapping and later to Charles Lyell’s gradu- mineralogical shop in the Strand, opened alistic speculations which led to the publi- after he returned from South America in cation of Principles of Geology in 1811, where he ‘entertained students and 1830–33. Stilwell touched on these ideas gave demonstrations’. His books are early in his essay on Mawe’s life, but did engaging, lively and entertainingly boast- not develop them. ful, in the tradition of much eighteenth- I should like to see Mawe located in century travel literature. They are both wider intellectual and economic contexts, natural and commercial histories of mining within a network of Western European and conchology, tracking the industrializa- dealers in natural history and dissemina- tion of Britain and calling for the establish- tors of natural history information. He ment of a School of Mines, while lauding published eclectically and popularly: travel the ‘fashion’ for mineralogy which prom- literature, geological and mineralogical ised ‘great improvements’ in an ‘important work, collectors’ and students’ guides, branch of natural history’. They demon- gem-cutters’ guides, catalogues, as well as strate his shrewd business eye, often incor- at least two other book on shells (an 1823 294 Historical Records of Australian Science, Volume 15 Number 2

treatise on The Linnaean System on Conch- Wilfried Schröder Ich reiste wie ein ology, self-published with 34 lithographic Buschmann (Zum Leben und Wirken des plates, and another published posthu- Australienforschers Erhard Eylmann) mously by his wife Sarah). The existence [I travelled as a bushman: Life and Work of of the former work again reveals him to be the Pioneer of Australian Culture Erhard no mere profit-focused entrepreneur, but Eylmann] Science Edition Publication, an informed and interested student of Hechelstrasse 8 D 28777 Bremen, natural history, despite his own disclaimer Germany, 273 pp., illus. b&w, in The Mineralogy of Derbyshire that as ISSN: 1615-2824, 20 Euros. ‘an observer addicted to no theory’ he preferred to ‘leave the scientific to form opinions agreeable to their own senti- ments’. I am intrigued by his links to the Portuguese Crown. Where did he fit intel- lectually? Who purchased and used his books? Stilwell’s commentary provided tantalizing hints, but did not satisfy my curiosity. Nevertheless, for shell enthusi- asts, book lovers and students of nine- teenth century natural history alike, this lovely little production is a treat and a useful resource. Kirsty Douglas History Program, RSSS Australian National University

‘This book is not a scientific biography’ according to the author Wilfried Schröder, but an attempt to sketch in general terms, the life and work of the explorer Erhard Eylmann. Eylmann made an ‘indispensa- ble contribution to science and the history of discovery in Australia’ (p. 11). His contribution to the field of Australian anthropology and history, however, is still relatively unknown. The results of Eylmann’s fieldwork in Australia culmi- nated in the publication of Die Einge- borenen der Kolonie Südaustralien in 1908, which is available in major univer- sity and museum libraries both here and overseas, but only accessible to readers of German.1 Eylmann’s diaries and drawings, as well as his collection of natural history specimens and Aboriginal artefacts, are Review section 295

either on display or in storage at the beginning with Eylmann’s early life on Übersee Museum in Bremen. Krautsand, an island on the Elbe River in Schröder certainly achieves his aim of northern Germany, until his death at 61 in engaging the reader in Eylmann’s ‘adven- Blumenthal, a small town on the banks of turous life’ in Australia between 1898 and the Unterweser River (p. 63). 1913. His account of Eylmann’s travels is Schröder introduces the reader to embellished with intimate details that we Eylmann’s family, who were farmers for can only assume were sourced from many generations on Krautsand. This was Eylmann’s own expedition notebooks and where Erhard, the second of ten children, diaries. A few of the illustrations from developed an interest and enthusiasm for Eylmann’s monograph have been repro- natural history, particularly geography and duced by Schröder, albeit rather poorly. astronomy. After successfully completing These include Eylmann’s remarkable his secondary schooling, he studied natural pencil drawings from observation depict- history and medicine at the universities in ing Aboriginal people in camps, artefacts Leipzig and then Freiburg where he gradu- and rock art. The additional historical ated with a PhD in 1886. He continued photographs are useful, but the sources are studying medicine in Wurzburg, Freiburg not acknowledged and scenes of Arrernte and Heidelberg and completed his degree ceremonies may be restricted. in medicine in 1889–1890 (p. 39). Eylmann encountered a miscellany of After the tragic loss of his wife while he characters in remote places and towns, was working as a doctor of tropical medi- including pastoralists, gold diggers, adven- cine in Cairo, Eylmann returned to turers, missionaries and Aboriginal people. Germany in 1894 and withdrew to Kraut- He often experienced life-threatening sand. Fortuitously, Eylmann came across danger as well as loneliness and despair. an article about the penal colonies in Aus- Schröder’s treatment of these events some- tralia, the ‘fifth continent’ that he thought times appears over-dramatized as he might offer exciting new research poten- weaves them into his narrative along with tial. He decided not to work as a doctor his own analysis and interpretation. It is again (p. 35). Instead he enrolled as a often unclear whether it is Schröder’s inter- student at Wilhelms-University in Berlin pretation or in fact Eylmann’s own records, and undertook a study of Australia’s geog- a frustration exacerbated by the lack of raphy, geology and ethnology. Schröder footnotes acknowledging his sources. makes it clear that Eylmann was driven by While the book appears to stray into the the possibility of undertaking original realm of biographical fiction, Schröder has research in Australia, collecting specimens constructed a convincing chronological nar- and artefacts and recording his observa- rative based on the few published sources tions for evaluation and publication (p. 39). 2 about Eylmann’s life and work. Chapters Two years later in February 1896, 1–9 are not titled, but are arranged in order Eylmann arrived in Adelaide and spent four weeks visiting the library, zoo, and 1 Eylmann, Erhard. Die Eingeborenen der Kolonie botanical gardens as well as the museums. Südaustralien. Dietrich Reimer (Ernst Vohsen) He befriended Amandus Zietz, Assistant Johnson Reprint Corporation: New York 1966 Director of the South Australian Museum, (originally 1908). English translations of selected chapters from Eylmann’s publication are available from IATSIS in Canberra—Chapters 10, 12, 13, 2Otto Bunzendahl, ‘Der Australien-Forscher Dr. and 14 translated by WC Gerritsen and Rupert Erhard Eylmann und seine Sammlung im Gerritsen, Chapters 16 and 17 translated by Kevin Deutschen Kolonial und Übersee Museum zu Sherlock. Bremen.’, 1938. 296 Historical Records of Australian Science, Volume 15 Number 2

a fellow German who played a key role in Museum before setting out on foot to Cape assisting Eylmann with preparations for Otway in Victoria via Lake Albert. He his expedition north (p. 45). He then set returned to Adelaide in May via Hamilton, out alone on his first self-funded Austral- the Grampians and the Ninety Mile Desert ian expedition with two horses, minimal after walking 800 kilometres. He then pre- equipment and provisions, and travelled pared for his return to Germany. Schröder from Oodnadatta to Darwin and back, a reveals Eylmann as a very lonely character journey that took him three years. wishing to escape his past and determined Eylmann survived his gruelling expedi- to succeed in his new scientific endeavour. tion from south to north and back again According to Otto Bunzendahl’s account, and established an important relationship Eylmann travelled ‘to learn more precisely with Frank Gillen in Alice Springs. He the customs and habits of the Aboriginal visited several stations, missions, people of Central Australia who still exist 5 Aboriginal camps and mining towns, as in the natural state’. well as collecting Aboriginal artefacts, Not satisfied with the results of his first minerals and fossils. expedition to Australia, Eylmann returned Eylmann’s meetings with Gillen at the again in June 1900, but this time he con- Telegraph Station in Alice Springs centrated on missions and their impact reinforced the value of his ethnographic upon Aboriginal people, their social organ- work: they discussed diseases afflicting ization and beliefs. Schröder briefly Aboriginal people, geology and rock art. acknowledges Eylmann’s visits to Point Eylmann also took the opportunity to Macleay Mission at Lake Alexandrina study Edward Stirling’s volume on anthro- south of Adelaide and the Bethesda pology from the Horn Expedition.3 It is Mission at Lake Killalpaninna on the clear from Gillen’s correspondence that Cooper Creek in north-east South Aus- Baldwin Spencer expressed some concerns tralia (pp. 117–120). about Eylmann publishing the results of Eylmann was well aware of the impact his research ahead of them. Gillen wrote: of European settlement on Aboriginal people around the country and accused the I am afraid that so much about Eylmann missionaries of complicity in the extinc- will make you uneasy and I can almost imagine I see you shifting uneasily in that tion of their race. Schröder’s analysis of chair. I feel certain that he does not intend Eylmann’s critical view of the mission- to do any Anthropology except in a general aries’ work simply mirrors his opinion way—He intends to publish a book on his (pp. 117–121). Eylmann claimed there was travels, on his return to Germany which ‘no good star over mission life in Aus- may not take place for a couple of years.4 tralia’ and the Christian Gospel was just After his return to Adelaide in January not suitable for a ‘nature-people’ who 1899, Eylmann sought further advice from stood on the lowest cultural step.6 Schröder Amandus Zietz at the South Australian does not offer any substantive critique of Eylmann’s social Darwinist position or the 3E. C. Stirling in Baldwin Spencer (ed), Report on role of missionaries as anthropologists. the work of the Horn Scientific Expedition to Schröder provides a very lengthy Central Australia. Part IV Anthropology. London and Melbourne:. Delau and Co. and Melville, account of how Eylmann’s book Die Mullen and Slade 1896. 5Bunzendahl, ‘Der Australien-Forscher Dr Erhard 4John Mulvaney, Howard Morphy and Alison Eylmann…’, p. 41. Petch. ‘My Dear Spencer’—the letters of F.J. Gillen to Baldwin Spencer. Hyland House, Melbourne, 6Eylmann, Die Eingeborenen der Kolonie 1997. Südaustralien. Review section 297

Eingeborenen der Kolonie Südaustralien Bettelwesen in dem Staate Südaustralien in was conceived, written and published. He 1922, which provided insights into the acknowledged the key influences on the lives of beggars such as tramps and form and content of his book, including swagmen around South Australia and publications by Karl Emil Jung, Spencer Victoria. and Gillen, and the Horn Expedition Eylmann finally retired from the wool Report, as well as his own background in factory in 1926 and retreated to his small ethnology and philosophy. Finally pub- apartment with little to sustain him except lished in 1908, Eylmann’s book contained ‘water soup’ and only his pet cat for 481 pages illustrated with his photographs, company. Despite the rapid decline in his detailed drawings and paintings from health, he continued to work on manu- observation. scripts each day committing a few lines to The book received positive reviews in paper or making a drawing (p. 227). In journals for ethnology and geography and December 1926 Eylmann died at the age of it was not long before he began planning 66. his final trip to Australia (p. 190). This was Schröder concludes his biography by another remarkable feat which he reported acknowledging the recent celebration and quite simply as follows: evaluation of the work of Baldwin Spencer and Frank Gillen and also Carl and Ted In the year 1912 and the first month of the following year I crossed and recrossed the Strehlow. He then asks why Eylmann’s southern part of the states of southern Aus- contribution to Australian science and tralia. I walked 1100–1200 km and returned exploration is still not recognized. by train and Murray steamer, approximately Schröder claims the main reason is that his 7 1500 km. monograph Die Eingeborenen der Kolonie On this expedition, Eylmann mainly Südaustralien (1908) was never published investigated and illustrated the birdlife, the in English, although we can assume that results being published in his article ‘Die Spencer at least read German. Vogelwelt südöstlichen Teils vom Staate It is not unreasonable for Schröder to Südaustralien’ in the Journal für Ornith- claim that Eylmann’s pioneering fieldwork ologie in 1914. Schröder paints a bleak and ‘first hand’ observations were on a par picture of the last few years of Eylmann’s with Spencer and Gillen, and that he life after the First World War. The German deserves a place in the history of ethno- economy was very depressed and high graphic fieldwork, along with the most inflation took its toll. Eylmann finally important exponents in the development of moved to Blumenthal on the Unterweser participatory observation (p. 236). River and at the age of 60 was forced to Eylmann was well aware that his short seek employment in the Bremer Woll- periods of intensive fieldwork resulted in Kämmerei (wool factory). He remained limited data for analysis and evaluation but committed to researching Australian his ethnography not only offers us previ- ethnology and kept busy studying associ- ously inaccessible data on the material ated literature and worked on his collec- culture and beliefs of Aboriginal people in tions of natural history specimens and southern Australia at the turn of the nine- artefacts at home (p. 221). A highlight was teenth century, but also complements the the publication of Eylmann’s report Das records from central Australia at the time. Schröder’s biography provides impor- 7Eylmann, Erhard. Das Bettelwesen in dem Staate tant context for one of the best- Südaustralien. Mitteilungen der Geographischen documented colonial collections of Gesellschaft. Hamburg, Band 34, 1922, p. 57. Aboriginal material culture in Europe and 298 Historical Records of Australian Science, Volume 15 Number 2

we eagerly await a full translation of including river diversion schemes, Eylmann’s monograph into English, research into drought-resistant plants, perhaps illustrated with images of his cloud-seeding experiments, and long- collection. range weather forecasts based on the planetary alignment of Jupiter and Saturn. Chris Nobbs South Australian Museum Such schemes, which represent the main focus of the exhibition, ranged from the conservative to the audacious. Among the latter: a 1903 patent for steel towers stretching into the cloud stratum, in order to release electrical currents into the sky Exhibitions and thus effect precipitation; the proposed construction of a canal connecting the ocean to the great inland lakes of South Drought through the Twentieth Australia, recreating the fabled inland seas Century: Australia’s National and transforming the climate of the arid Experience. interior; and, perhaps most intriguing of http://www.naa.gov.au all, recurring suggestions to use nuclear Throughout Australia’s relatively short weapons to create entirely new inland history since Federation, perhaps one of lakes within central Australia. the most enduring and important themes is The documents also illuminate the per- Australians’ relationship with water. Yet it sonal accounts of individual Australians affected by drought. Beyond the official has commanded surprisingly little atten- reports recording local drought conditions, tion from historians, both academic and one finds in the collection various direct popular, despite ample sources of informa- appeals to Prime Ministers for federal tion available in archives, newspapers and action on drought relief, often including published material. Going some way to testimonies of the hardships facing rural correct this, the National Archives of Aus- Australia during the worst droughts of the tralia has embarked on a project to help century. bring this ever-timely subject into the In addition to the wealth of textual public domain, presented in a forthcoming material available, Just Add Water also exhibition entitled Just Add Water. draws upon the Archives’ large collection Research for this exhibition, based pri- of photographs. Taken primarily by official marily upon the Archives’ own collection, Commonwealth photographers, these reveals numerous and wide-ranging meas- images provide striking visual representa- ures to alleviate the impact of drought. On tions of the severity of the various droughts one level were initiatives to provide direct that have characterized much of the Aus- financial assistance to drought victims: in tralian experience throughout the twentieth 1902, a federally-sanctioned fundraising century. initiative by Dame Nellie Melba; various Drought Relief bills providing grants and Dieter Michel University of Sydney loans to the State support schemes; and a late-1960s proposal to introduce Drought Bonds, as a means of encouraging personal responsibility for insurance against future hardship. Yet the exhibition also highlights various attempts at drought prevention, Review section 299

CONGRATULATIONS to the dressed in 1950s clothes, the FX-FJ Australian Academy of Science on its Holden Car Club displayed cars on the 50th Anniversary! forecourt outside the Dome and a jazz Celebrations included a very successful band provided entertainment. The Acad- Open Day on Sunday 17 October 2004, emy’s original charter with the signatures when the Academy opened its doors to the of the foundation fellows was on display in public to explore the Academy’s two heri- the foyer, along with the architectural tage buildings. Over 200 visitors (includ- designs (successful and alternative) for the ing two who had worked on the building. construction of the Dome) took a guided The other 50th anniversary exhibi- tour of the Shine Dome and watched a film tion—Eureka moments! Highlights of 50 showing original footage of its construc- years of Australian science—is travelling tion. They also viewed objects from the around the nation, following its launch at Academy’s collection including some won- the National Museum of Australia in May derful memorabilia depicting the Dome on 2004. It is also available online. For details plates, matchboxes and cloths. To help see: http://www.science.org.au/eureka/ create a 1950s atmosphere, Academy staff LR

Sue Serjeantson, Jacinta Legg, Susie Barratt, Megan Rogers, Marian Heard and Amy Pryor of the Australian Academy of Science, in their 50s One of the vintage Holdens at the front of the dresses outside Ian Potter House. Photograph: Shine Dome for the celebration. Photograph: Jane Jane Hingston. Hingston. 300 Historical Records of Australian Science, Volume 15 Number 2

Collage of Open Day 2004 by Jane Hingston.