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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2012}}
{{Infobox
|image = Allan Cunningham07.jpg
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1791|7|13|df=y}}
|birth_place = [[Wimbledon, London
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1839|6|27|1791|7|13|df=y}}
|death_place = [[Sydney]], [[New South Wales]], [[Australia]]
|occupation = Botanist, explorer
|known_for = Exploration of eastern Australia
|relatives
|
}}
'''Allan Cunningham''' (13 July 1791 – 27 June 1839) was an English [[botany|botanist]] and [[List of explorers|explorer]], primarily known for his
== Early life ==
Cunningham was born in [[Wimbledon, London
== Brazil
On Banks' recommendation, Cunningham went to [[Brazil]] with [[James Bowie (botanist)|James Bowie]] between 1814 and 1816 collecting specimens for [[Kew Gardens]].
==
He was soon ordered to the colony of [[New South Wales]] and on 28 September 1816 he sailed for [[Sydney]] where he arrived on 20 December 1816.<ref name="dab"/> He established himself at [[Parramatta]].
=== Botanist on Oxley's 1817 expedition ===
Cunningham joined [[John Oxley]]'s 1817 expedition beyond the [[Blue Mountains (New South Wales)|Blue Mountains]] to the [[Lachlan River|Lachlan]] and [[Macquarie River|Macquarie]] rivers and shared in the privations of the 1,200 miles (1,930 km) journey. He collected specimens of about 450 species and gained valuable experience as an explorer. Cunningham named the species ''[[Acacia pendula]]'' and ''[[Eucalyptus dumosa]]'' during this expedition.
=== Botanist on P.P. King's 1817-1822 circumnavigation voyages ===
Cunningham traveled as the ship's botanist aboard [[HMS Mermaid (1817)|HMS ''Mermaid'']] under [[Phillip Parker King]] from 1817 to 1820.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Indigenous intermediaries: new perspectives on exploration archives|publisher=[[ANU Press]] |editor=Konishi, Shino |editor2=Nugent, Maria |editor3=Shellam, Tiffany|year=2015|isbn=9781925022773|location=Acton, A.C.T.|pages=88|oclc=917505639}}</ref> The ''Mermaid'' was of only 85 tons, but sailing on 22 December 1817 they reached [[King George Sound]] on 21 January 1818. Though their stay was short many specimens were found but the islands on the west coast were comparatively barren. Towards the end of March the [[Goulburn Islands]] on the north coast were reached and many new plants were discovered. They reached [[Timor]] on 4 June 1818 and, turning for home, arrived at [[Port Jackson]] on 29 July 1818. Cunningham's collections during this voyage included about 300 species.
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The circumnavigation of Australia was completed on 27 August when they reached Vernon Island in [[Clarence Strait (Northern Territory)|Clarence Strait]]. They again visited Timor and arrived back in Sydney on 12 January 1820. The third voyage to the north coast with King began on 15 June, but meeting bad weather the bowsprit was lost and a return was made for repairs. Sailing again on 13 July 1820 the northerly course was followed and eventually the continent was circumnavigated. Though they found the little vessel was in a bad state when they were on the north-west coast, and though serious danger was escaped until they were close to home, they were nearly wrecked off [[Botany Bay]]. The ''Mermaid'' was then condemned and the next voyage was on the ''Bathurst'' which was twice the size of the ''Mermaid''.<ref name="dab"/> They left on 26 May 1821, the northern route was chosen, and when they were on the west coast of Australia it was found necessary to go to [[Mauritius]] to refit, where they arrived on 27 September 1821. They left after a stay of seven weeks and reached King George Sound on 24 December 1821. A sufficiently long stay was made for Cunningham to make an excellent collection of plants, and then turning on their tracks the ''Bathurst'' sailed up the west coast and round the north of Australia. Sydney was reached again on 25 April 1822. Cunningham provided a chapter on botany to King's ''Narrative of a Survey''.<ref>{{Citation | author1=King, Phillip Parker | author-link1=Phillip Parker King | author2=Cunningham, Allan | title=Narrative of a Survey of the intertropical and western Coasts of Australia : performed between the years 1818 and 1822 | date=1827 | publisher=John Murray | volume=2 | pages = 497–533| chapter = A Few General Remarks on the Vegetation of Certain Coasts of Terra Australis | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RjdCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA497 }}</ref>
===
[[File:Cunningham memorial.jpg|thumb|Memorial to Allan Cunningham's "discovery" of Cunningham's Gap, [[Cunningham Highway
In September 1822 Cunningham went on an expedition over the [[Blue Mountains (
In September 1824 Cunningham accompanied [[John Oxley]] on his second expedition to [[Moreton Bay]] and explored up the [[Brisbane River]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Oxley|first=John|title=Extract from Field Books of Mr. John Oxley|journal=Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland|year=1925|volume=2|issue=3|pages=137–157|url=http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:207593|access-date=12 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120430104502/http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:207593|archive-date=30 April 2012|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>▼
Cunningham also undertook an expedition to what is now [[Canberra]] in 1824. He travelled with three convicts, three horses and a cart and he travelled via [[Lake Bathurst (New South Wales)|Lake Bathurst]], [[Captains Flat]] and the valley in which flows the [[Queanbeyan River]]. Poor weather prevented him from continuing his journey south.<ref>''Exploring the ACT and Southeast New South Wales'', J. Kay McDonald, Kangaroo Press, Sydney, 1985 {{ISBN|0-86417-049-1}}</ref>
=== Voyage to Moreton Bay in 1824 ===
▲In September 1824 Cunningham accompanied [[John Oxley]] on his second expedition to [[Moreton Bay]] and explored up the [[Brisbane River]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Oxley|first=John|title=Extract from Field Books of Mr. John Oxley|journal=Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland|year=1925|volume=2|issue=3|pages=137–157|url=http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:207593|access-date=12 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120430104502/http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:207593|archive-date=30 April 2012|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
=== Voyage to New Zealand in 1826 ===
Cunningham had long wished to visit [[New Zealand]] and on 28 August 1826 he was able to sail on a whaler.<ref name="dab"/> He was hospitably received by the missionaries in the [[Bay of Islands]], was able to do much botanical work, and returned to Sydney on 20 January 1827. Accounts of his work in New Zealand will be found in Hooker's ''Companion to the Botanical Magazine'', 1836, and ''Annals of Natural History'', 1838 and 1839.
=== 1827 exploration of discovery to the Darling Downs ===
In probably his most famous expedition, Cunningham set out to explore the area to the west of [[Moreton Bay]] in 1827, crossing to the west of the [[Great Dividing Range]] from the [[Hunter
=== Further exploration of the Moreton Bay region ===
Cunningham returned to the Moreton Bay penal colony in 1828, setting off from Brisbane with [[Patrick Logan]], [[Charles Fraser (botanist)|Charles Fraser]] and five men to find [[Mount Warning]] and to establish the route to [[Cunningham's Gap]] which he did, on 24 July.<ref name="stories"/> The peaks on either side of the gap were also named, [[Mount Cordeaux]] and [[Mount Mitchell (Australia)|Mount Mitchell]]. After exploring the [[McPherson Range]] area, Cunningham travelled on the south side of the Gap whereas the [[highway]] today runs further north, through the gap, from the small township of Aratula. [[Spicer's Gap]] which runs parallel to Cunningham's Gap was actually the pass first identified by Cunningham in 1827.<ref name="heritage">{{cite book |title=Heritage Trails of the Great South East |last=Environmental Protection Agency (Queensland) |year=2000 |publisher=State of Queensland |isbn=978-0-7345-1008-2 |pages=34–35 }}</ref> After its rediscovery
== Contributions to botany ==
{{see also|:Category:Taxa named by Allan Cunningham (botanist)}}
Australia's most prolific plant collector of the early nineteenth century, Cunningham had been sent to Australia to expand the collection at the King' Garden at [[Kew Gardens|Kew]] and he was given the title of "King's Collector for the Royal Garden at Kew". He was so successful that a hothouse originally built for specimens from Africa was renamed "Botany Bay House" because it became filled with Cunningham's specimens. Although his main role was to collect propagation material, his lasting legacy are his herbarium sheets which are thought by his biographer, Anthony Orchard, to exceed 20,000.<ref name="Orchard">{{cite journal |last1=Orchard |first1=Anthony |title=The dispersal of Allan Cunningham's botanical collections |journal=Telopea |date=12 May 2014 |volume=17 |
It is often thought that Cunningham published few papers on botany and in his obituary, [[John Lindley]] wrote, "How little he regarded posthumous fame is seen by the fewness of his published works, a brief sketch of the Flora of New Zealand being the only systematic account of his Botanical discoveries...".<ref name="Lindl.">{{cite journal |last1=Lindley |first1=John |title=Miscellaneous Notices - Death of Mr. Allan Cunningham |journal=Edwards's Botanical Register |date=1840 |volume=26 |pages=1–3 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/28967#page/295/mode/1up |access-date=24 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161110061741/http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/28967#page/295/mode/1up |archive-date=10 November 2016 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}</ref> In fact, although he was effectively barred from publishing on botany whilst employed as "King's Collector", he nevertheless later published seven major papers, and 57 shorter papers on subjects including [[Taxonomy (biology)|taxonomy]], [[geology]], [[physical geography]] and [[zoology]]. He was one of the first scientists to publish papers on [[Phytogeography|botanical geography]].<ref name="Orchard2">{{cite journal |last1=Orchard |first1=Anthony E. |title=Allan Cunningham's cryptic publications |journal=Telopea |date=14 November 2013 |volume=15 |pages=191–204 |doi=10.7751/telopea2013022|doi-access=free }}</ref>
Cunningham was concerned that many of his discoveries sent to Kew were not published, allowing others, including [[William Baxter (botanist)|William Baxter]] to be credited with their discovery. (Baxter had risked arrest and a possible flogging for undermining Cunningham's work by sending specimens to commercial interests.)<ref name="Endersby">{{cite journal |last1=Endersby |first1=Jim |title=A Garden Enclosed: Botanical Barter in Sydney, 1818-39 |journal=
he sent duplicates of his herbarium specimens to other botanists, including [[Augustin Pyramus de Candolle|de Candolle]], [[Johannes Conrad Schauer|Schauer]], [[William Jackson Hooker]], [[George Bentham|Bentham]], [[John Lindley|Lindley]] and others, who published his descriptions with acknowledgement to "A.Cunn.".<ref name="Orchard" />
== Later life ==
In 1831, Cunningham returned to England, but went back to Australia in 1837 on board {{ship||Norfolk|1814 ship|2}} as government botanist, resigning the following year on finding that he was required to grow vegetables for government officials. On 27 June 1839, he died of [[Tuberculosis|consumption]] in Sydney, and was buried in the [[Devonshire Street Cemetery]]. In 1901, his remains were "reverently removed" and re-interred in an obelisk within the [[Royal Botanic
==Works==
*
▲* {{cite Q|Q108673781|author-mask=0}}<!-- Brief View of the Progress of Interior Discovery in New South Wales -->
== Legacy ==
[[File:Memorial obelisk to Allan Cunningham (botanist).jpg|thumb|Cunningham memorial obelisk in the [[Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney]]]]
Some of Australia's plants: ''[[Araucaria cunninghamii]]'' (hoop pine), ''[[Archontophoenix cunninghamiana]]'' (Bangalow palm), ''[[Banksia cunninghamii]]'', ''[[Lysiphyllum cunninghamii]]'' (jigal), ''[[Casuarina cunninghamiana]]'' (river sheoak), ''[[Centipeda cunninghamii]]'' (old man weed), ''[[Ficus]] cunninghamii'', ''Medicosma cunninghamii'' (bone wood), ''[[Nothofagus cunninghamii]]'' (myrtle tree, Tasmania), ''Pennantia cunninghamii'' (brown beech), and ''Polyosma cunninghamii'' (rainforest featherwood) commemorate Allan and his brother [[Richard Cunningham (botanist)|Richard]], a botanist.<ref>[http://www.pacsoa.org.au/places/People/cunningham.html Allan Cunningham 1791–1839] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080807162623/http://www.pacsoa.org.au/places/People/cunningham.html |date=7 August 2008 }} Retrieved on 27-1-2009</ref> The [[Cunningham Highway]] is named in honour of Allan. The genus ''Alania'' was created by [[Stephan Endlicher|Endlicher]] in Cunningham's honour.<ref>
A species of Australian lizard, ''[[Egernia cunninghami]]'', is named in honour of Allan Cunningham.<ref>Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. ("Cunningham", p. 63).</ref>
The Australian federal seat of [[Division of Cunningham|Cunningham]], which stretches from [[Port Kembla, New South Wales|Port Kembla]] in the south of [[Wollongong]] to [[Heathcote, New South Wales|Heathcote]] in
The locality of [[Allan, Queensland]] was named after him.<ref name=qpn>{{cite QPN|45903|Allan|access-date=13 March 2014}}</ref>
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*[http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Author/Home?author=Cunningham,%20Allan,%201791-1839 National Library of Australia]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20081223091027/http://www.kew.org/heritage/people/cunningham.html Kew Gardens]
*[https://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/permalink/61SLQ_INST/tqqf2h/alma99183959420902061 Colonial Secretary's papers 1822-1877] via [[State Library of Queensland]] includes digitised letters and reports made by Cunningham to the [[Chief Secretary of New South Wales|Colonial Secretary of New South Wales]] regarding the [[Moreton Bay Penal Settlement]]
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