Allan Cunningham (botanist): Difference between revisions

 

== Brazil ==

 

== New South Wales ==

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 (New South Wales)|Blue Mountains]] and arrived at [[Bathurst, New South Wales|Bathurst]] on 14 October 1822 and returned to Parramatta in January 1823. His account of about 100 plants met with will be found in ''Geographical Memoirs on New South Wales'', edited by [[Barron Field (author)|Barron Field]], 1825, under the title "A Specimen of the Indigenous Botany&nbsp;... between Port Jackson and Bathurst".{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

 

 

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>

 

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.

 

 

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 in 1847, Spicer's Gap was used as a [[stagecoach]] route. In 1829, Cunningham explored the [[Brisbane River]].

 

== Contributions to botany ==

{{see also|:Category:Taxa named by Allan Cunningham (botanist)}}

 

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>

 

== Later life ==

 

==Works==

== Legacy ==

[[File:Memorial obelisk to Allan Cunningham (botanist).jpg|thumb|Cunningham memorial obelisk in the [[Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney]]]]

 

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>

[[Category:1791 births]]

[[Category:1839 deaths]]

[[Category:English taxonomists]]

[[Category:British pteridologists]]

[[Category:People from Parramatta]]

[[Category:Pre-Separation Queensland]]