Celebration of 250 Years – First Australian Botanical Collection

Author: Beth McDonald, Gold Coast Branch

Published: Journal September 2020

(extracts from NPQ Gold Coast’s newsletter, May-June 2020)

This year marks 250 years since Captain James Cook sailed up the eastern coast of Australia. It is sad that these celebrations could not go ahead due to the COVID-19 restrictions.

The primary purpose of the voyage was to view the transit of Venus at Tahiti and explore land in the Great Southern Ocean. Cook was a magnificent cartographer and after investigating and circumnavigating New Zealand, he found the ‘Great Southern Land’ on 19 April 1770. He first saw land around Batemans Bay but the first place where he could safely anchor was Botany Bay. Originally, he named it Stingray Bay, then Botanists’ Bay before writing it in his journal as Botany Bay. This name was influenced by the plant life that Joseph Banks and his team brought on board the ship. Joseph Banks financially supported Cook’s exploration and brought with him, Daniel Solander (botanist) and Sydney Parkinson (illustrator) and seven other servants. They found and collected lots of varieties of plants in the eight days that they were there.

Botany Bay had woodland cover with the dominant trees being Corymbia gummifera red bloodwood, Eucalyptus robusta swamp mahogany or E. botryoides southern mahogany, Angophora leiocarpa smooth-barked apple, Banksia integrifolia coast banksia and Casuarina glauca swamp she-oak. The palm Livistona australis cabbage palm and the cycad Macrozamia communis burrawang were probably collected too. They probably found Syzygium paniculatum magenta lilly pilly there as they collected red fruit with a seed centre and in the sheltered sites Coleus australis (formerly Plectranthus parviflorus) grew. The mangrove species of Avicennia marina grey mangrove and Aegiceras corniculatum river mangrove would have grown in the bay. There was an extensive grass and sedge cover in the area, probably as a result of the frequent burning by the Aboriginal people. A total of 132 species collected there between 28 April to 6 May 1770. As April is not a renowned time for flowers, this was an excellent result for the first scientific collection of flora in Australia.

This specimen of Banksia integrifolia was collected by Banks and Solander in 1770 from Botany Bay and is housed in the National Herbarium of New South Wales.

©The Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust. Used with permission.

We do not have an exact list of species collected at Botany Bay as there were just so many to do especially after collecting from a further ten sites along the Queensland coast including Bustard Bay, Quail Island, Palm Island, Rocky Point, the enforced stay at Endeavour River, Point Lookout (north of Cape Flattery), Lizard Island, Eagle Island, Possession Island and Booby Isle in the Torres Strait. Solander wrote descriptive labels for most of the plants collected but they were never formally published. Sydney Parkinson completed 280 botanically accurate paintings and over 900 sketches. It was a monumental task to illustrate all the specimens collected on the whole voyage – some 30,000 plants and animals.

Parkinson often only had time to do a quick sketch and a dab of colour in strategic places so they could be finished at a later date. Unfortunately, he died before the Endeavour returned to England and others had to finish his work.

Banks was impressed with the number and variety of specimens he found along the Australian coast as it looked as though it was a barren country. Even today, when we look at heath areas, they look as though they are not very floristic but get closer and there is a rich diversity. If Banks had made contact with the Aboriginal people of the time, he would have realised just how valuable and extensive their plant knowledge was. They named the plants and their seasons were governed by plants and they were woven into their dreamtime stories. As well as eating some of them, they were used as medicine.

I can remember about 35 years ago the replica of the bark Endeavour came to the Gold Coast and I had the privilege of looking over it. To think that there were around 100 sailors on board as well as officers and Banks retinue, one can only imagine the cramped conditions and wonder how they were able to store the specimens on board, keep them dry so mildew did not attack them, let alone doing paintings on the high seas, what an adventure it must have been!