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The Early Discovery
of Australian Plants
Reviews
In The Flower
Chain, the author pieces together the history of the European
discovery of Australian plants. Several introductory chapters cover
the development of botanic gardens, the role of plant collectors,
the development of classification systems and the evolution and
adaption of our flora to fire, climate and soils. Subsequent
chapters deal with the explorations of the Dutch, Dampier, Cook,
Banks and Solander, and Spanish, French and Russian expeditions, and
finish with the exploration of Matthew Flinders. Other chapters deal
with Banks' role in the settlement of Australia and the introduction
of plants to cultivation in Europe. Ours is truly a fascinating
botanical history, well told by Jill Hamilton in an easy style
backed with excellent illustrations. The number and variety of
Australian plants which were grown in England in these early years
is staggering, over 170 new species by 1800, yet around 100 were
also lovingly cared for by Josephine Bonaparte in her estate at
Malmaison, outside of Paris. Why this French interest in Australian
plants?
It would indeed be
far-fetched to suggest that Napoleon was primarily responsible. But
it was certainly his interest in science and his promotion of it
that saw French science pre-eminent after the Revolution. At 15, he
had applied to join the La Perouse expedition as an assistant
astronomer but was not accepted; this reached Port Jackson just
after the First Fleet. He was a member of the Mathematical and
Physical Class of the Institut National and knew most of the
important botanists and natural historians of the period. But
perhaps most of all, his interest in science was the spark that
ignited Josephine's passion for natural history and led her to
develop one of the most famous gardens in Europe, Malmaison. Here,
black swans, emus and kangaroos roamed freely and the gardener
Delahaye who had voyaged to Australia, tended her thousands of
exotic plants. The famous voyages of D'Entrecasteau and Baudin led
to major collections of Australian flora and fauna, as well as seeds
and living plants, and substantial published works naming and
describing them resulted. For instance, on the Baudin expedition,
there were 25 scientists including three botanists and five
gardeners. The eucalypt, the emu, the wombat and the platypus were
all described by French scientists and many hundreds of Australian
plants named; many species were grown in France before they were
cultivated in Britain. And it was the Bonaparte's patronage of Redouté which allowed him to produce some of the most beautiful
paintings of Australian plants ever seen, many of them illustrated
in these two books.
Jill Hamilton's text
is engaging and packed with fascinating information about a facet of
the history of the Australian flora that few of us know. The books
are enhanced by superb illustrations and contain detailed
bibliographies and a listing of the ten major books published in
France between 1789 and 1833 with the number of Australian plants
contained in each. I highly recommend both. Perhaps my only
criticism is that I don't believe she has given sufficient credit to
English Botanic Gardens and private nurserymen for introducing
Australian plants to cultivation. Also, she plays down the role of
the English nursery of Lee and Kennedy in providing plants to
Malmaison, even during the Napoleonic wars. The British
horticultural magazines of the period also featured illustrations of
recently introduced plants so that her statement on the ABC Radio
programme Ocram's Razor of November 14, 1999 "more
illustrations of the Australian flora were published in Paris during
the 16 years of the Napoleonic era than in the 90 years in Britain
after Captain Cook's discovery of the east coast of Australia in
1770" needs to be treated with caution. Over 1200
Australian plants were grown in Britain during this period and
perhaps three quarters were illustrated in horticultural magazines.
They may not have been as good as Redouté's perhaps but nevertheless
indicate that interest in Australian plants was just as alive in
Britain as in France.
Reprinted from the
December 2000 issue of Growing Australian, newsletter of the
Australian Plants Society (Victoria).
Reviewed
by Tony Cavanagh
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The
Flower Chain
The Early Discovery
of
Australian Plants
(Simon & Schuster,
1998)
(Currently out of print)
The
Flower Chain
is currently available
on-line as an ebook at the
University of Sydney library
| You
can view it from here |
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