Dr Tony Orchard, ‘Allan Cunningham: King’s collector for Kew’

Allan Cunningham was sent to Australia by Sir Joseph Banks to collect plants for the King's Botanical Garden at Kew (now Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew).  He traveled via Brazil (1814-16), arriving in Sydney in late 1816 and died there in 1839. He joined Oxley in the first expedition into inland New South Wales, before accompanying Phillip Parker King on four voyages to chart the north and northwest coast of Australia. In his subsequent expeditions he became one of the most successful explorers of inland NSW and Queensland, discovering, among other things, the Darling Downs of Queensland. He was simultaneously the most important botanical collector in Australia in the first half of the 19th century, with hundreds of his specimens becoming the basis for descriptions of new genera and species.  This talk will explore a small part of his activities. Both authors will be happy to sign their new books about Allan Cunningham.
Dr Tony Orchard has had a long career in plant taxonomy in Australia and overseas. Over a 20 year period he served as Curator of the herbaria in Auckland, New Zealand and in Hobart, Tasmania, and he was appointed Australian Botanical Liaison Officer at Kew in 2008-2009. For over a decade Tony was Executive Editor of the Flora of Australia. For the last 5 years he and his wife have been engaged in researching the life of Allan Cunningham, one of Australia's most important botanists; and two of their books will be on display (and for sale) after the talk.