Moritz Richard Schomburgk (5 October 1811 – 24 March 1891), generally known as Richard Schomburgk, was a German

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and curator of the

Adelaide Botanic Garden The Adelaide Botanic Garden is a public garden at the north-east corner of the Adelaide city centre, in the Adelaide Park Lands. It encompasses a fenced garden on North Terrace (between Lot Fourteen, the site of the old Royal Adelaide Hospital ...

Family

Schomburgk was born in Freyburg, Saxony, the son of Johann Friedrich Ludwig Schomburgk (a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

minister in

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

), and his wife Christiane Juliane Wilhelmine (née Krippendorf). He married Pauline Henriette Kneib (c. 1822 – 24 July 1879) at sea aboard ''Princess Louise''. Among their children were: *Otto Schomburgk (c. 1858 – 1 September 1938), who held several important posts such as Chief Probation Officer with the South Australian public service. He married Ada Louise Downer, daughter of Henry Downer * Eldest daughter Marie Caroline Schomburgk married widower Rev James Sunter in Sydney on 28 May 1894. His older brother, Sir

Robert Hermann Schomburgk Sir Robert Hermann Schomburgk (5 June 1804 – 11 March 1865) was a German-born explorer for Great Britain who carried out geographical, ethnological and botanical studies in South America and the West Indies, and also fulfilled diplomatic missi ...

(5 June 1804 – 11 March 1865), carried out geographical, ethnological and botanical studies in South America and the West Indies (in which Schomburgk participated) and also fulfilled diplomatic missions for Great Britain in the Dominican Republic and Thailand. Another brother, Otto Alfred Carl Schomburgk (28 August 1810 – 16 August 1857), and his wife Maria Charlotte Schomburgk (née Von Selchow), arrived in South Australia with Moritz Richard Schomburgk aboard the ''Princess Louise'' in August 1849. His youngest brother, Julius Ludwig Schomburgk, (c. 1818 - 9 March 1893), was chief designer for noted Adelaide silversmith

J. M. Wendt Joachim Matthias "J. M." Wendt (26 June 1830 – 7 September 1917) was a silversmith and manufacturing jeweller in the early days of South Australia. Life and career Wendt was born in Itzehoe, a small town in Holstein, then a Danish province, son ...

. A sister, Caroline Schomburgk ( – 15 November 1874), was the second wife of Rev. Dr. Carl Wilhelm Ludwig Muecke (16 July 1815 – 4 January 1898) of Tanunda, a fellow passenger on the ''Princess Louise''.

Education

Schomburgk studied botany at Berlin and in the Royal Gardens at

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of ...

Career

In 1844 he went on the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

n-British expedition to

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, led by his brother

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...

. He collected for the Museum of the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

Australia

After the political turmoil in Europe in 1848, he emigrated to

Gawler Gawler is the oldest country town on the Australian mainland in the state of South Australia. It was named after the second Governor (British Vice-Regal representative) of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler. It is about north of the ...

, South Australia; and, through this, he was one of a number of influential German-speaking residents such as

William Blandowski Johann Wilhelm Theodor Ludwig von Blandowski, known as William Blandowski (21 January 1822 – 18 December 1878), was a German explorer, soldier, zoologist and mining engineer of Polish roots, he is most famous for his exploration of the Murray an ...

, Ludwig Becker,

Hermann Beckler Dr. Hermann Beckler (28 September 1828, in Höchstädt an der Donau – 10 December 1914, in Fischen im Allgäu) was a German doctor with an interest in botany. He went to Australia to collect specimen for Ferdinand von Mueller and served as med ...

, Amalie Dietrich,

Diedrich Henne Diedrich Henne (1834 – 21 January 1913) was a German-born botanist and plant collector. He emigrated to Australia and was employed as an assistant to the colonial botanist Ferdinand von Mueller at the Melbourne Herbarium. Henne was one of a n ...

Gerard Krefft Johann Ludwig (Louis) Gerard Krefft (17 February 1830 – 19 February 1881), a talented artist and draughtsman, and the Curator of the Australian Museum for 13 years (1861-1874), was one of Australia's first and most influential zoologists an ...

, Johann Luehmann, Johann Menge,

Ludwig Preiss Johann August Ludwig Preiss (21 November 1811 – 21 May 1883) was a German-born British botanist and zoologist. Early life Preiss was born in Herzberg am Harz. He obtained a doctorate, probably at Hamburg, then emigrated to Western Australia. ...

, Carl Ludwig Christian Rümker (a.k.a. Ruemker), Richard Wolfgang Semon, George Ulrich, Eugene von Guérard, Robert von Lendenfeld,

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

Georg von Neumayer Georg Balthazar von Neumayer (21 June 1826 – 24 May 1909), was a German polar explorer and scientist who was a proponent of the idea of international cooperation for meteorology and scientific observation. Biography Early years Born i ...

, and Carl Wilhelmi who brought their "epistemic traditions" to Australia, and not only became "deeply entangled with the Australian colonial project", but also "intricately involved in imagining, knowing and shaping colonial Australia" (Barrett, et al., 2018, p.2). In 1865, he became Director of the

, a position he kept until his death and was succeeded by Maurice William Holtze.

Works

He wrote ''Versuch einer Zusammenstellung der Flora und Fauna von Britisch-Guiana'' (1848).

Death

Schomburgk died in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, South Australia.

Taxon named in his honor

*Moritz Richard Schomburgk is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of Australian lizard, '' Ctenotus schomburgkii''. www.reptile-database-org. *the yellowfin whiting ''Sillago schomburgkii'' Peters, 1864

Notes

References

* Barrett, L., Eckstein, L., Hurley, A.W. & Schwarz A. (2018), "Remembering German-Australian Colonial Entanglement: An Introduction", ''Postcolonial Studies'', Vol.21, No.1, (January 2018), pp.1-5. * Orchard, A.E. (1999) ''A History of Systematic Botany in Australia, in Flora of Australia Vol.1'', 2nd ed., ABRS. * Roth, Walter E. (editor and translator) (1922–1923). ''Richard Schomburgk’s Travels in British Guiana 1840–1844''. (2 volumes). Georgetown: Daily Chronicle Office. * "Robert Schomburgk and Richard Schomburgk" ''In'': Taylor, Tom; Taylor, Michael (2011). ''Aves: A Survey of the Literature of Neotropical Ornithology''. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Libraries.

External links

* 1811 births 1891 deaths People from Freyburg, Germany 19th-century German botanists Australian Lutherans Explorers of Amazonia German-Australian Forty-Eighters People from Adelaide Burials at North Road Cemetery 19th-century Lutherans {{Germany-botanist-stub