Adam Forster aka Carl August von Wiarda (5 April 1848

Emden Emden () is an independent city and seaport in Lower Saxony in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia and, in 2011, had a total population of 51,528. History The exact founding date of Em ...

, East Frisia - 11 April 1928 Sydney), was a botanical illustrator and naturalist, who after a lengthy stay in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

, eventually emigrated to Australia. He was born the 5th son of Dorothee Caroline Metger and Christian Heinrich Wiarda, who was at that time President of the Supreme High Court of

Aurich Aurich (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Auerk'', West Frisian: ''Auwerk'', stq, Aurk) is a town in the East Frisian region of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Aurich and is the second largest City in East Frisia, both i ...

in Lower Saxony. After being sent to Military School, Carl took up the study of medicine at

Hamburg University The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vor ...

. After two years of study he was drafted to serve in the Franco-Prussian War, became an officer in the

Prussian Guard The Guards Corps/GK (german: Gardekorps) was a corps level command of the Prussian and then the Imperial German Armies from the 19th century to World War I. The Corps was headquartered in Berlin, with its units garrisoned in the city and nea ...

, and was awarded the

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia e ...

, First Class. Disillusioned by the slaughter and destruction, and by the plight of the refugees, he gave up his commission and emigrated to

, where in 1874 he married Mary Emma Smith (born 10 November 1855 in Port Elizabeth), daughter of William Smith, the former and first mayor of

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, S ...

. His talent for sketching was evident in the many drawings he executed while in Port Elizabeth - besides a delicate pencil sketch of his bride, he produced images of a number of Cape wildflowers. In about 1890, after some failed business ventures, but also influenced by the unsettled political situation in the Cape, he left Mary and their 3 children in Port Elizabeth while he sailed for Australia to see whether it offered a more promising future. Leaving aboard the '

Cutty Sark ''Cutty Sark'' is a British clipper ship. Built on the River Leven, Dumbarton, Scotland in 1869 for the Jock Willis Shipping Line, she was one of the last tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest, coming at the end of a long period o ...

', he changed his name to 'Adam Forster', which he felt was a more acceptable identity in an English colony, and in all likelihood after

Johann Georg Adam Forster Johann George Adam Forster, also known as Georg Forster (, 27 November 1754 – 10 January 1794), was a German naturalist, ethnologist, travel writer, journalist and revolutionary. At an early age, he accompanied his father, Johann Reinhol ...

, the painter and illustrator who had accompanied Captain James Cook on his second expedition to the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. He became Registrar of the Pharmaceutical Board in 1897, holding that office for 23 years until his retirement. Forster's father was an accomplished portrait painter, and Forster had inherited the same artistic talent. His growing interest in the flora of Australia led to his setting himself the goal of illustrating a thousand Australian plants. To accomplish this he explored the Sydney region over weekends to collect and sketch plant specimens. George Robertson of the publishers 'Angus & Robertson' then commissioned Forster to provide scaled-down versions of his larger illustrations for a book on Australian plants, with text to be written by Edwin Cheel, state botanist of New South Wales. Forster succumbed to a heart attack after completing 248 images for the book. The project was at first abandoned, but was revived 10 years later by George Ferguson, Robertson's grandson, and eventually published in 1939 as ''"Wild Flowers of Australia"'' with text by

Thistle Yolette Harris Thistle Yolette Harris (29 July 1902 – 5 July 1990), also known as Thistle Stead, was an Australian botanist, educator, author and conservationist. Biography She was one of three daughters born to Charles Thomas Harris and Illma Richardso ...

. In April 2011 the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

published a selection of 90 of the 900 Forster paintings they hold in ''"A Brilliant Touch: Adam Forster's Wildflower Paintings"''. Adam Forster07.jpg, Adam Forster09.jpg, Adam Forster12.jpg,

References

External links

Emden MuseumGenealogy of the Wiarda family
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forster, Adam Botanical illustrators Australian naturalists 1848 births 1928 deaths