Botanist in the Pacific

Press, 4 March 1989, Page 23

Botanist in the Pacific

The Contented Botanist: Letters of IV. W. Harvey about Australia and the Pacific. Edited by Sophie C. Ducker. Melbourne University Press, 1988. 413 pp, $65.95. (Reviewed by Colin Webb) William Henry Harvey was an Irish botanist who became Professor of Botany and Keeper of the Herbarium at Trinity College, Dublin, holding these positions until his death in 1866. Harvey made considerable contributions to the study of flowering plants, particularly those of South Africa, but his main interest was in the study of algae. His phycological work dealt with species from North America, England, Australasia, and the Pacific. He travelled to all of these areas, but it is his expedition to Australia and the Pacific (1853-1856) that is the focus of this collection of letters.

Sophie Ducker provides an informative introduction giving an outline of Harvey’s life and his contribution as a botanist. She has grouped the letters into those dealing with ideas about and preparation for the journey, the four main stages of the journey, and the return to Dublin. Detailed bibliographic notes explain most of the obscure references in the letters and there are appendices listing the plants mentioned, habitat localities, and the provenance of the letters. Thirteen plates, black and white and colour, illustrate Harvey himself, people with whom he stayed or corresponded, and some of the places he visited. Nine text maps

allow the progress of his expedition to be followed more easily. The book is beautifully produced and meticulously edited.

Most of the letters are to Sir William and Joseph Hooker at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Professor Asa and Mrs Jane Gray at Harvard University, and Harvey’s sister, Hannah, in Dublin. The most interesting letters are those written on his travels, particularly those from Australia. From there he described the early colonial towns and people as he saw them through the eyes of a rather conservative gentleman botanist. As well he wrote about the plants, animals and vegetation. From West Australia he reported that a longlegged sand-piper occurred in flocks” “... so dense that a single shot will bring down 40 to 50 birds.” Harvey visited New Zealand on his journey, but only the Auckland area and that for only a week. Two letters from Auckland are included, in all some seven pages of text. His comment on the settlement could have been written today: “I cannot say much for the architectural beauties — But the streets are hard & passable.” He referred to what we now call the cabbage tree as "... the Dragon-tree ... a grotesque looking object.” Even the letters from New Zealand and Australia are probably not sufficiently inspired to engage the general reader. However, they will interest both phycologists and those who'wish to know more about colonial Australia.