George Austin (
fl. 1780s) was one of two gardeners trained at the
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 ...
, in London and sent by
Joseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences.
Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James ...
to care for plants on a voyage to the British colony in
New Holland (Australia) in 1789.
Mission to Australia
Together with fellow gardener
James Smith, Austin travelled on the
storeship carrying supplies to the new colony as a follow-up to the ships of the
First Fleet
The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command ...
which had arrived at
Botany Bay
Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...
in January 1788. The vessel was specially fitted out to carry agricultural crops to the new colony and the two gardeners were to care for the plants during the voyage.
Joseph Banks was a wealthy and influential
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 ...
who planned much of the ship's cargo. He had designed and paid for construction of a ‘special plant-cabin’ to protect the more fragile plants from wind and salt spray.
The ''Guardian''’s
quarter-deck was crowded with over 100 boxes and tubs of trees, bulbs, plants and seedlings, at least some of which supplied by
Hugh Ronalds
Hugh Ronalds (4 March 1760 – 18 November 1833) was an esteemed nurseryman and horticulturalist in Brentford, who published ''Pyrus Malus Brentfordiensis: or, a Concise Description of Selected Apples'' (1831). His plants were some of the first E ...
, a nurseryman in
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...
.
Special racks were made for the pots.
Banks gave the gardeners strict and extensive instructions concerning the care of the plants and even encouraging them to avoid drunkenness. Upon arrival the gardeners were to then collect seed and live plants for return to Banks and Kew Gardens. They were to train a sailor to care for the plants on this return journey as they were to stay in the colony. They were also ordered to collect plants and seed only for Banks and Kew. Supplying collections to others could be a lucrative business and, it seems, Austin in defiance of Banks had promised to collect seed for nurserymen in England. Austin tried to persuade Smith to join his scheme but Smith wrote to Banks to tell him of Austin's plans. All to be of no consequence as it turned out.
[
]
Voyage
The ''Guardian'' under the command of Lieutenant Edward Riou
Edward Riou FRS (20 November 17622 April 1801) was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the French Revolutionary Wars under several of the most distinguished naval officers of his age and won fame and honour for two incidents in part ...
set sail from Spithead
Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds except those from the southeast. It receives its name from the Spit, a sandbank stretching south from the Hampshire ...
on 8 September 1789, and had an uneventful voyage to the Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa.
A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...
, arriving on 24 November 1789 loaded with provisions, farm machinery, agricultural crops and livestock to a value of some £70,000, together with convicts and their overseers. Here at the Cape the ship took on more provisions, plants and convicts. On Christmas Eve, twelve days after his departure from the Cape, and with the animals and plants making heavy demands on the ship's water supply, the sighting of an iceberg was an opportunity to collect fresh water. In poor weather conditions the ship collided with the iceberg, was badly damaged and, being in danger of sinking, Riou allowed most of the crew to take to the ''Guardian''s boats, Austin and Smith being among those that took to boats that were never seen again. Riou managed to struggle back to the Cape taking nine weeks and here the ship was run aground to prevent her sinking, only to be wrecked during a hurricane. The remains were sold in 1790. Riou survived this event only to be killed by round shot
A round shot (also called solid shot or simply ball) is a solid spherical projectile without explosive charge, launched from a gun. Its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the barrel from which it is shot. A round shot fired from a la ...
at the Battle of Copenhagen on 2 April 1801.[
]
See also
*List of gardener-botanist explorers of the Enlightenment
The Age of Discovery, also known as the Age of Exploration, was a period in history starting in the early 15th century and continuing into the early 17th century during which Europeans engaged in intensive exploration of the world, establishing di ...
References
Bibliography
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, George
1789 deaths
Explorers of Australia
English gardeners
English emigrants to colonial Australia
Convictism in Australia
History of New South Wales
Maritime history of Australia
Year of birth missing