George Greensill Barnard (born 30 March 1831 in

Chislehurst Chislehurst () is a suburban district of south-east London, England, in the London Borough of Bromley. It lies east of Bromley, south-west of Sidcup and north-west of Orpington, south-east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater L ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

; died 11 March 1894 in

Launceston, Tasmania Launceston () or () is a city in the north of Tasmania, Australia, at the confluence of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River (kanamaluka). As of 2021, Launceston has a population of 87,645. Material was copied ...

) was a British entomologist and ornithologist.

Life

George Barnard was born as eldest son of the eleven children of George William Barnard and Anne Greensill at Lea, Chislehurst, Kent, England. In 1845, he and his family emigrated to Australia and settled at 'Landfall' homestead on the

Tamar River The Tamar River, officially kanamaluka / River Tamar, is a estuary located in northern Tasmania, Australia. Despite being called a river, the waterway is a brackish and tidal estuary over its entire length. Location and features Formed by the ...

near Launceston. He owned a huge collection of insect specimens with the main focus on

Coleoptera Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

and

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

as well as large collection of bird eggs. In 1891, he established a museum for his collections on his property at Coomooboolaroo south of

Duaringa Duaringa is a town in the Central Highlands Region and a locality split between the Central Highlands Region and the Aboriginal Shire of Woorabinda in Central Queensland, Australia. In the , Duaringa had a population of 262 people. Geography ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. After his death the insect collection was purchased by the Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum in Tring. Naturalist

Albert Stewart Meek Albert Stewart Meek (26 October 1871 – 1 October 1943) was an English bird collector and naturalist. Biography Meek was born on 26 October 1871 in Bow, London, the son of a merchant in natural history. In 1893 he travelled to Australia and ...

who was a friend of Barnard and spent some time at Coomooboolaroo in the 1890s made

Lord Rothschild Baron Rothschild, of Tring in the County of Hertfordshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1885 for Sir Nathan Rothschild, 2nd Baronet, a member of the Rothschild banking family. He was the first Jewish mem ...

aware of this collection. Barnard wrote many ornithological articles for the ''Descriptive catalogue of the nests & eggs of birds found breeding in Australia and Tasmania.'' (1889),

Alfred John North Alfred John North (11 June 1855 – 6 May 1917) was an Australian ornithologist. North was born in Melbourne and was educated at Melbourne Grammar School. He was appointed to the Australian Museum, Sydney in 1886 and was given a permanent positi ...

oology Oology (or oölogy) is a branch of ornithology studying bird eggs, nests and breeding behaviour. The word is derived from the Greek ''oion'', meaning egg. Oology can also refer to the hobby of collecting wild birds' eggs, sometimes called egg c ...

studies published as the

Australian Museum The Australian Museum is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. It is the oldest museum in Australia,Design 5, 2016, p.1 and the fifth oldest natural history museum in the ...

's catalogue number twelve. His first wife, Maria Barnard, delivered the illustrations of the birds. The couple had seven children, including ornithologist

Charles Ashmall Barnard Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...

(1867-1942), founding member and later president of the

Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union The Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union (RAOU), now part of BirdLife Australia, was Australia's largest non-government, non-profit, bird conservation organisation. It was founded in 1901 to promote the study and bird conservation, conservati ...

, and Henry "Harry" Greensill Barnard (1869-1966), a zoologist after whom ''Lasiorhinus krefftii barnardi'', a subspecies of the

Northern hairy-nosed wombat The northern hairy-nosed wombat (''Lasiorhinus krefftii'') or yaminon is one of three extant species of Australian marsupials known as wombats. It is one of the rarest land mammals in the world and is critically endangered. Its historical rang ...

(''Lasiorhinus krefftii'') was named.

Life

References

Further reading