![John MacGillivray, naturalist](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/John_MacGillivray%2C_naturalist.jpg)
John MacGillivray (18 December 1821 – 6 June 1867) was a
Scottish naturalist, active in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
between 1842 and 1867.
MacGillivray was born in
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
, the son of
ornithologist
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...
William MacGillivray
William MacGillivray FRSE (25 January 1796 – 4 September 1852) was a Scottish naturalist and ornithologist.
Life and work
MacGillivray was born in Old Aberdeen and brought up on Harris. He returned to Aberdeen where he studied Medicin ...
. He took part in three of the Royal Navy's surveying voyages in the Pacific. In 1842 he sailed as naturalist on board
HMS ''Fly'', despatched to survey the
Torres Strait
The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, the northernmost extremity of the Australian mai ...
,
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
, and the east coast of Australia, returning to England in 1846.
In the same year he was appointed as
naturalist on the voyages of
HMS ''Rattlesnake'' (Captain
Owen Stanley
Captain Owen Stanley FRS RN (13 June 1811 – 13 March 1850) was a British Royal Navy officer and surveyor.
Life
Stanley was born in Alderley, Cheshire, the son of Edward Stanley, rector of Alderley and later Bishop of Norwich. A brother w ...
), collecting in Australian waters at
Port Curtis
Port Curtis is a suburb of Rockhampton in the Rockhampton Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Port Curtis had a population of 281 people.
Geography
The Fitzroy River bounds the suburb to the north-east. Gavial Creek, a tributary of th ...
,
Rockingham Bay
Rockingham Bay is a bay in Far North Queensland, Australia.
The bay opens onto the Coral Sea, part of the South Pacific Ocean. Adjacent to the bay is the Girramay National Park, south of which is the town of Cardwell. Goold Island is a smal ...
, Port Molle,
Cape York,
Gould Island,
Lizard Island
Lizard Island is an island on the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland (Australia), northwest of Brisbane and part of the Lizard Island Group that also includes Palfrey Island. It is part of the Lizard Island National Park. Lizard Island is within ...
and
Moreton Island
Moreton Island (Mulgumpin) is an island on the eastern side of Moreton Bay on the coast of South East Queensland, Australia. The Coral Sea lies on the east coast of the island. Moreton Island lies northeast of the Queensland capital, Brisbane. ...
in
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_ ...
,
Port Essington
Port Essington is an inlet and historic site located on the Cobourg Peninsula in the Garig Gunak Barlu National Park in Australia's Northern Territory. It was the site of an early attempt at British settlement, but now exists only as a remote ...
(
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
) and visiting
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
(
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
) on several occasions. The expedition was in
Hobart
Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...
,
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
, in June 1847 and also surveyed in
Bass Strait
Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct waterwa ...
, and on the southern coast of
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
and the
Louisiade Archipelago
The Louisiade Archipelago is a string of ten larger volcanic islands frequently fringed by coral reefs, and 90 smaller coral islands in Papua New Guinea.
It is located 200 km southeast of New Guinea, stretching over more than and spread ...
. On this series of voyages his most notable achievement was to make records of the aboriginal languages of the peoples he encountered. His account of the voyages was published in London.
In 1852 he deserted his sick wife and his children in London, and sailed for Australia.
T.H. Huxley found his consumptive wife down to her last shilling, and raised £50 to send her and the children back to Australia where her parents could look after her. She died two weeks from Sydney (Desmond 1994 p217).
MacGillivray's journey on
HMS ''Herald'' was also doomed to failure. The ship visited
Lord Howe Island
Lord Howe Island (; formerly Lord Howe's Island) is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, part of the Australian state of New South Wales. It lies directly east of mainland P ...
, New South Wales,
Dirk Hartog Island
A dirk is a long bladed thrusting dagger.Chisholm, Hugh (ed.), ''Dagger'', The Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., Vol. VII, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press (1910), p. 729 Historically, it gained its name from the Highland Dirk (Scot ...
and
Shark Bay
Shark Bay (Malgana: ''Gathaagudu'', "two waters") is a World Heritage Site in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/shark-bay area is located approximately north of Perth, on the ...
,
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
. On this expedition he was accompanied by Scots naturalist
William Grant Milne. MacGillivray left the voyage early in 1855, having been dismissed by the captain
Henry Mangles Denham
Vice Admiral Sir Henry Mangles Denham (28 August 1800 – 3 July 1887) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station.
Early career
Denham entered the navy in 1809. He served on from 1810 to 1814, initially u ...
. He had become a hopeless drunkard, and when he died, alone in a squalid hotel room, the records noted 'mother and father unknown' (Desmond 1994).
MacGillivray died in Sydney, New South Wales, on 6 June 1867.
He is commemorated in the name of the
Fiji petrel
The Fiji petrel (''Pseudobulweria macgillivrayi''), also known as MacGillivray's petrel, is a small, dark gadfly petrel.
The Fiji petrel was originally known from one immature specimen found in 1855 on Gau Island, Fiji by naturalist John MacGi ...
''Pseudobulweria macgillivrayi''.
He also collected a specimen of venomous
elapid
Elapidae (, commonly known as elapids ; grc, ἔλλοψ ''éllops'' "sea-fish") is a family of snakes characterized by their permanently erect fangs at the front of the mouth. Most elapids are venomous, with the exception of the genus Emydoce ...
snake on the northeastern coast of Australia. It was described by
zoologist
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...
Albert Günther
Albert Karl Ludwig Gotthilf Günther FRS, also Albert Charles Lewis Gotthilf Günther (3 October 1830 – 1 February 1914), was a German-born British zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. Günther is ranked the second-most productive re ...
in 1858 as ''Glyphodon tristis'' but it is now called ''
Furina tristis
The brown-headed snake (''Furina tristis'') is a small venomous reptile native to the Cape York peninsula in northeastern Australia.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3091050
Venomous snakes
Furina
Snakes of Australia
Reptiles described in 185 ...
''. In the late 19th century it was known as MacGillivray's snake
[Waite, E.R. 1898 ''A Popular Account of Australian Snakes: with a complete list of the species and an introduction to their habits and organization''. Thomas Shine, Sydney pp. 71.] but this name has now fallen into disuse, and it is now called either the
brown-headed snake or the grey-naped snake.
See also
*
Henry Mangles Denham
Vice Admiral Sir Henry Mangles Denham (28 August 1800 – 3 July 1887) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Station.
Early career
Denham entered the navy in 1809. He served on from 1810 to 1814, initially u ...
*
William Grant Milne
*
European and American voyages of scientific exploration
The era of European and American voyages of scientific exploration followed the Age of Discovery and were inspired by a new confidence in science and reason that arose in the Age of Enlightenment. Maritime expeditions in the Age of Discovery were ...
References
*
Desmond, Adrian. ''Huxley: the Devil's Disciple''. Joseph, London 1994.
* MacGillivray, John. ''Narrative of the voyage of HMS Rattlesnake''. 2 vols, Boone, London 1852.
* Orchard A.E. 'A History of Systematic Botany in Australia', in ''Flora of Australia'' Vol 1, 2nd ed, ABRS, 1999.
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Macgillivray, John
1821 births
1867 deaths
Explorers of Australia
Scottish botanists
19th-century Scottish people
Scottish explorers
People from Aberdeen
Royal Navy officers
Scottish sailors