Moritz Richard Schomburgk (5 October 1811 – 24 March 1891), generally known as Richard Schomburgk, was a German

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 ...

and curator of the Adelaide Botanic Garden.

Family

Schomburgk was born in Freyburg, Saxony, the son of Johann Friedrich Ludwig Schomburgk (a Lutheran minister in Thuringia), and his wife Christiane Juliane Wilhelmine (née Krippendorf). He married Pauline Henriette Kneib (c. 1822 – 24 July 1879) at sea aboard ''Princess Louise''. Among their children were: *Otto Schomburgk (c. 1858 – 1 September 1938), who held several important posts such as Chief Probation Officer with the South Australian public service. He married Ada Louise Downer, daughter of

Henry Downer Henry Edward Downer (22 March 1836 – 4 August 1905) was a South Australian politician. He was a brother of Sir John Downer and George Downer, and a noted lawyer and businessman. Henry Edward Downer was born in Portsmouth, England and emigra ...

* Eldest daughter Marie Caroline Schomburgk married widower Rev

James Sunter James Sunter (1839 – 10 July 1909), commonly referred to as Canon Sunter, was rector of St Paul's Church, Adelaide, from 1890 to 1909. History Sunter was born in Yorkshire and educated at St John's College, Hurstpierpoint. He was an apt and con ...

in Sydney on 28 May 1894. His older brother, Sir Robert Hermann Schomburgk (5 June 1804 – 11 March 1865), carried out geographical, ethnological and botanical studies in South America and the West Indies (in which Schomburgk participated) and also fulfilled diplomatic missions for Great Britain in the Dominican Republic and Thailand. Another brother, Otto Alfred Carl Schomburgk (28 August 1810 – 16 August 1857), and his wife Maria Charlotte Schomburgk (née Von Selchow), arrived in South Australia with Moritz Richard Schomburgk aboard the ''Princess Louise'' in August 1849. His youngest brother, Julius Ludwig Schomburgk, (c. 1818 - 9 March 1893), was chief designer for noted Adelaide silversmith

J. M. Wendt Joachim Matthias "J. M." Wendt (26 June 1830 – 7 September 1917) was a silversmith and manufacturing jeweller in the early days of South Australia. Life and career Wendt was born in Itzehoe, a small town in Holstein, then a Danish province, son ...

. A sister, Caroline Schomburgk ( – 15 November 1874), was the second wife of Rev. Dr.

Carl Wilhelm Ludwig Muecke Carl Wilhelm Ludwig Muecke (16 July 1815 – 4 January 1898), occasionally written Mücke and frequently referred to as "Dr Muecke", was a German-born clergyman, plant pathologist and German-language newspaper editor in the colony of South Austral ...

(16 July 1815 – 4 January 1898) of Tanunda, a fellow passenger on the ''Princess Louise''.

Education

Schomburgk studied botany at Berlin and in the Royal Gardens at Potsdam.

Career

In 1844 he went on the Prussian-British expedition to

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...

and Brazil, led by his brother Robert. He collected for the Museum of the University of Berlin.

Australia

After the political turmoil in Europe in 1848, he emigrated to Gawler, South Australia; and, through this, he was one of a number of influential German-speaking residents such as William Blandowski, Ludwig Becker, Hermann Beckler,

Amalie Dietrich Koncordie Amalie Dietrich (née Nelle) (26 May 1821 – 9 March 1891) was a German naturalist who was best known for her work in Australia from 1863 to 1872, collecting specimens for the Museum Godeffroy in Hamburg. Australia Dietrich was one o ...

, Diedrich Henne,

Gerard Krefft Johann Ludwig (Louis) Gerard Krefft (17 February 1830 – 19 February 1881), a talented artist and draughtsman, and the Curator of the Australian Museum for 13 years (1861-1874), was one of Australia's first and most influential zoologists and ...

, Johann Luehmann, Johann Menge, Ludwig Preiss, Carl Ludwig Christian Rümker (a.k.a. Ruemker), Richard Wolfgang Semon, George Ulrich,

Eugene von Guérard Johann Joseph Eugene von GuérardHis first name is variously spelled "Eugen", "Eugene", "Eugène", one source mentions "Jean" (instead of "Johann"); his surname is spelled "Guerard" or "Guérard". The most frequent combination is that used by t ...

, Robert von Lendenfeld,

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

, Georg von Neumayer, and Carl Wilhelmi who brought their "epistemic traditions" to Australia, and not only became "deeply entangled with the Australian colonial project", but also "intricately involved in imagining, knowing and shaping colonial Australia" (Barrett, et al., 2018, p.2). In 1865, he became Director of the Adelaide Botanic Garden, a position he kept until his death and was succeeded by

Maurice William Holtze Maurice William Holtze (8 July 1840 – 12 October 1923) born in Hanover, Germany, was a botanist who established Darwin's Botanical Gardens in Fannie Bay, Darwin in 1878. When he left to take charge of Adelaide's Botanic Garden in 1891, his so ...

Works

He wrote ''Versuch einer Zusammenstellung der Flora und Fauna von Britisch-Guiana'' (1848).

Death

Schomburgk died in Adelaide, South Australia.

Taxon named in his honor

*Moritz Richard Schomburgk is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of Australian lizard, '' Ctenotus schomburgkii''. www.reptile-database-org. *the

yellowfin whiting The yellowfin whiting (''Sillago schomburgkii''), also known as the western sand whiting or fine-scaled whiting, is a species of inshore marine fish in the smelt-whiting family Sillaginidae. The species is endemic to the eastern Indian Ocean, ...

''Sillago schomburgkii'' Peters, 1864

Notes

References

* Barrett, L., Eckstein, L., Hurley, A.W. & Schwarz A. (2018), "Remembering German-Australian Colonial Entanglement: An Introduction", ''Postcolonial Studies'', Vol.21, No.1, (January 2018), pp.1-5. * Orchard, A.E. (1999) ''A History of Systematic Botany in Australia, in Flora of Australia Vol.1'', 2nd ed., ABRS. * Roth, Walter E. (editor and translator) (1922–1923). ''Richard Schomburgk’s Travels in British Guiana 1840–1844''. (2 volumes). Georgetown: Daily Chronicle Office. * "Robert Schomburgk and Richard Schomburgk" ''In'': Taylor, Tom; Taylor, Michael (2011). ''Aves: A Survey of the Literature of Neotropical Ornithology''. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Libraries.

External links

* 1811 births 1891 deaths People from Freyburg, Germany 19th-century German botanists Australian Lutherans Explorers of Amazonia German-Australian Forty-Eighters People from Adelaide Burials at North Road Cemetery 19th-century Lutherans {{Germany-botanist-stub