Historian Solomon Stanton shares his research on his ancestor John Matthew Richardson. John was a convict who was sentenced to 7 years transportation and had an incredible life as a gardener and botanical collector for the colony. Solomon describes some of the highlights of John’s life which include his time working in the Sydney Botanic Gardens, his stint on Melville Island, various expeditions both in and out of Australia, and the discovery of new plants. Two plants were named after John - the Hibiscus Richardsonii and Alyxia Richardsonii.

FURTHER READING

'Richardson, John Matthew (1797–1882)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/richardson-john-matthew-2588/text3549, published first in hardcopy 1967.

'Richardson, John Matthew (c.1797–1882)', Global Plants, JSTOR, https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.person.bm000391636

‘Newsletter, No. 112 September 2002’, Australian Systematic Botany Society, https://asbs.org.au/newsletter/pdf/02-sept-112.pdf, page 3.

‘Flora of Australia, Volume 1, Introduction 2ndEdition’, Australian Biological Resources Study, CSIRO Publishing, https://www.agriculture.gov.au/sites/default/files/env/pages/5822457a-1744-4aaa-a5e0-74dc485f825d/files/flora-australia-01-introduction-second-edition-2.pdf, page 66.

‘The British in North Australia 1824-29 : Fort Dundas’ by Derek Pugh, Published by Derek Pugh 2017, https://www.booktopia.com.au/fort-dundas-derek-pugh/book/9780992355869.html?source=pla&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8uOWBhDXARIsAOxKJ2EAYmo5lKChSbwJWPm5XWxCCcElEoclB0ltLE9rGnpsVidZ6ZjpkCQaAoL1EALw_wcB

‘Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia; with descriptions of the recently explored region of Australia Felix and the present colony of New South Wales’, by Major T.L. Mitchell, F.G.S and M.R.G.S. Surveyor General, Second Edition, Volume 2, London, T. and W.Boone, New Bond Street, https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks/e00036.html

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