Biographical Sketch of the Late Allan Cunningham FLS MRGS

by Robert Heward FLS

Published 1842

BACK Edited by Diane Challenor FORWARD

A FOREWORD FROM THE EDITOR

In a university library, buried between the covers of two very heavy, very old books, is a treasure wrapped in green canvas, lost, waiting to be discovered.

The treasure is Robert Heward's 1842 Biographical Sketch of the Late Allan Cunningham (1791-1839). Allan Cunningham was a Botanist and Explorer, a botanical warrior, who played an important role in Colonial Australia's history.

164 years after the sketch was first published, it has been reproduced here, in six parts, as a companion to Diane Challenor's book, "The King's Botanical Collector".

Heward's reedited text remains as it was written with a few style enhancements to assist the modern reader access the story more easily. His 19th century, scholarly writing style is stiff and formal, typical of the period. It is heavily loaded with the Latin names of hundreds of plants collected by Mr Cunningham and written for a scientific audience. We have enhanced the style by adding extra paragraph breaks, headings, a contents list, plant index, endnotes and a time line, making the reading experience more enjoyable and easier to absorb. We have retained the page numbers from the original text, in square brackets, as a cross-reference to the original.

Although a formal tone is used throughout the text, it was written with obvious respect and affection. Mr Heward was a close friend of Allan Cunningham. His description of Mr Cunningham's strength of character was so moving that tears fell as I read his closing words. His story is worth discovering.

SOURCE

Robert Heward's 1842 Biographical Sketch of Allan Cunningham is now out of copyright and
was originally published in three parts:

Part One appeared in The Journal of Botany Volume IV,
printed in London 1842; and

Part Two and Three appeared in The London Journal of Botany Volume I,
also printed in 1842.

These volumes can be located at the libraries of the University of New South Wales Library, in Sydney and the National Library of Australia Library, in Canberra (Ref: FRM F3424)

To be continued . . .

CONTENTS HEWARD'S SKETCH | PART ONE | TWO | THREE | FOUR | FIVE | SIX

TIME LINE | ENDNOTES | PLANT INDEX | PLANT SEARCH