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The Allan Cunningham Project

The Allan Cunningham Project is made up of several parts, all with the same aim, which is to document accurate information related to Allan Cunningham (botanist and explorer 1791 - 1839).

Keeping a record of what he witnessed, discovered and documented will ensure that our generation and future generations will have access to historical information related to the Australian landscape and its flora between 1816, when he first arrived in Port Jackson and 1839 when he closed his eyes for the last time.

When seeking to understand the colonial past of Australia, Allan Cunningham's story is one to experience. As you travel through it you will discover that he was a person who knew many of the characters who populated the Australian colony in its early days. As you get to know him you will also meet them. He participated in many of the events that shaped his world, most importantly for us, he saw the pristine Australian wilderness in its natural state and wrote about it, leaving a treasure trove of information for those that followed and cared to know what it looked like and what grew there.

Although he was often a support player, he was right in the middle of everything. He counted some very influential people among his friends including Phillip Parker King, John Oxley, the Macarthur family, Robert Brown the Botanist who sailed with Matthew Flinders and Alexander Macleay, the Colonial Secretary of NSW. His patron was Sir Joseph Banks.

His beliefs were firmly grounded in the philosophy of the British Enlightenment resulting in his dedication to the pursuit of knowledge resulting in a precious collection of botanical specimens that still exist in the herbariums of the world.

When Allan applied for the position of Botanical Collector in 1841, he wrote a postscript on the application which states quite clearly how he intended to live his life:

          “it is a love of plants and to search for them in their
wild state, and a wish to make myself useful in the
capacity of a collector . . .  it shall be the highest ambition
of my life to exert myself in the perform[ance] of the
requisite duties that constitute a collector, so that the
Royal collection at Kew may exceed all other collections
in the riches of new, beautiful and desirable plants.”

Allan Cunningham to Sir Joseph Banks 1814

SOURCE : LIONEL GILBERT: THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS SYDNEY

THE ALLAN CUNNINGHAM PROJECT includes the following:

"THE BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF ALLAN CUNNINGHAM"
written in 1842 by his friend and fellow botanist Robert Heward and
re-edited and re-published on the internet
by Diane Challenor of www.artuccino.com.

"THE KING'S BOTANICAL COLLECTOR"
a manuscript in progress.

THE ALLAN CUNNINGHAM PLANT INDEX.
An index of the plants mentioned in
Robert Heward's 1842 Biographical Sketch.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
A list of books, journals, articles and documents
upon which Allan Cunningham's story is based.

BLOG
This blog is a recording of Diane Challenor's journey as she
gets to know a botanist explorer, Allan Cunningham.

Soon to be included in the Allan Cunningham Project:

END NOTES (under construction)by the editor and Friends of Allan Cunningham. The end notes

THE ALLAN CUNNINGHAM TIME LINE (under construction): a time line that puts his adventures, his collecting localities and his achievements in context with the development of Australia, the progress of Europeans and global happenings.

THE ALLAN CUNNINGHAM IMAGE GALLERY (under construction). A gallery of plants, portraits and landscapes relevant to his story.

CHARACTER INDEX (under construction): An index of the characters that populated Allan Cunningham's world

ARTICLES, JOURNALS AND LETTERS written by Allan Cunningham: It is the intention of this project to publish, on the internet, all articles, journals, reports and letters written by Allan Cunningham which are part of the public domain. All plants mentioned will be included in the Allan Cunningham Plant Index:

• The Australian Quarterly Journal for January and April, 1828.
• The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Vol . II., p. 99, 1832 ; and
• Proceedings of the Geological Society of London, Vol. II., p, 109, 1834-5

ARTICLES, JOURNALS, BOOKS related to Allan Cunningham and are now part of the public domain, which include:

• Journals of two Expeditions into the Interior of New South Wales, by
  John Oxley, Surveyor-general of the Territory, and Lieutenant, R.N., 1820.
• Narrative of a Survey of the Inter tropical and Western Coasts of Australia, performed between the years 1818 and 1822. By Captain Phillip P. King, R.N.,"
  Volume 1 and Volume 2

THE ALLAN CUNNINGHAM PROJECT | TIME LINE | PLANT INDEX | ARTUCCINO

BLOG - A WRITER'S JOURNAL | BIBLIOGRAPHY