A garden enclosed: Botanical barter in Sydney, 1818-39

British Journal for the History of Science

Volumn 33, Issue 3, 2000, Pages 313-334

  Endersby, Jim ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0000844747     PISSN: 00070874     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0007087499004033     Document Type: Article

References (102)

1. The garden's modern name is The Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney. However, it did not acquire the 'royal' epithet until 1959, and during the period under study it was referred to by several names. L. Gilbert, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney: A History, 1816-1985, Melbourne, 1986, 152.
2. M. Clark, From the Earliest Times to the Age of Macquarie, Melbourne, 1992, 306-7.
3. The completion of these walls in 1818 is effectively the garden's founding date, although no formal proclamation of its opening exists.
4. Sydney Gazette, Mitchell Library (microfilm), Sydney, Australia, 17/10/12.
5. Sydney Gazette, op. cit. (4), 6/7/16.
6. Gilbert, op. cit. (1), 37.
7. C. Hill, Reformation to Industrial Revolution, 1530-1780, Harmondsworth, 1983, 151-2; M. Hoyles, The Story of Gardening, London, 1991, 37.
8. C. Hill, Reformation to Industrial Revolution, 1530-1780, Harmondsworth, 1983, 151-2; M. Hoyles, The Story of Gardening, London, 1991, 37.
9. R. Hughes, The Fatal Shore: A History of the Transportation of Convicts of Australia, 1787-1868, London, 1987, 19-42.
10. E. P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class, Harmondsworth, 1984, 235-8, 290-5.
11. E. P. Thompson, Customs in Common, Harmondsworth, 1991.
12. Hoyles, op. cit. (7), 38.
13. Sydney Gazette, op. cit. (4), 6/7/16.
14. J. H. Maiden, 'A contribution to the history of the Royal Society of New South Wales', Journal of the Royal Society of New South Wales (1918), 52, 217-31.
15. Sydney Gazette, op. cit. (4), 15/5/25.
16. R. H. Drayton, 'Imperial science and a scientific empire: Kew Gardens and the uses of Nature 1772-1903', Yale University, 1993, Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, I, 146-9.
17. A. Cunningham, 'General points on the formation of a Botanic Gardens in New South Wales', 1820. BT Box 22. Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, 177-9; W. G. McMinn, Allan Cunningham: Botanist and Explorer, Melbourne, 1970, 109.
18. A. Cunningham, 'General points on the formation of a Botanic Gardens in New South Wales', 1820. BT Box 22. Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, 177-9; W. G. McMinn, Allan Cunningham: Botanist and Explorer, Melbourne, 1970, 109.
19. Manuscript records of Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, correspondence (hereafter RBG correspondence) 1828-35. Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney, 10/3/28, 16/7/28, 4/8/28, 4/6/28. Original emphasis.
20. RBG correspondence, op. cit. (17), 10/3/28, 13/8/28, 21/11/28.
21. His name is also sometimes spelt 'Frazer' or 'Frazier' in contemporary sources.
22. RBG correspondence, op. cit. (17), 28/7/30.
23. The plants in these exchanges clearly function as what Susan Leigh Star and James R. Griesemer call 'boundary objects', a concept which is discussed further in the conclusion.
24. The inequality created in such exchanges has long been recognized by anthropologists studying the 'gift-giving cultures' of various peoples, for example M. Strathern, The Gender of the Gift: Problems with Women and Problems with Society in Melanesia, Berkeley, 1988; N. Thomas, Entangled Objects: Exchange, Material Culture, and Colonialism in the Pacific, Cambridge, MA, 1991.
25. The inequality created in such exchanges has long been recognized by anthropologists studying the 'gift- giving cultures' of various peoples, for example M. Strathern, The Gender of the Gift: Problems with Women and Problems with Society in Melanesia, Berkeley, 1988; N. Thomas, Entangled Objects: Exchange, Material Culture, and Colonialism in the Pacific, Cambridge, MA, 1991.
26. One long-established view of colonial science, which begins with George Basalla's pioneering study (G. Basalla, 'The spread of western science', Science (1967), 156, 611-22), argues that the earliest phases of colonialism can be described in terms of a 'diffusion' of Western knowledge. The present study reinforces the now widely held view that colonial relationships are more complex than a model of passive diffusion would imply.
27. Drayton, op. cit. (15), 83-4.
28. Gilbert, op. cit. (1), 28.
29. Gilbert, op. cit. (1), 31.
30. L. Macquane, 'Instructions to Oxley, 9 May 1818', MSS-5322, no. 48. Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, 54.
31. Gilbert, op. cit. (1), 34-5.
32. Gilbert, op. cit. (1), 28-33.
33. McMinn, op. cit. (16), 34.
34. McMinn, op. cit. (16), 35.
35. McMinn, op. cit. (16), 34.
36. RBG correspondence, op. cit. (17), 15/5/31; Gilbert, op. cit. (1), 49.
37. RBG correspondence, op. cit. (17), 15/5/31; Gilbert, op. cit. (1), 49.
38. Sydney Monitor, Mitchell Library (microfilm), Sydney, Australia, 30/12/31.
39. Gilbert, op. cit. (1), 39. James Moore makes the point that such self-advancement through science was also relatively common in Britain during the early decades of the nineteenth century. J. R. Moore, 'Green gold: the riches of Baron Ferdinand von Mueller', Historical Records of Australian Science (1977), 11, 371-88, 371-2.
40. Gilbert, op. cit. (1), 39. James Moore makes the point that such self-advancement through science was also relatively common in Britain during the early decades of the nineteenth century. J. R. Moore, 'Green gold: the riches of Baron Ferdinand von Mueller', Historical Records of Australian Science (1977), 11, 371-88, 371-2.
41. 36 RBG correspondence, op. cit. (17), 12/4/30.
42. 37 RBG correspondence, op. cit. (17), 12/4/30.
43. R. Desmond, Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturalists: Including Plant Collectors, Flower Painters and Garden Designers, London, 1994.
44. W. Baxter, Correspondence 1825-27. KDC 72. Archives Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 23/9/25.
45. Banksias, which were named in honour of Sir Joseph Banks, are a uniquely Australian genus of the family Proteaceae.
46. Baxter, op. cit. (39), 31/1/27.
47. Baxter, op. cit. (39), 31/1/27.
48. Baxter, op. cit. (39), 31/1/27.
49. The McLeay family name is now commonly spelt Macleay, but the older form used in the contemporary sources has been retained for consistency.
50. R. Strahan, Rare and Curious Specimens: An illustrated History of the Australian Museum 1827-1979, Sydney, 1979, 7.
51. RBG correspondence, op. cit. (17), 17/11/28, 21/11/28.
52. RBG correspondence, op. cit. (17), 25/3/29.
53. RBG correspondence, op. cit. (17), 19/6/30.
54. Baxter, op. cit. (39), 31/1/27.
55. G. Blainey, The Tyranny of Distance: How Distance Shaped Australia's History, Melbourne, 1982; D. W. Chambers, 'Does distance tyrannize science?' in R. Home and S. Kohlstedt (eds.), International Science and National Scientific Identity: Australia between Britain and America, Dordrecht, 1991, 19-38.
56. G. Blainey, The Tyranny of Distance: How Distance Shaped Australia's History, Melbourne, 1982; D. W. Chambers, 'Does distance tyrannize science?' in R. Home and S. Kohlstedt (eds.), International Science and National Scientific Identity: Australia between Britain and America, Dordrecht, 1991, 19-38.
57. I am indebted to Ruth Barton for her illuminating comments on this point. R. Barton, 'Haast and the Moa: reversing the tyranny of distance', Pacific Science (2000), 54, forthcoming.
58. RBG correspondence, op. cit. (17), 13/3/29b, 21/6/29a, 21/6/29b, 13/3/29a.
59. RBG correspondence, op. cit. (17), 30/6/29.
60. RBG correspondence, op. cit. (17), 1/7/29.
61. A. M. Moyal, Scientist in Nineteenth Century Australia: a Documentary History, Stanmore, NSW, 1976, 43.
62. James Moore, op. cit. (35), 372 makes the point that such gifts are part of developing what Pierre Bourdieu calls a savant's 'symbolic capital'; they were an investment that was expected to pay substantial dividends.
63. RBG correspondence, op. cit. (17), 5/10/29, original emphasis.
64. The existence of such a network suggests a possible problem with analyses which presume that colonial science can be described in terms of a single centre, such as those which draw on Bruno Latour's concept of cycles of accumulation. B. Latour, Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers through Society, Cambridge, MA, 1987; D. P. Miller and P. H. Reill (eds.), Visions of Empire: Voyages, Botany and Representations of Nature, Cambridge, 1996.
65. The existence of such a network suggests a possible problem with analyses which presume that colonial science can be described in terms of a single centre, such as those which draw on Bruno Latour's concept of cycles of accumulation. B. Latour, Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers through Society, Cambridge, MA, 1987; D. P. Miller and P. H. Reill (eds.), Visions of Empire: Voyages, Botany and Representations of Nature, Cambridge, 1996.
66. R. Desmond, Kew: A History of the Royal Botanic Gardens, London, 1995, 141. It should also be noted that Sydney's informal exchange networks must lead us to re-examine the notion of a British botanical empire with Kew at its centre, first suggested by Lucille Brockway, particularly since she argues that Kew 'regulated the flow of botanical information from the metropolis to the colonial satellites, and disseminated information among them'. L. Brockway, Science and Colonial Expansion: The Role of the British Royal Gardens, New York, 1979, 7.
67. R. Desmond, Kew: A History of the Royal Botanic Gardens, London, 1995, 141. It should also be noted that Sydney's informal exchange networks must lead us to re-examine the notion of a British botanical empire with Kew at its centre, first suggested by Lucille Brockway, particularly since she argues that Kew 'regulated the flow of botanical information from the metropolis to the colonial satellites, and disseminated information among them'. L. Brockway, Science and Colonial Expansion: The Role of the British Royal Gardens, New York, 1979, 7.
68. J. Lindley, Report to the Committee Appointed by the Lords of the Treasury in January 1838 to Inquire into the Management, &c of the Royal Gardens of Kew, London, 1838.
69. Lindley, op. cit. (60), 5.
70. Drayton, op. cit. (15), 245-6.
71. Brockway, op. cit. (59), 68; D. Mackay, 'The burden of Terra Australis' in Studies from Terra Australis to Australia (ed. A. Frost and J. Hardy), Canberra, 1989, 233-65, 264.
72. Brockway, op. cit. (59), 68; D. Mackay, 'The burden of Terra Australis' in Studies from Terra Australis to Australia (ed. A. Frost and J. Hardy), Canberra, 1989, 233-65, 264.
73. Clark, op. cit. (2), 342-3.
74. Sydney Monitor, op. cit. (34), 13/7/33.
75. Sydney Monitor, op. cit. (34), 20/7/33.
76. Both George Basalla and Roy MacLeod quote this passage to make precisely this point - that the early stages of colonial science are invariably dominated by a pragmatic hostility to 'pure' science, and that colonial science is therefore initially entirely dependent on that of the centre. Basalla, op. cit. (23), 618 ; R. MacLeod, ' On visiting the moving metropolis', in Scientific Colonialism (ed. N. Reingold and M. Rothenberg), Washington, 1987, 234.
77. Both George Basalla and Roy MacLeod quote this passage to make precisely this point - that the early stages of colonial science are invariably dominated by a pragmatic hostility to 'pure' science, and that colonial science is therefore initially entirely dependent on that of the centre. Basalla, op. cit. (23), 618 ; R. MacLeod, ' On visiting the moving metropolis', in Scientific Colonialism (ed. N. Reingold and M. Rothenberg), Washington, 1987, 234.
78. M. Clark, New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, 1822-1838, Melbourne, 1987, 65-6, 199-200.
79. RBG correspondence, op. cit. (17), 23/2/35.
80. Gilbert, op. cit. (1), 56.
81. A. Cunningham, Hay Correspondence, 1832, A2146. Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney.
82. Archive 4/7577. 1836. State Archive Office of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, 9/7/36.
83. Archive 4/7577, op. cit. (72), 9/7/36.
84. McMinn, op. cit. (16), 109.
85. McMinn, op. cit. (16), 108-9.
86. Gilbert, op. cit. (1), 62-3.
87. Clark, op. cit. (68), 214-21.
88. C. Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle, Harmondsworth, 1989, 325-6.
89. McMinn, op. cit. (16), 110, original emphasis.
90. Gilbert, op. cit. (1) 62.
91. Gilbert, op. cit. (1) 63.
92. A. Cunningham, Memorandum to the Committee of the Botanic Gardens, 1838. A1218. Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales. Sydney, 626.
93. Gilbert, op. cit. (1), 63.
94. Cunningham, op. cit. (82), 628.
95. Cunningham, op. cit. (82), 630.
96. Barton, op. cit. (51).
97. Moore, op. cit. (35), 381.
98. R. W. Home, A. M. Lucas, S. Maroske et al., (eds.), Regardfully Yours: Selected Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller. Volume 1: 1840-1859, Bern, 1998, 25-7, 36-7, 293-4, 328-31; Moore, op. cit. (35), 376-82.
99. R. W. Home, A. M. Lucas, S. Maroske et al., (eds.), Regardfully Yours: Selected Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller. Volume 1: 1840-1859, Bern, 1998, 25-7, 36-7, 293-4, 328-31; Moore, op. cit. (35), 376-82.
100. S. L. Star and J. R. Griesemer, 'Institutional ecology, "translations" and boundary objects: amateurs and professionals in Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1907-39', Social Studies of Science (1989), 19, 387-420; am indebted to Anne Secord for drawing this to my attention; her paper 'Science in the pub' (History of Science (1994), 32, 269-315) makes elegant use of Star and Griesemer's work to clarify some features of the tradition of British artisan botany during the early nineteenth century.
101. S. L. Star and J. R. Griesemer, 'Institutional ecology, "translations" and boundary objects: amateurs and professionals in Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1907-39', Social Studies of Science (1989), 19, 387-420; am indebted to Anne Secord for drawing this to my attention; her paper 'Science in the pub' (History of Science (1994), 32, 269-315) makes elegant use of Star and Griesemer's work to clarify some features of the tradition of British artisan botany during the early nineteenth century.
102. Star and Griesemer, op. cit. (89), 389-90.