CXxiv FLORA OF TASMANIA. {Progress of Australian 
Superintendent, who has made extensive investigations, especially on the economic value of the vege- 
table products of New South Wales. 
Of the actual date of the foundation of the Sydney Botanical Gardens I have no informa- 
tion. Mr. Heward, who has kindly endeavoured to trace its history for me in the records of the 
Colonial Office, finds the earliest official mention there, bearing date of 1817, but he thinks it was 
probably founded shortly after Governor M'Quarie's arrival, in 1809. There are three other 
botanical gardens in Australia; that of Victoria, at Melbourne, under the direction of the inde- 
fatigable Dr. Mueller j that of Adelaide, under Mr. Francis ; and that of Brisbane, superintended 
by Mr. W. Hill, who has already made some interesting and important discoveries in the Flora 
of his district. 
In 1788, Mr. John White landed in Botany Bay, where, or at Sydney, he was resident for seven 
years as Surgeon- General to the new settlement. He collected a considerable number of plants, and 
made drawings of others, which were sent to Mr. Wilson, Mr. Lambert, and Sir James Smith, and 
published by the latter botanist in <A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland/ the 'Exotic 
Botany/ etc., in White's ' Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales/ and other works. 
About 1800, Mr. George Caley was sent to New South Wales by Sir Joseph Banks, and bota- 
nized there during the time of Brown's stay. According to Captain Sturt, he was the first person 
who attempted to scale the Blue Mountains. He resided ten years in the colony, and made extensive 
collections, which are preserved in the British Museum. After his return to England, he was sent 
to the West Indies as Superintendent of the Botanic Garden of St. Vincent's, where he died. 
Colonel Paterson held a military appointment in New South Wales previous to 1794, when the 
command of the troops in the colony devolved upon him as Captain of the New South Wales Corps 
(afterwards 102nd Foot). He zealously devoted himself to investigating the botany of the colony, 
and also of the northern parts of Tasmania, where he was Lieutenant-Governor from 1801 till 1810 
during which time he founded Launceston. His plants were sent to Sir J. Banks and Mr. Brown, 
and some are published in the Supplement to the ' Prodromus ' and elsewhere. 
I have already alluded to Mr. Peter Good, who accompanied Mr. Brown in the capacity of gar- 
dener in Flinders's voyage. He was an indefatigable assistant as collector of plants, and sent a vast 
number of seeds home to the Royal Gardens of Kew, the plants of which are described in Aiton's 
' Hortus Kewensis.' 
Mr. David Burton botanized in New South Wales in 1802, but under what circumstances I have 
no means of determining. 
In 1823-5 and 1829, the vicinity of King George's Sound, Wilson's Promontory, Cape Arid, 
and Lucky Bay were explored botanically by Mr. Baxter, a gardener sent out by private enterprise 
to collect seeds and roots of Australian plants. Many of his specimens are in Sir W. Hooker's col- 
lections, and others in Mr. Brown's, the Proteacece of which are included in the Supplement to the 
' Prodromus Florae Novse-Hollandise.' 
In 1823, Franz Wilhelm Sieber, of Prague, a botanical collector, formed considerable collections 
during a seven months' sojourn in New South Wales, which were sold in numbered sets, bearing the 
label, " Flor. Nov. Holl." 
