THE VASCULAR FLORA OF MACQUARIE ISLAND. 
By T. F. Cheeseman, F.L.S., F.Z.S., Curator of the Auckland 
Museum. 
I. INTRODUCTORY NOTES. 
Macquarie Island, named after the then Governor of New South Wales, was 
discovered in 1810 by Captain Hasselborough, of the ship Perseverance,” which had 
been dispatched from Sydney for the purpose of searching for islands inhabited by 
fur-seals. Not only were fur-seals (Arctocephalus Forsteri) found to be extremely 
numerous on the newly-discovered land, but great numbers of the sea-elephant 
(Macrorhinus leoninus) and sea-leopard (Stenorhynchus le'ptonyx) were also observed. 
This led to the rapid development of seal-hunting, and within a few years many vessels 
visited the island, landing parties of men to obtain the skins, and returning at frequent 
intervals to remove the spoil. It is said that one vessel alone, during the first year of 
its operations, took away more than 35,000 skins of the fur-seal. Unrestricted slaughter 
of that nature soon brought about its inevitable consequence, and in a very few years 
the species was nearly exterminated. It is now a rare occurrence to see a fur-seal on 
Macquarie Island. 
But although the trade in fur-seals soon came to an end, the island was regularly 
visited for many successive years for the purpose of procuring sea-elephant oil and 
penguin oil, and as this trade was mainly in the hands of shipping firms at Invercargill 
or Port Chalmers, communication of a kind existed between New Zealand and the 
island. This led to the visit of Dr. Scott in 1880, and that of Mr. A. Hamilton in 1894. 
To these two gentlemen we are indebted for the first information of any value respecting 
the flora and fauna of Macquarie Island, and much credit is due to them for excellent 
work, performed under circumstances of great difficulty. 
But it had long been obvious that a complete exploration of the island could 
not be achieved through the isolated visits of a few individuals, necessarily imperfectly 
equipped, and unable to make any lengthened stay. All naturalists, therefore, received 
with satisfaction the news that Sir Douglas Mawson, the leader of the Australasian 
Antarctic Expedition, had determined to estabhsh a subsidiary base on Macquarie 
Island, leaving there a party of explorers for the whole period of the voyage. The result 
of this policy has been to obtain a vast amount of information respecting the island- 
