TasNat 1926 Vol1 No5 Pp13-16 Reynolds TasmanianNaturalists

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    THE TASMANIAN NATURAL1ST

    Some Tasmanian Naluralisls.RONALD CAMPBELL GUNN.

    (By J. Reynolds)..After the departure of Robert Brownnearly twentyfive years were to elapsebefore naturalists were to follow his foot.teps. The members of th e small communities on the banks of the Derwent andTamar were too absorbed in the exactinglabors of pioneering to give anything butthe most practical attention to the animale, plants and rocks around them.Game they needed for food, wood andstone for shelter. How these could beobtained most readily was the only question concerning tbem worthy of considertion. In the case of the fauna, this stateof affaIrs was most unfortunate. Onespecies. the Tasmanian emu, waR totallyexterminated. So wholesale was theslaughter that only three or four s k i n ~ha ve been preserved.

    Early Exploration.N e\'ertheless, the early settlers wereperforming very useful services. Theyopened up the countl,\' between Hobartand Laullceston. The more adventul'ousspirits went out into the ranges and roundthe coasts explorin.::(. Kelly in 181.5 inan open boat circumnavigated the islandHis was the first party to see the forbidding shores of Port Davey. and thQfirst to cross the bal' and sail on thebroad waters of }Iacquarie Hal "or. Another a(jyentlIrer, Jorgenson, performed ntask which even today is not withoutperils. He crossed the island from thvDerwent to Emu Bay by way (f the lakecountry. Hellyer some years later expl9red the northern and western fringe ofthe central plateau. Others, now forgott.en, pushed their way into the bush anuclimbed mountains to see what was hidden behind the green walls. All this exoloration was most useful for the newgeneration of naturalists. The settled

    districts were examined with comparative"ase, whilst the remote districts werer.mdered more aecessible. In the earlythirties 3everal men endowed with grea'tt.alents for scientific investigation cameto reside in the colony. They all madenotable contributions to knowledge whichwere recognised in Europe and America.In this group there Wall no abler man(13)

    than Ronald Campbell Gunn, the patriarch of Tasmanian botany.Gunn was born at Cape Town on .April4. 1808. His father was an officer in theforce that held that post which recentlypassed into British hands. As a smallboy he was present when the Frenchwere finally rooted out of Mauritius. HeIlccompanied his father's regiment to the\Vest Indies, where it seems he entertained the idea of following the paternal profession. vVe next hear of his arrival inTasmania, 1829, and of his appointmentas superintendent of conyicts in thenorth. vVe are not aware exactly whenhp received his instruction in the principIes of seience, but very soon after hisarriyal be commenced his botanical la-

    borll.I t appears that his first detailed examination was devoted to the flora of theCircular Head district. From there hecrossed Bass Strait on an expedition tothe eastern coast of Victoria. Port Phillip and Western port were visited. Hemade a careful comparison of the floraon earh side of the Strait. Next wehear of Gunn as priv.ate ~ e c r e t a r y toGovernor Pranklin, a post he did nothold for " lengthy period. He accompanied Sir John and Ladv Franklin onthe expedition to the south coast sovividly desc'ribed by Lady P r a n k l i ~ inher letters. After leaving the Governor'sservice in 1841, he took charge of a larlleestate in the ca.pacity of manager. ThiHgave him that leisure which is so neCEllil-sary for undertaking prolonged expeditions. During the next twenty years hevisited almost every part of the islur,that it was humanly possible to reach.He managed to cut his way through the

    dense scrub on the western shore of theTamar to the Asbestos Range. .Anotherlong expedition took him to Flinders andthe other Strait islands. He saw LakeRt. Clair and Lake Echo very soon aftertheir discovery before any of the greatbush fires had done their destructivework. Other expeditions took him tovarious portions of the east coast, Mac.

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    THE TASMANIANQuarie Harbor. and the forbidding country through whi,eh the Franklin RiverhaR cut its gorges.

    Valuable Botanical Research.These eXipeditiolls were not made forthe sake of mere curiosity, but for th.eacquisition of a comprehensive knowledgeof Tasmanian flora. As well as the heavypacks necessary for such undertakings,Gunn took with him specimen boxes,notebooks, and other botani

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    THE TASMANIAN[n captivity, he spent his w'hole time study,ing and reading. On obtaining his release,he returned to France, and was fortunatllenough to gain admissioIl to the Schoolof Medicine at Paris. There he came under the inspiring influence of the masterbiologist of the age, Georges Cuvie.Peron spent his time most advantageouslyAs well as completing his prescribedcourse he became a keen student ofbiology and comparative anatomy.

    The master, Cuvier, had already attainedan eminent position in the field of biological science. He was developing theRtudy of the fossil remains of extinctanimals into the science of paleontology.The student Peron became thoroughly imbued with the principles of the master.On hearing that an expedition was aboutto sail for Australia, Peron begged to beII1l0wed to accompany it in order to speci.ally study the native races of the landsto be visited. The request was granted, andat the last moment Peron joined the ex.pedition, which sailed from HaVlre inOctober, 1800.

    N(I ~ r e a t e f f o r t ~ were made to reachthe destination within even a moderatetime for those days. Over 18 months aftet"leaving France the 2 ships. came in sightof the south coast of Australia. Nearlythree months were spent examining thebays and inlets of the sou theastern coast,many earlier errors were cOTrected. Theboat expeditions. which carried out theseexplorations afforded Peron valuable opportunities for his special study of thenative races. Whilst Labillardiere hadmade observations under similar conditions,he lacked that special training that Peronpossessed. As well as valuable observations regarding the Tasmanian aboriginalrace, he has left us scveral delightful accounts of his meetings with them on theshores of D'Entr.ecasteaux Channel. Thefollowing is his IIPconnt of one of theseevents:-

    "We had scarcely put foot upon tileshore. when two natives made their ap.pearance upun the peak of a nelghbol"ing hill. In response to signs of friendshin that we made to them, one of themleapt. or, rather, climbed, from tht!height of a rock. and w a ~ in th e midstof us in the tWinkling of an eye. Hewas a young man of twentytwo I l l 'twentyfour years of age, general1y ofstrong build, having no other physicalfault than the extreme slenderness of.his legs or arms that is characteristicof hill race. He had nothing ferOCiousI l l ' forbiddln&, about his expreBsion; his

    (15)

    NATURALISTeyes were lively and intelligent, hiBmanner expressed at. once l(ood feelingand surprise. M. Freycinet having embraced him. 1 did the same; but theai r of Indifference with which he recelv.'

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    THE TASMANIAN NATURALISTof him, for it was not until the natural-ist had submitted to baving his faclIsmeared with charcoal that he becam"in any way interesting to them.

    "We a12peared then to be a great subject I>f admiration for these women;they seemed to regard us with a tenders a t ~ s f a c t i o n . "

    Whilst Peron W8J3 chiefly concernedwith the native races, he assisted inthe collecting and describing of specimens of fish and birds. The southernfur seal (Eutaria cineaea), which the ex_peditions found In great numbers 011the islets round the coasts, was flrstdescribed, and nRmed by him. The expeuition, which set uut wi,th sc> manyhigh hopes, was dogged by misfortune,due to the fury of the elements, Mld

    the perversity of its commander. Muchvaluable work was lost, and on arrivingback in France the survivors had greatdifficulty in get-ting recognition frtheir work. As the commander haddied at MaurltiUlil, the work of writingthe history of the expedition fell onPeron, which he lived only to partiallyfinish.

    Unfortunately for SCience, and particu-larly anthropl>logy, Peron died at theage when most men do their best work.His training in the school of euvier wasbroad and thorough; his abilityand power of application consider-able, and his experience gaint!d durmgthe course (,f the long voyage made himunequalled for pursuing successfu1!ythose studies that Nature had designedhim to pursue.