Person
Allport, Morton (1830 - 1878)
- Born
- 4 December 1830
West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England - Died
- 10 September 1878
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia - Occupation
- Naturalist
Summary
Morton Allport arrived at Hobart Town with his family in 1831. He followed his father into the firm of solicitors, Allport & Roberts. Before being admitted to the Bar in 1852 he worked as an article clerk there. He later became a partner of the firm. Allport's interests soon changed to natural history and he became an authority on Tasmanian botany and zoology. He was a leading figure in bringing salmon to Tasmania and was one of the state's first salmon commissioners. He won the Silver medal of the Zoological and Acclimatisation Society of Victoria and is commemorated by the Morton Allport Bequest at the Tasmanian Museum. Allport was involved in many other areas including the distribution of John Gould's works in Tasmania; organisation (and exhibitor) of the Art Treasures Exhibition in Hobart, an organiser of the Tasmanian exhibits for the 1862 Great Exhibition in London, and a commissioner arranging Tasmanian entries for the Intercolonial Exhibition of Australia at Melbourne 1866-1867.
Details
Chronology
- 1852
- Career position - Admitted to the Bar
- 1858
- Career position - Organiser and Exhibitor, Art Treasures Exhibition, Hobart
- 1866
- Career position - Salmon Commissioner
- 1872
- Award - Silver medal from the Zoological and Acclimatisation Society of Victoria
Related entries
Archival resources
Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science
- Australian Botanists - Biographies, MS 064; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details
Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts
- Morton Allport - Records, 1850 - 1878; Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts. Details
Private hands (Allport, J.E.)
- Morton Allport - Records, 1852 - 1854; Private hands (Allport, J.E.). Details
Royal Society of Tasmania
- Morton Allport - Records, 1870 - 1876, Ms 128; Royal Society of Tasmania. Details
Published resources
Books
- Pybus, Cassandra, A very secret trade: the dark story of gentlemen collectors in Tasmania (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2024), 318 pp. https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Cassandra-Pybus-Very-Secret-Trade-9781761066344. Pages 11, 35, 38, 44, 48, 189-224, 272, 276. Details
Book Sections
- Stilwell, G. T., 'Allport, Morton (1830-1878), naturalist and solicitor' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 3: 1851 - 1890 A-C, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1969), pp. 28-29. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A030029b.htm. Details
Journal Articles
- Ashby, Jack, 'How collections and reputation were built out of Tasmanian violence: thylacines (Thylacinus cynocephalus) and Aboriginal remains from Morton Allport (1830 - 1878)', Archives of natural history, 50 (2) (2023), 244-64. https://doi.org/10.3366/anh.2023.0859. Details
- Mollison, Ruth, 'Morton Allport and the acclimatisation of fish in Tasmania', Papers and proceedings of the Tasmanian Historical Research Association, 67 (3) (2020), 45-58. https://doi.org/10.3316/informit.587013145144785. Details
Newspaper Articles
- 'The Acclimatisation Society', The Argus (1872), 1. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5860264. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q6914817. Details
- VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/94105913. Details
- 'Allport, Morton (1830-1878)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-600727. Details
McCarthy, G.J.
Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 2 March 2018
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