Blandowski, Johann Wilhelm Theodor Ludwig von (William) (1822 - 1878)

Summary

William Blandowski was appointed Government Zoologist in 1854, joining what was the Museum of Natural History (later the National Museum of Victoria). He was the first zoologist appointed by the Victorian Government, although his scientific expertise ranged over geology, physical geography and other disciplines. After arriving in South Australia in 1849, where he made extensive natural history collections around the Adelaide region, he moved to Victoria mid-1850 and spent some time on the goldfields. In his official capacity Blandowski made collecting excursions through central Victoria and to the southeast of Melbourne, travelling as far as Philip Island and Cape Shank. He was leader of the Murray River Expedition, his instructions being to investigate the natural history of the district and collect as many specimens as possible for the Museum of Natural History. Among his colleagues on the Expedition was naturalist Gerard Krefft. Later assessment of Blandowski's fieldwork was that he was not always careful in the labelling of his specimens. Blandowski was active in local scientific circles in Melbourne, being a foundation member of the short-lived Geological Society, and serving on the council of the Philosophical Society of Victoria. He was not noted for getting along with his fellow colonists, either on the Expedition, or in the public service or the Philosophical Institute of Victoria. After on-going difficulties with Frederick McCoy, Director of the National Museum of Victoria, and being threatened with legal action for not handing to the Government all his specimens and illustrations from the Expedition, Blandowski returned to Europe in 1859. The fish genera Blandowskius and Blandowskiella were named in his honour.

Details

Blandowski sent the botanical specimens he collected in South Australia to German botanist Joachim Steetz. They became part of the Botanical Museum of Melbourne (later the National Herbarium of Victoria) when, in 1863, Steetz's collections were purchased from his widow by the Victorian Government Botanist, Ferdinand Mueller.

In his paper "Preliminary report on recent discoveries in natural history of the lower Murray", Blandowski described new species of fish from the Expedition. Published in the Transactions of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria, sections of the paper was withdrawn by the Council before publication because of perceived discourtesy to those members of Council after whom he proposed to name some of the new species.

Blandowski's title while in the employ of the Victorian Government is unclear. He is variously described as Government Zoologist, Colonial Naturalist or Curator of the museum, while his rank within the Surveyor General's Department, to which the Museum of Natural History belonged, was Assistant Surveyor.

Chronology

1834 - 1836

Career position - Entered the Royal Prussian Cadets at Chelmno (Kulm)

1849

Life event - Arrived in South Australia

1850

Life event - Moved to Victoria

1852

Career position - Co-founder of the Geological Society of Victoria

1854 - 1855

Career position - Collecting expeditions to the coastal areas of Victoria and the region of McIvor (Heathcote) and the Black Ranges

1854 - 1855

Career position - Co-founder of the Philosophical Society of Victoria

1854 - 1858

Career position - Government Zoologist, Museum of Natural History

1856 - 1857

Career position - Leader of the Murray River Expedition

1856 - 1858

Career position - Member of Council, Philosophical Institute of Victoria

1857

Career event - Preliminary report on recent discoveries in natural history on the Lower Murray presented to the Philosophical Society of Victoria

1857 - 1859

Award - Life Member, Philosophical Institute of Victoria

1859 - ?

Award - Life member, Royal Society of Victoria

1859

Life event - Left Australia for Germany

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• Australian Botanists - Biographies, MS 064; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

• Augustus Charles Gregory - Records, 1819 - 1905, ML MSS 291; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
• Johann Ludwig Gerard Krefft - Records, 1859 - 1881, ML MSS 956; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
• Wilhelm Blandoski - Records, 1855, PXE 864; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

Public Record Office Victoria, Victorian Archives Centre

• Colonial Secretary's Office - Records, 1851 - 1863, VPRS 1186; Public Record Office Victoria, Victorian Archives Centre. Details
• Colonial Secretary's Office - Records, 1851 - 1863, VPRS 1189; Public Record Office Victoria, Victorian Archives Centre. Details

Published resources

Books

• Allen, Harry ed., William Blandowski's Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia (Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 2010), 188 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Allen, Harry, 'William Blandowski's Fish: an Ethnohistorical Account Near the Junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers' in Histories of Old Ages: Essays in Honour of Rhys Jones, A. Anderson, I. Lilley and S. O'Connor, eds (Canberra: Coombs Academic Press, Australian National University, 2001), pp. 211-224. Details
• Blandowski, W., 'Notes on the physical geography of Victoria' in The Victorian nautical and commercial almanac, Murray, A., ed. (Melbourne: James J. Blundell & Co., 1855), pp. 1-49. Details
• Darragh, T. A., 'Blandowski, Johann Wilhelm Theodor Ludwig (William)' in The dictionary of Australian artists, painters, sketchers, photographers and engravers to 1870, Kerr, J., ed. (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1992), pp. 71-2. Details
• Paszkowski, L. K., 'Blandowski, William (1822-), Naturalist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 3: 1851 - 1890 A-C, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1969), pp. 182-183. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A030174b.htm. Details

Edited Books

• Wosz, Eva and Hermannstädter, Anita eds, Naturalista, czyli Wilhelm von Blandowski w Australii. Wilhelm von Blandowski: Ein Naturforscher in Australien (Gliwic, Poland: Berlin: Muzeum w Gliwicac: Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, 2013), 186 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• Allen, H., 'Authorship and ownership in Blandowski's Australien in 142 photographischen Abbildungen', Australasian historical archaeology, 24 (2006), 31-7. Details
• Allen, Harry, 'Looking Again at Blandowski', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 121 (2009), 1-10. Details
• Allen, Harry and Weldon, Elizabeth A. eds, 'William Blandowski and His Contribution to Nineteenth Century Science and Art in Australia', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 121 (2009), 1-204. Details
• Allen, Harry,, 'Native Companions: Blandowski, Krefft and the Aborigines on the Murray River Expedition', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 121 (2009), 129-45. Details
• Blandowski, William, 'Personal observations made in an excursion towards the central parts of Victoria, including Mount Macedon, Mc Ivor and Black Range', Transactions of the Philosophical Society of Victoria, 1 (1855), 50-74. Details
• Blandowski, William, ' Report III to the Surveyor-General, of an excursion from King's Station to Bass' River, Phillip and French Islands', Transactions of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria, 1 (1856), 50-67. Details
• Blandowski, William, 'Report II of William Blandowski, Esq. to the Honourable the Surveyor-General, on an excursion to Frankston, Balcomb's Creek, Mount Martha, Port Phillip Heads and Cape Shank', Transactions of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria, 1 (1856), 24-37. Details
• Blandowski, William, 'Recent discoveries in natural history on the lower Murray', Transactions of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria, 2 (1857), 124-37. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'William Blandowski: a Frustrated Life', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 121 (2009), 11-60. Details
• Darragh, Thomas A., 'The death of William Blandowski', Transactions of the Royal Society of Victoria, 124 (2012), 234-5. Details
• Humphries, Paul, 'Blandowski Misses out: Ichthyological Etiquette in 19th-Century Australia', Endeavour, 27 (2003), 160-165. Details
• Humphries, Paul, 'Wilhelm Blandowski's Contribution to Ichthyology of the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 121 (2009), 90-108. Details
• Iredale, T. and Whitley, G. P., 'Blandowski.', The Victorian naturalist, 49 (1932), 90-96. Details
• Landsberg, Hannelore and Landsberg, Marie, 'Wilhelm von Blandowski's Inheritance in Berlin', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 121 (2009), 172-92. Details
• McCann, D., 'Blandowski's geology: a preliminary overview', Earth Sciences History Group newsletter, Geological Society of Australia, 39 (2008), 9-29. Details
• Menkhorst, Peter W., 'Blandowski's Mammals: Clues to a Lost World', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 121 (2009), 61-89. Details
• Paszkowski, L., 'William Blandowski: the first Government Zoologist of Victoria', Australian Zoologist, 14 (2) (1967), 147-172. Details
• Wakefield, N. A., 'Mammals of the Blandowski Expedition to North-Western Victoria, 1856-57', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 79 (pt 2) (1966). Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q90679. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/62754579. Details
• 'Blandowski, William (18220121-18781218)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1045788. Details

Reviews

• Allen, Harry ed., William Blandowski's Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia (2010)
  Carroll, Khadija, Australian Aboriginal Studies, 2012 (1), (2012), 105-8. Details
• Allen, Harry ed., William Blandowski's Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia (2010)
  Howes, Hilary, Historical Records of Australian Science, 22 (1), (2011), 174-6, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR11005. Details

See also

• Science and the making of Victoria, with Royal Society of Victoria, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/smv/index_b.html. Details
• Carkeek, Malcolm, 'No Stone Unturned: in Search of Professor Sir Frederick McCoy, FRS', Victorian Historical Journal, 69 (1) (1998), 24-39. Details
• Kraehenbuehl, Darrell, 'Pioneer German botanists in colonial South Australia', South Australian Naturalist, 72 (3/4) (1998), 43-64. Details
• McMullen, Gabrielle, 'Noted colonial German scientists and their contexts', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 127 (1) (2015), 9-16, https://doi.org/10.1071/RS15001. Details
• Moyal, Ann: with Robert E. Marks, 'The scientists and Darwin's The origin of species in nineteenth century Australia: a re-evaluation', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 152 (1) (2019), 5-26. Details
• Olsen, Penny; and Russell, Lynette, Australia's first naturalists: indigenous peoples' contribution to early zoology (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 2019), 223 pp. Details
• Pescott, R. T. M., Collections of a century: the history of the first hundred years of the National Museum of Victoria, Melbourne (Melbourne: National Museum of Victoria, 1954), 186 pp. Details
• Rasmussen, Carolyn, 'Professor Frederick McCoy and the National Museum of Victoria, 1856-1899', The Victorian naturalist, 117 (5) (2001), 230-239. Details
• Short, P. S.; and Sinkora, D. M., 'The Botanist Joachim Steetz (1804-1862)', Muelleria, 6 (1988), 449-494. Details