Person

Caley, George (1770 - 1829)

Born
10 June 1770
Craven, Yorkshire, England
Died
23 May 1829
Bayswater, England
Occupation
Botanist and Explorer

Summary

George Caley was sent by Joseph Banks to collect botanical specimens in New South Wales. He arrived in Sydney in 1800 and was Superintendent of the Botanic Gardens at Parramatta until 1808.

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Details

Born Craven, Yorkshire, England, 10 June 1770. Died Bayswater, England, 23 May 1829. Worked in his father's stables; studied botany and became associated with the Manchester School of Botanists; work in Kew and other gardens 1795-98; sent to New South Wales by Sir Joseph Banks (q.v.) 1798 as a collector; arrived Sydney 1800 and allotted a house at Parramatta where he could maintain a botanical garden; collected mainly botanical specimens but also birds and animals; made a number of excursions which gave him a detailed knowledge of the country surrounding the settlement; appointment terminated 1808; returned to England and lived on a small pension from Banks till 1816; superintendent, botanical gardens, St Vincent, West Indies 1816-22.

Chronology

1800 - 1808
Career position - Superintendent of the Botanic Gardens, Parramatta, New South Wales
1816 - 1822
Career position - Superintendent of the Botanic Gardens at St Vincent, West Indies
1905
Taxonomy event - Honoured with Eucalyptus caleyi Maiden

Colleague

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

  • George Caley - Records, 1801 - 1940, ML MSS 960; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
  • George Caley - Records, 1801 - 1808, FM 4/2568; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
  • George Caley - Records, 1809 - 1818, FM 5/402-451; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
  • Ida Louisa Lee - Records, 1819 - 1937, ML MSS 75; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
  • Joseph Banks - Records, 1774 - 1814, MS Q158-161; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
  • R. Else-Mitchell - Records, 1939 - 1951, ML MSS 1265; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

Books

  • Caley, George, The Devil's Wilderness: George Caley's Journey to Mount Banks, 1804 (Hobart: Blubber Head Press, 1984), 160 pp. Details
  • Webb, Joan, George Caley, Nineteenth Century Naturalist (Sydney: Surrey Beatty & Sons, 1995), 197 pp. Details
  • Webb, Joan, A Birdstuffer's Library: a 19th Century Naturalist's Library (North Ryde, N.S.W.: the author, 2009), 99 pp. Details

Book Sections

  • Else-Mitchell, R., 'Caley, George (1770-1829), naturalist and explorer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 1: 1788 - 1850 A-H, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1966), pp. 194-195. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010180b.htm. Details
  • Secord, Anne, 'George Caley, 1770-1829' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). Details

Journal Articles

  • Andrews, Alan E.J., 'Mount Hunter and Beyond: with Hunter, Bass, Tench, Wilson, Barrallier, Caley, King, and Macquarie, 1790-1815', Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, 76 (1) (1990), 3-15. Details
  • Ingram, C. K., 'George Caley's contribution to Australian natural history, particularly botany', Orchadian, 10 (1988), 51-3. Details
  • Maiden, J. H., 'George Caley; botanical collector in New South Wales 1800 - 1810', Agricultural gazette of New South Wales, 13 (1903), 988-96. Details
  • Mitchell, R. Else, 'George Caley: His Life and Work', Royal Australian Historical Society, xxv (1939), 438-542. Details
  • Webb, Joan B., 'George Caley - Robert Brown's collecting partner', Cunninghamia, 9 (617-21) (2002). Details
  • Webb, Joan B., 'George Caley - Robert Brown's Collecting Partner', Australian Garden History, 14 (3) (2002), 15-16. Details
  • Webb, Joan B.; and Lister, Peter R., 'Druid's Caps - George Caley's collections of the genus Pterostylis R.Br. in the colony of New South Wales 1800-1810', Australian Systematic Botany Society newsletter, 91 (1991), 16-9. Details
  • Whitley, Gilbert P., 'Some Early Naturalists and Collectors in Australia', Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, xix (1933), 291-304. Details

Resources

Reviews

See also

  • Benson, Doug, 'Two centuries of botanical exploration along the "Botanists Way", northern Blue Mountains, N.S.W.: a regional botanical history that reflects national trends', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 141 (2019), 1-14. Details
  • Hall, Norman, Botanists of the Eucalypts: short biographies of people who have named eucalypts, whose names have been given to species or who have collected type material (Melbourne: CSIRO, 1978), 101 pp. Details
  • Maiden, J. H., 'Records of Australian botanists:- (a) general; (b) New South Wales', Journal and Proceedings of The Royal Society of New South Wales, 42 (1908), 60-132. Details
  • Maiden, J. H., 'Records of Tasmanian Botanists', Papers and proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, 1909 (1909), 9-29. Details
  • Maiden, J. H., 'Records of Australian botanists (second supplement)', Journal and Proceedings of The Royal Society of New South Wales, 55 (1921), 150-169. 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
  • Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details
  • Simpson, Daniel, 'Ethnographic collecting and the despotism of Joseph Banks', Journal of maritime research, 21 (1/2) (2019), 77-95, https://doi.org/10.1080/21533369.2020.1717166. Details

McCarthy, G.J.

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 15 April 2014

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