Darwin, Charles Robert (1809 - 1882)

Summary

Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection ("Origin of Species" 1859) convinced biologists that evolution had occurred. He visited Australia in 1836 as naturalist on the "Beagle", and subsequently used Australian material in developing his ideas.

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• Adolph Basser Library Pictorial Collection, MS 056; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details
• Charles Robert Darwin - Records, 1860 - 1881, MS 029; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

JS Battye Library of West Australian History, State Library of Western Australia

• Charles Robert Darwin - Records, 1860, LBWA/187A; JS Battye Library of West Australian History, State Library of Western Australia. Details

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

• Charles Robert Darwin - Records, 1862 - 1878, ML DOC 1123; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
• Clarke Family Papers - Records, 1789 - 1879, ML MSS 139; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
• Linnean Society of London - Records, 1792 - 1870, FM 4/2699; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

• Charles Robert Darwin - Records, 1874, MS 73; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details
• Charles Robert Darwin - Records, 1834, MS 4260; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection

• Charles Robert Darwin - Records, 1873 - 1881; State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• McCarthy, Gavan; Smith, Ailie; Moje, Christine; Rigby, Rebecca, The Study of Australian Eucalypts, eScholarship Research Centre, 2013, http://www.eoas.info/eucalypts/index.html. Details
• Smith, Ailie, Adolph Basser Library Manuscript Collection, eScholarship Research Centre, 2012, http://www.eoas.info/basser_browse.html. Details

Books

• Armstrong, Patrick, Charles Darwin in Western Australia: a Young Scientist's Perception of an Environment (Nedlands: University of Western Australia Press, 1985), 80 pp. Details
• Beer, Gavin De, Darwin and Australia. in The Evolution of Living Organisms. A Symposium to Mark the Centenary of Darwin's 'Origin of Species' and of the Royal Society of Victoria, Melbourne, December 1959. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1962). Details
• Browne, Janet, Charles Darwin Voyaging: Volume 1 of a Biography (London: Jonathan Cape, 1995), 640 pp. Details
• Burnet, Ian, Where Australia collides with Asia: the epic voyages of Joseph Banks, Charles Darwin, Alfred Wallace, and the origin of "On the origin of species by natural selection" (Sydney: Rosenberg Publications, 2017), 206 pp. Details
• Desmond, Adrian and Moore, James, Darwin (New York: Warner Books, 1991), 808 pp. Details
• Frame, Tom, Evolution in the Antipodes: Charles Darwin and Australia (Sydney : University of New South Wales Press, 2009), 307 pp. Details
• Laurent, John and Campbell, Margaret, The Eye of Resaon: Charles Darwin in Australasia (Wollongong: University of Wollongong Press, 1987), 88 pp. Details
• Marshall, A. J., Darwin and Huxley in Australia (Sydney: Hodder and Stoughton, 1970), 142 pp. Details
• McCalman, Iain,, Darwin's Armada (Camberwell (Vic.) : Viking, 2009), 422 pp. Details
• Moorehead, Alan, Darwin and the Beagle (Harmondsworth, U.K.: Penguin Books, 1969), 224 pp. Details
• Nicholas, John and Nicholas, Jan, Charles Darwin in Australia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 260 pp. Details
• Wheeler, Alwyne and Price, James H., From Linnaeus to Darwin: Commentaries on the History of Biology and Geology. Papers from the Fifth Easter Meeting of the Society for the History of Natural History 28-31 March, 1983, 'Natural History in the Early Nineteenth Century' (London: Society for the History of Natural History, 1985). Details
• Wrigley, J.; and Fagg, M., Eucalypts: a Celebration (Crows Nest Australia: Allen & Unwin, 2010), 344 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Butcher, Barry, 'Darwin Down Under: Science, Religion and Evolution in Australia' in Disseminating Darwinism: The Role of Place, Race, Religion and Gender, Ronald Numbers and John Stenhouse, eds (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999). Details
• Butcher, Barry W., 'Darwin's Australian Correspondents: Defence and Collaboration in Colonial Science' in Nature in its Greatest Extent: Western Science in the Pacific, Roy MacLeod and Philip F. Rehbock, eds (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1988), pp. 139-158. Details
• Butcher, Barry W., 'Darwinism, Social Darwinism and the Australian Aborigines: a Revaluation' in Darwin's Laboratory: Evolutionary Theory and Natural History in the Pacific, Roy MacLeod and Philip F. Rehbock, eds (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994), pp. 371-394. Details
• Garber, Janet, 'Darwin's Correspondents in the Pacific: Through the Looking Glass to the Antipodes' in Darwin's Laboratory: Evolutionary Theory and Natural History in the Pacific, Roy MacLeod and Philip F. Rehbock, eds (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994), pp. 169-211. Details
• Newman, William A., 'Darwin and Cirripedology' in History of Carcinology, Frank Truesdale, ed. (Rotterdam: A. A. Balkema, 1993), pp. 349-434. Details
• Nichols, Frank W., 'What Darwin Actually Saw in Sydney in 1836' in The Natural History of Sydney, Lunney, Daniel, Hutchings, Pat A and Hochuli, Dieter, eds (Mosman, N.S.W.: Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, 2010), pp. 44-55. Details
• Stoddart, David R., 'This Coral Episode: Darwin, Dana and the Coral Reefs in the Pacific' in Darwin's Laboratory: Evolutionary Theory and Natural History in the Pacific, Roy MacLeod and Philip F. Rehbock, eds (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994), pp. 21-48. Details
• Townley, K. A., 'Darwin, Charles Robert (1809-1882), naturalist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 1: 1788 - 1850 A-H, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1966), pp. 286-287. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A010271b.htm. Details

Edited Books

• Burkhardt, Frederick ed., Charles Darwin's Letters: a Selection 1825-1859 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 275 pp. Details
• Keynes, Richard Darwin ed., Charles Darwin's Beagle Diary (Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 493 pp. Details
• MacLeod, Roy and Rehbock, Philip eds, Darwin's Laboratory: Evolutionary Theory and Natural History in the Pacific (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994), 540 pp. Details
• McCalman, Iain and Erskine, Nigel eds, In the Wake of the "Beagle": Science in the Southern Oceans from the Age of Darwin (Sydney : University of New South Wales Press, 2009), 192 pp. Details
• Nicholas, F. W.; and Nicholas, J. W. eds, Charles Darwin in Australia (Cambridge/Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 189 pp. Details
• Pickering, Michael (curator) ed., Charles Darwin: an Australian selection (Canberra : National Museum of Australia Press, 2008), 144 pp. Details
• Stanbury, David ed., A narrative of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, being passages fron the Narrative written by Captain Robert FitzRoy, R.N., together with extracts from his logs, reports and letters; additional material from the diary and letters of Charles Darwin, notes from Midshipman Philip King and letters from Second Lieutenant Bartholomew Sullivan (London: Folio Society, 1977), 359 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• Armstrong, Patrick, 'Charles Darwin in Australia', Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 92 (4) (2009), 385-8. Details
• Banks, Max, 'Charles Darwin's Visit to Hobart Town', Tasmanian Tramp, 24 (1982), 180-186. Details
• Bell, Leonard, 'Not Quite Darwin's Artist: the Travel Art of Augustus Earle', Journal of Historical Geography, 43 (2014), 60-70. Details
• Birch, L. C., 'In the Footsteps of Charles Darwin', Australian Journal of Science, 21 (1958), 33-39. Details
• Butcher, Barry W., 'Adding Stones to the Great Pile? Charles Darwin's Use of Australian Resources, 1837-1882', Historical Records of Australian Science, 8 (1) (1989), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9890810001. Details
• Daley, Charles, 'Charles Darwin in Australia', Victorian Historical Magazine, 17 (1938), 64-70. Details
• Di Gregorio, Mario A., 'The Uniqueness of Charles Darwin: His Reading of W.S.Macleay's Horae Entomologicae', Historical Records of Australian Science, 11 (2) (1996), 103-117. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9961120103. Details
• Dugan, D. G., 'Darwin and Diprotodon: the Wellington Caves fossils and the law of succession', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 104 (4) (1980), 265-272. Details
• Hayman, John A., 'Charles Darwin's Impressions of New Zealand and Australia, and Insights into his Illness and his Developing Ideas on Evolution ', Medical Journal of Australia, 191 (2009), 660-663 . Details
• Laurent, John and Campbell, Margaret, 'Charles Darwin in Australia', This Australia, 5 (3) (1986), 44-46. Details
• Lucas, A. H. S., 'Charles Darwin on Australia', The Victorian naturalist, 2 (1885), 20-24. Details
• Lucas, A. M., 'Early Copies of the First Edition of Origin of Species in Australia', Archives of Natural History, 37 (346-8) (2010). Details
• Lucas, A. M., 'Ferdinand von Mueller's interactions with Charles Darwin and His Response to Darwinism', Archives of Natural History, 37 (2010), 102-30. 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
• Novick, Aaron, 'A reappraisal of Charles Darwin's engagement with the work of William Sharp Macleay', Journal of the history of biology, 52 (2019), 245-70. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10739-018-9541-z. Details
• Shine, Rick and Hutchinson, Mark, 'Charles Darwin in Tasmania', Australian Natural History, 23 (10) (1991), 794-801. Details
• Stanbury, P. J., 'Darwin's Journey in New South Wales', Australian Natural History, 16 (11) (1970), 371-374. Details
• Stoddard, D. R., 'Darwin, Jukes and Theory of Reef Development in Australia in the Nineteenth Century', Abstracts of the Geological Society of America, 17 (1985), No 73343. Details
• Whitley, G. P., 'Charles Darwin in Australia', The Australian Museum Magazine, 13 (1959), 120-121. Details
• Wiebkin, Ole W., 'A Preamble to Charles Robert Darwin: His Connection With South Australia', Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 137 (2013), 1-27. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1035. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/27063124. Details
• 'Darwin, Charles (1809-1882)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1214818. Details

Resource Sections

• 'Darwin, Charles Robert - Ms 29', in Listing of Adolph Basser Library holdings, Australian Academy of Science, 1994, http://www.science.org.au/basser/manuscript-collection/ms029.html. Details

Reviews

• McCalman, Iain, Darwin's Armada (2009)
  Butcher, Barry W., Historical Records of Australian Science, 20 (2), (2009), 273-276, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR09018. Details
• Frame, Tom, Evolution in the Antipodes: Charles Darwin and Australia (2009)
  Butcher, Barry W., Historical Records of Australian Science, 20 (2), (2009), 273-276, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR09018. Details
• Pickering, Michael (curator), Charles Darwin: an Australian Collection (2008)
  Butcher, Barry W., Historical Records of Australian Science, 20 (1), (2009), 144-145, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR09005. Details
• Darwin's armada
  Fichman, Martin, Isis, 101, (2010), 444-5. Details
• Nicholas, John and Nicholas, Jan, Charles Darwin in Australia (2008)
  Hince, Bernadette, Historical Records of Australian Science, 20 (2), (2009), 276-278, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR09018. Details
• Oldroyd, D. R., Darwinian Impacts: an introduction to the Darwinian Revolution
  Love, Rosaleen, Historical Records of Australian Science, 5 (2), (1981), 124-126. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9810520123. Details

See also

• Science and the making of Victoria, with Royal Society of Victoria, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/smv/index_d.html. Details
• Jones, Ross L. ; Waghorne, James; and Langton, Marcia, 'Introduction' in Dhoombak goobgoowana: a history of Indigenous Australia and the University of Melbourne - Volume 1: The Truth, Ross L. Jones, James Waghorne and Marcia Langton, eds (Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 2024), pp. xiii-xxix, https://www.mup.com.au/books/dhoombak-goobgoowana-paperback-softback. Details
• MacInnis, Peter, Curious Minds: the Discoveries of Australian Naturalists (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 2012), 213 pp. Details
• Turnbull, Paul, 'Australian museums, Aboriginal skeletal remains, and the imagining of human evolutionary history', Museum & society, 13 (1) (2015), 72-87. https://doi.org/10.29311/mas.v13i1.318. Pages 75, 78. Details