Person

Stutchbury, Samuel (1798 - 1859)

Born
15 January 1798
London, England
Died
12 February 1859
Bristol, England
Occupation
Geologist and Biologist

Summary

Samuel Stutchbury was a biologist who first arrived New South Wales in December 1825 as naturalist for the Pacific Peal Fishery Co.'s voyage to New South Wales and the Pacific Ocean. During the three months he was in Sydney he was occupied mainly with marine zoology and geology. On returning to the United Kingdom he held a sale of objects collected on his travels, and was appointed Curator of the museum of the Bristol Philosophical Society. Stutchbury returned to New South Wales having been appointed Government Geologist, arriving in November 1850. Over the next five years he surveyed large areas of New South Wales and as far north as Port Curtis, Queensland, covering over 32,000 square miles of diverse and geologically complex territory. He submitted regular reports with geological maps to the government: these were published in the parliamentary papers. A skilled and conscientious scientist, he probably accomplished more than the government was expecting, the preoccupation being mainly the discovery of gold and mineral deposits. Stutchbury left Sydney in December 1855, virtually unheralded. The fossil molluscan genus Stutchburia was named in his honour.

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Details

Chronology

1820 - 1825
Career position - Assistant to the conservator, Hunterian Museum, Royal College of Surgeons, London
1821
Career event - Associate, Linnean Society of London
1825 - 1827
Career position - Naturalist, Pacific Pearl Fishery Co. 's voyage to New South Wales and Pacific Ocean
August 1831
Career event - Appointed Curator of the museum, Bristol Philosophical Society, United Kingdom
1841
Career event - Elected Fellow, Geological Society, London
1850
Career position - Member of Council, Australian Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Science, Commerce and Agriculture
1850 - 1855
Career position - Government Geologist, New South Wales
December 1855
Life event - Left Sydney

Archival resources

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

  • Samuel Stutchbury - Records, 1850 - 1853, A2639; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
  • Samuel Stutchbury - Records, 1851; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

State Records New South Wales, Sydney Reading Room

  • Samuel Stutchbury - Records, 1850 - 1855; State Records New South Wales, Sydney Reading Room. Details

Published resources

Books

  • Stutchbury, Samuel, Science in a Sea of Commerce: the Journal of a South Seas Trading Venture (1825-27) by Samuel Stutchbury: edited with an introduction and commentary by David Branagan (Northbridge, NSW: D.F. Branagan, 1996), 246 pp. Details

Book Sections

  • Branagan, D. F., 'Samuel Stutchbury, 1798-1859' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). Details
  • Branagan, D. F.; Vallance, T. G., 'Stutchbury, Samuel (1798-1859), geologist and biologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 6: 1851 - 1890 R - Z, Bede Nairn, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1976), pp. 216-217. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A060233b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

  • Branagan, David, 'Samuel Stutchbury: a Natural History Voyage to the Pacific, 1825-27 and its Consequences', Archives of Natural History, 20 (1993), 69-91. Details
  • Branagan, David F., 'Samuel Stutchbury and His Manuscripts', Bulletin of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 21 (1984), 1-15. Details
  • Branagan, David F., 'Samuel Stutchbury and the Australian Museum', Records of the Australian Museum. Supplement, 15 (1992), 99-110. Details
  • Bryan, W. H., 'Samuel Stutchbury and some of those who followed him', Queensland Government mining journal, 55 (1954), 641-6. Details
  • Crane, Michael D., 'Samuel Stutchbury (1798 - 1859 [sic]), naturalist and geologist', Notes and records of the Royal Society, London, 37 (2) (1983), 189-200. Details

Resources

See also

  • Johns, R.K. ed., History and role of government geological surveys in Australia (Adelaide: South Australian Government Printer, 1976), 111 pp. Details

McCarthy, G.J. and Helen Cohn

Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 29 April 2025

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