Gulliver, Thomas Allen (1848 - 1931)

Summary

Thomas Gulliver was a telegraph officer and natural history collector who came to Victoria with his family as a young boy. He lived in Tasmania in the early 1870s with his siblings Benjamin and Susannah. While there, they engaged in seed collecting, particularly Eucalyptus and Acacia. They also collected plant specimens, largely from Mt Wellington and the Lake St Clair region. In 1873 Thomas moved to Queensland, becoming telegraph line repairer in the Cardwell district. He ultimately became Postmaster at the Townsville Post Office between 1905 and 1911. Wherever he was posted during his long career with the telegraph department, he collected natural history specimens. The fish and birds, notably those from the Norman River area, were examined by Francis de Castelnau and Sylvester Diggles, and the birds displayed in international exhibitions in Sydney and Melbourne in 1879 and 1880. A significant collection of Gulliver's material is held by the Queensland Museum. The fish genus Gulliveria and a number of plant species were named after him. Gulliver owned the property Roseneath near Townsville where he experimented with tropical crops including mangoes. One of most successful varieties bred by Gulliver was "Gulliver's Triumph". For many years he was a regular contributor, under pseudonym Nettapus of natural history notes to local newspapers the Queenslander and the Brisbane courier. The Gullivers had a long connection with Ferdinand von Mueller, the Victorian Government Botanist, with the result that the National Herbarium of Victoria holds over 1,000 of their collections of plants, including bryophytes and lichens.

Details

Chronology

1856

Life event - Arrived in Melbourne with his family

1869

Career event - Employed in the telegraph office, Townsville

c. 1870 - c. 1872

Life event - In Tasmania with Benjamin (brother) and Susannah (sister)

1873 - 1875

Career position - Telegraph line repairer in Cardwell area, Queensland

1875 - 1877

Career position - Telegraph station master, Normanton, Queensland

1877 - 1882

Career position - Telegraph station master, Thornborough, Queensland

1882 - 1896

Career position - Manager, telegraph office, Townsville

1885

Life event - Proposed for membership of the Linnean Society, London

1896 - 1904

Career position - Officer-in-Charge, telegraph office, Townsville

1904

Career event - Elected to Committee of Management, Bowen Park, Brisbane

1904 - 1905

Career position - Assistant Manager of telegraphs, Brisbane

1905 - 1911

Career position - Postmaster, Townsville Post Office

1912 - 1915

Career position - Member, Thuringowa Shire Council, Queensland

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

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

Published resources

Journal Articles

• Dowe, J. L., 'The Gullivers' Acacia Vale Gardens and Nursery, Townsville: a successful experiment in tropical gardening', Australian Garden History, 34 (2) (2022), 12-4. Details
• Dowe, John Leslie and Short, Philip S., 'The Gullivers' travels: Thomas Allen Gulliver (1848 - 1931), Benjamin John Gulliver (1851 - 1938) and Susannah Gulliver (1857 - 1938): their contribution to Australian natural history and horticulture', Swainsona, 38 (2024), 45-72, https://data.environment.sa.gov.au/Content/Publications/JABG38P045_Dowe.pdf. Details

Resources

• 'Gulliver, T.A.', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1473670. Details

See also

• Castelnau, Count F. de, 'Notes on the fishes of the Norman River', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 3 (1878), 41-51. Details
• Castelnau, Count F. de, 'Australian fishes: new or little known species', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 2 (1878), 225-48. Details
• Castelnau, le Comte de and Ramsay, E. P., 'Notes of a collection of birds from the Norman River, Gulf of Carpentaria, with descriptions of some new species', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 1 (1877), 379-95. Details