Person

Maxwell, George (1804 - 1879)

Born
April 1804
England
Died
1879
Albany, Western Australia, Australia
Occupation
Natural history collector

Summary

George Maxwell was a natural history collector who arrived in Western Australia in 1838. He made a precarious living selling specimens especially to passengers on ships that called into King George Sound. An expert bushman, he travelled extensively in southern Western Australia making some of the most important collections from those regions. He accompanied Ludwig Preiss to Cape Riche in 1840, James Drummond (q.v.) to Porongorup and the Stirling Ranges (1846 - 1848), and Ferdinand von Mueller to areas around Albany in 1867 and 1877. Mueller purchased many of Maxwells botanical specimens: over 3,000 are in the National Herbarium of Victoria.

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Published resources

Journal Articles

  • Brooker, Lesley, 'George Maxwell's collecting locality - Eyre's Reef', Nuytsia, 34 (2023), 105-9, https://doi.org/10.58828/nuy01055. Details
  • Henderson, W. G., 'George Maxwell: Bushman and Naturalist', Early Days, 13 (2011), 626-48. Details

Resources

See also

  • George, Alex S., Australian botanist's companion (Kardinya, W.A.: Four Gables Press, 2009), 671 pp. Details

Helen Cohn

Created: 31 July 2018, Last modified: 7 August 2018

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