Guide to the Papers of Allan Cunningham (as filmed by AJCP)
M692
National Library of Australia View Catalogue Record
Created: 2019
Collection Summary
- Creator
- Cunningham, Allan, 1791-1839
- Title
- Papers of Allan Cunningham (as filmed by the AJCP)
- Date Range
- October 1814 - May 1839
- Collection Number
- M692
- Extent
- 3 items
- Language of Materials
- English
- Repository
- Australian Joint Copying Project
- Sponsor
- The Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP) online portal was created with the assistance of the Australian Public Service Modernisation Fund, 2017-2020. The National Library of Australia gratefully acknowledges the contribution of the other foundation AJCP partners, the State Library of New South Wales and The National Archives of the UK, and all other organisations which supported the work of the AJCP, the world's most extensive collaborative copying project, operating from 1948 to 1997.
Introduction
Scope and Contents
'Journal of the Proceedings of Mr James Bowie and Mr Allan Cunningham' 1814-15 with continuations by Cunningham to 1819
Letters 1817-19 to Sir Joseph Banks and W.T. Aiton
Lists of seeds and specimens 1816-22
Draft 1822 entitled 'Original MS of Appendix to P.P. King's "Survey"
Correspondence between Cunningham and Robert Brown 1822-39
Further lists of specimens collected and plants observed by Cunningham 1819-27
Conditions Governing Access
Available for Access.
Conditions Governing Use
Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.
Preferred Citation
Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.
Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.
Example: M Series. : Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February-23 September 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)
Archival History
Filmed at the British Museum Botany Library, London, as part of the Australian Joint Copying Project, 1967 (AJCP Reel: M692). Original microfilm digitised as part of the NLA AJCP Online Delivery Project, 2017-2020.
The natural history departments of the British Museum were physically separated from the rest of the Museum and transferred to a new building at South Kensington in 1881. They remained, however, a department of the British Museum until 1963, when the British Museum Act established it as independent body with its own trustees. Even then, it retained its old name and only in 1992, under the Museums and Galleries Act, was it changed to the Natural History Museum.
Existence and Location of Originals
Botany Library, British Museum (Natural History); London.
For further information see Natural History Museum Library and Archives. (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/departments-and-staff/library-and-archives.html)
Existence and Location of Copies
The original AJCP microfilm of the records filmed from this collection is available at the National Library of Australia [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1870519] as well as other institutions holding AJCP microfilm.
Finding Aid Note
This finding aid is a revised online version of the original finding aid prepared by the Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP), published by the National Library of Australia in 2019. The original AJCP finding aids were unpublished typescripts or photocopies available from libraries that held copies of the original microfilm.
Dates used in this finding aid refer to the date range of the records selected for filming rather than to the date range of the Series or Files.
Advisory Statement
Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this Finding Aid contains material and descriptive information which may be considered culturally sensitive and may cause distress, including names and images of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people now deceased. This Finding Aid contains terms that reflect authors' views or those of the historical period, but which may not be considered appropriate today. While the information may not reflect current understanding, it is provided in an historical context.
Subjects
Australia; Banks, Sir Joseph; Botanists; Botany; Botany: Australia; Bowie, James; Brown, Robert; Cunningham, Allan; Exploration: land; Great Britain; King, Phillip P., Capt.; Lachlan River, New South Wales; Mitchell Library, Sydney; New South Wales: exploration; New South Wales: flora and fauna; Oxley, John J.W.M.; Queensland: exploration
Bibliography
Originally cited in Australian Joint Copying Project Handbook. Part 8: Miscellaneous (M) Series. Third Edition, published 1998. Entry 120, p. 44.
Biographical / Historical
Botanist and explorer. Arrived in Australia in 1816 and joined John Oxley on his expedition to the Lachlan River. In 1817, 1820 and 1821 sailed with Capt. P.P. King on voyages to Western and Northern Australia. In 1827 he discovered the Darling Downs in Queensland.
Allan Cunningham (1791-1839) was born in London and educated at a private school in Putney. In 1808 he took up a position at the Kew Herbarium as clerk to William Aiton, the Superintendent of the Royal Gardens. In 1814, on the recommendation of Sir Joseph Banks, he was appointed a botanical collector and along with James Bowie was sent to Rio de Janeiro. They spent two years collecting plants in Brazil and despatching them to the Royal Gardens at Kew.
Cunningham was then sent to New South Wales and he arrived in Sydney in December 1816. He rented a cottage in Parramatta and began his botanical searches in the vicinity of the town. In April 1817, at the suggestion of Governor Macquarie, he joined John Oxley and George Evans on their expedition west of the Blue Mountains. In five months he collected about 450 plant species. In December 1817 he became the naturalist on the cutter Mermaid, commanded by Lieutenant Phillip King, on the first of his surveying voyages to the northern and western coasts of Australia. Between 1819 and 1822 he accompanied King on three further voyages on the Mermaid and the Bathurst.
For the next eight years Cunningham made numerous journeys to many parts of New South Wales, including the Hunter Valley, Liverpool Plains, the Illawarra, Wellington Valley, the Darling Downs and Moreton Bay. He also visited New Zealand and Norfolk Island. He returned to England in 1831 and spent some time arranging his collections at the Kew Herbarium and writing papers for publication.
Cunningham's brother Richard was appointed colonial botanist in Sydney in 1832. Following his death in 1835, Alan Cunningham was offered the position and he returned to Sydney in 1837. He resigned after a few months and resumed the occupation of botanical collector. He spent several months in New Zealand in 1838. He hoped to join Captain John Wickham on HMS Beagle, but his health was steadily worsening. He died in Sydney.
Item Descriptions
Series 1. Miscellaneous papers, May 1819 - May 1839
13 items
Cunningham (Parramatta) to Robert Brown, 16 July 1822 (Item)
Plants discovered on north-west coast of Australia; many may be the same as those discovered by Brown on the south coast; requests some observations by Brown on plants discovered for inclusion in narrative to be published by Capt. Phillip King; opening up of country west of Blue Mountains. (Copy).
Catalogue of plants observed upon the shore of Australia during a voyage of survey upon its coast by Allan Cunningham: 2nd voyage, 11 May 1819 - 5 November 1819 (Item)
The catalogue lists plants at Port Macquarie, Hastings River, Rodd's Bay, Percy Islands, Cape Cleveland, Fitzroy Island, Snapper Island, Endeavour River, Cape Flinders, Sunday Island, Liverpool River, Port Keats, Cambridge Gulf, Adolphus Island, Vansittart Bay, Port Warrender and Timor. (c. 60pp.)
Catalogue of plants observed upon the shore of Australia during a voyage of survey upon its coast by Allan Cunningham: 3rd voyage, 21 July 1820 - 13 October 1820 (Item)
The catalogue lists plants at Port Bowen, Endeavour River, Lizard Island, Flinders Island, Booby Island, South Goulburn Island, Sims Island, Water Island, Montagu Sound, York Sound, Hunter River, Careening Bay and Prince Regent River. (36pp).
Catalogue of plants observed upon the shore of Australia during a voyage of survey upon its coast by Allan Cunningham: 4th voyage, 10 June 1821 - 12 February 1822 (Item)
The catalogue lists plants at the Percy Islands, Cape Grafton, Lizard Island, Cape Flinders, Sunday Island, Goulburn Island, Sims Island, Prince Regent River, Hanover Bay, King George's Sound, Oyster Harbour, Rottnest Island, Dirk Hartog's Island, Cygnet Bay and Point Cunningham. (38pp.)
Catalogue of plants observed on Australian coasts, 30 May 1819 - 12 February 1822 (Item)
The catalogue lists plants at Rodd's Bay, Repulse Bay, Cape Cleveland, Rockingham Bay, Fitzroy Island, Snapper Island, Endeavour River, South Goulburn Island, Port Keats, Lacrosse Island, Cambridge Gulf, Vansittart Bay, Timor, Port Bowen, York Sound, Careening Bay, Bat Island, Brunswick Bay, Bustard Bay, King George's Sound, Rottnest Island, Dirk Hartog's Island and Cygnet Bay. There is an addendum at the end. (55pp.)
Cunningham (Sydney) to Robert Brown, 16 May 1839 (Item)
Activities since return to New South Wales in 1837; drought; work at Sydney Botanical Garden prevented him from making distant excursions; retirement from Garden; visit to New Zealand; collecting at Waimate and Bay of Islands; despatch of plants; his deteriorating health; plans to return to England in 1840; arrival of William Macleay. (Copy).
A list of specimens of plants collected in the Mermaid 2nd voyage (5pp.), May 1819 - November 1819 (Item)
A list of specimens of plants collected on the verge of the colony of Port Jackson, 1822 (Item)
Also in the interior during the months of September, October, November and December (16pp.)
A list of specimens collected in the interior of New South Wales (2pp.), April 1823 - July 1823 (Item)
Although described individually, this document was originally microfilmed with a page from another document. The last page of the document described can be found at the beginning of nla.obj-1066662786.
Specimens gathered during a tour upon the new route through the Blue Mountains recently discovered by Mr A. Bell (2pp.), November 1823 - December 1823 (Item)
A list of a few specimens of plants gathered in the progress of a tour through the counties of Camden and Argyle and the country south of Lake George (9pp.), April 1824 (Item)
Series 2. Journals, October 1814 - March 1819
7 items
A journal of the proceedings of James Bowie and Allan Cunningham, His Majesty's Botanical Collectors, October 1814 - 28 February 1815 (Item)
Although described individually, this document was originally microfilmed with a page from another document. The last page of the document described can be found at the beginning of nla.obj-1066662922.
Ssent out to Rio de Janeiro etc. to collect plants for the Royal Gardens at Kew. (14pp.)
Continuation of the Brazilian journal of Allan Cunningham (94pp.), 1 March 1815 - 31 December 1815 (Item)
Continuation of the journal of Allan Cunningham kept at Parramatta and its vicinity (7pp.), 1 March 1817 - 2 April 1817 (Item)
Journal of Allan Cunningham over the Western or Blue Mountains, 3 April 1817 - 30 November 1817 (Item)
Describing the journey from Parramatta to Bathurst, the expedition led by John Oxley from Bathurst to the Lachlan River marshes, and the return journey via the Wellington Valley and the Macquarie River. (91pp.).
Continuation of the journal of Allan Cunningham, 1 December 1817 - 30 September 1818 (Item)
Kept on HM cutter Mermaid on a voyage from Port Jackson to King George's Sound, Exmouth Gulf, Dampier's Archipelago, Goulburn Island, Sims Island, Raffles Bay, Port Essington, Van Diemen's Gulf, Bathurst Island and Timor. (42pp)
Series 3. Letters, 20 September 1817 - 21 May 1819
14 itemsBiographical / Historical
William T. Aiton (1766-1849) was director of the Royal Gardens at Kew from 1793 until 1841. Transcripts of the letters to Banks and Aiton can be found in A.E. Orchard and T.A. Orchard, Allan Cunningham: letters of a botanist/explorer 1791-1839, Canberra, 2015.
Cunningham (Parramatta) to Sir Joseph Banks, 20 September 1817 (Item)
Account of journey with John Oxley and George Evan westward from Bathurst to the Lachlan River; hopes of discovering its junction with Macquarie River; its diminution to a small rivulet; uniformly bad country; return journey; contrast of Macquarie River with Lachlan River; about 400 specimens and seeds collected; Banks's instructions to Cunningham to join Lieut. Philip King.
Cunningham (Coupang Bay, Timor) to Sir Joseph Banks, 9 June 1818 (Item)
Voyage of Mermaid; explorations around King George's Sound; Cunningham's garden; visit to Exmouth Gulf; most vegetation burnt up in extreme drought; plants discovered along northern coast; examination of Van Diemen's Gulf; plants discovered at Timor; hostility of Malays towards Australian Aborigines; procurement of supplies at Timor; no room for a plant cabin on Mermaid; assistance of Lieut. King.
Cunningham (Parramatta) to Sir Joseph Banks, 25 September 1818 (Item)
Account of voyage on Mermaid; plants discovered; survey of Van Diemen's Gulf; palms discovered on north coast; impressions of Australian Aboriginals; return voyage; no sighting of French ships; reception by Governor Lachlan Macquarie.
Cunningham (Parramatta) to Sir Joseph Banks, 3 October 1818 (Item)
Sends journal; plans to visit Five Islands on south coast.
Cunningham (Parramatta) to William Aiton, 15 October 1818 (Item)
Provision of Government horse and cart; acknowledges stationery and other items, including Prodromus of Robert Brown; assistance of his brother Richard Cunningham; despatch of a box of specimens and seeds; planting of bulbs collected on voyage.
Cunningham (Parramatta) to Sir Joseph Banks, 19 December 1818 (Item)
Plants and seeds collected at Five Islands; comparisons with plants collected by Robert Brown; preparations for voyage in Mermaid to Van Diemen's Land.
Cunningham (Parramatta) to William Aiton, 19 December 1818 (Item)
Results of Cunningham's expedition to Brazil; collecting of plants for Royal Gardens; financial matters; difficult journey of John Oxley and his party along Macquarie River; encloses lists of specimens and seeds; impending voyages to Van Diemen's Land and northern coast.
Cunningham (Sydney) to William Aiton, 29 March 1819 (Item)
Sends plants and seeds from Van Diemen's Land; assistance of Col. William Sorell; power of attorney; encloses lists of boxes 4-5.
Cunningham (Sydney) to Sir Joseph Banks, 29 March 1819 (Item)
Account of travels in Van Diemen's Land, including Macquarie Harbour; Huon pine; safe arrival of collections from Oxley's first westward journey; assistance of Governor Macquarie; collections of soldier Charles Frazer; objectives of Lieut. King's next voyage to north coast.
Cunningham (Sydney) to Sir Joseph Banks, 17 April 1819 (Item)
Journal to be sent to England on Surry; refitting of Mermaid; hopes of discovery of new flora on northern and western coasts.
Series 4. Lists of seeds and specimens, January 1816 - July 1822
15 items
Specimens collected on a voyage of discovery on the north and north-west coasts of Australia on board HM cutter Mermaid, P.P. King, Lieut. and Commander (28pp.), 1818 (Item)
A list of specimens of plants that have been collected during the 4th voyage of survey of the east, north-west, west and south-west coasts of Terra Australia performed on board HMS Bathurst, 20 May 1821 – 25 April 1822, Parramatta, July 1822 (30pp.) (Item)
A few general remarks on the vegetation of certain coasts of Terra Australia and more especially of its northern and western shores (29pp.), July 1822 (Item)
Published as an appendix in Phillip P. King, Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia performed between the years 1818 and 1822, 2 vols., London, 1826.