Robert D. Fitzgerald
Encyclopedia
Robert David FitzGerald (or possibly Robert Desmond FitzGerald) (30 November 1830 – 12 August 1892) was an Irish
-Australian surveyor
, ornithologist
, botanist and poet
. His father, also Robert David FitzGerald, was a banker, and his mother was Mary Ann, née Bell.
Whilst working as a public servant FitzGerald's private passion and ability regarding ornithology and botany became so skillful that he communicated directly with Charles Darwin
regarding Australian species of plant and was referred to several times in the book The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species of 1877. He also collected orchids for the great German
-Australian botanist Ferdinand von Mueller
.
His extraordinary skills gave rise to a volume of work completed over seven years called Australian Orchids which J. D. Hooker another botanist, considered would be an honour to any country and to any Botanist.
. He studied civil engineering at Queen's College, Cork, (now known as University College Cork), and emigrated to Australia
.
for the crown.
Working steadily until 1868 FitzGerald was then promoted to control the roads branch of that department.
By 1873 he had become Deputy Surveyor General, and by 1874 he had been given responsibility as the Chief Mining Surveyor as well as controller of Church and School Lands for New South Wales. Following the advent of the Crown Lands Act of 1884 part of his duty was to analyse and consider the future roles of his department and ironically that analysis resulted in a number of retrenchment
s including his own.
Mor specifically FitzGerald had an enormous interest in botany and in 1864 he travelled to Wallis Lake, north of Newcastle
in New South Wales to collect ferns and orchids which he intended to cultivate around his Hunter's Hill home.
This interest in orchids was maintained throughout his life and in 1869, 1871 and 1876 he visited Lord Howe Island
to collect further botanical samples. It was during this time that he discovered Dracophyllum fitzgeraldii F. Muell, which was later to be named in his honour.
, M.L.C.
, at Balmain
in 1860. FitzGerald had three sons and three daughters who survived his death.
His grandson was the Australian poet R. D. Fitzgerald
.
The exquisite lithograph plates detailing FitzGerald's dissections of orchids, were hand-coloured by artists following his samples and instructions.
Australian Orchids made FitzGerald famous in the botanical world and J. D. Hooker another botanist, considered the work one which would be an honour to any country and to any Botanist.
about Australian plants and their identification with references to Herbarium specimens as well as a single letter from G.H. Druce to FitzGerald are held at the National Herbarium of Victoria
, Melbourne.
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
-Australian surveyor
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
, ornithologist
Ornithology
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...
, botanist and poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
. His father, also Robert David FitzGerald, was a banker, and his mother was Mary Ann, née Bell.
Whilst working as a public servant FitzGerald's private passion and ability regarding ornithology and botany became so skillful that he communicated directly with Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
regarding Australian species of plant and was referred to several times in the book The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species of 1877. He also collected orchids for the great German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
-Australian botanist Ferdinand von Mueller
Ferdinand von Mueller
Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, KCMG was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist.-Early life:...
.
His extraordinary skills gave rise to a volume of work completed over seven years called Australian Orchids which J. D. Hooker another botanist, considered would be an honour to any country and to any Botanist.
Early life
FitzGerald was born in Tralee, Co. Kerry, IrelandIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. He studied civil engineering at Queen's College, Cork, (now known as University College Cork), and emigrated to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Working as a surveyor
FitzGerald arrived in Sydney, Australia in 1856 and a short time later was appointed to the Department of Lands as a draftsmanTechnical drawing
Technical drawing, also known as drafting or draughting, is the act and discipline of composing plans that visually communicate how something functions or has to be constructed.Drafting is the language of industry....
for the crown.
Working steadily until 1868 FitzGerald was then promoted to control the roads branch of that department.
By 1873 he had become Deputy Surveyor General, and by 1874 he had been given responsibility as the Chief Mining Surveyor as well as controller of Church and School Lands for New South Wales. Following the advent of the Crown Lands Act of 1884 part of his duty was to analyse and consider the future roles of his department and ironically that analysis resulted in a number of retrenchment
Retrenchment
Retrenchment is an act of cutting down or reduction, particularly of public expenditure.-Political usage:The word is familiar in this, its most general sense, from the motto of the Gladstonian Liberal party in British politics, "Peace, Retrenchment and Reform."The manifesto for 1906 Liberal...
s including his own.
Ornithology and botany
In his private life FitzGerald developed his skills as an ornithologist. Coupled with his skills as a taxidermist he initially (during 1855-56) contributed a number of articles on the birds of his hometown Kerry to that town's magazine.Mor specifically FitzGerald had an enormous interest in botany and in 1864 he travelled to Wallis Lake, north of Newcastle
Newcastle, New South Wales
The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...
in New South Wales to collect ferns and orchids which he intended to cultivate around his Hunter's Hill home.
This interest in orchids was maintained throughout his life and in 1869, 1871 and 1876 he visited Lord Howe Island
Lord Howe Island
Lord Howe Island is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, directly east of mainland Port Macquarie, and about from Norfolk Island. The island is about 11 km long and between 2.8 km and 0.6 km wide with an area of...
to collect further botanical samples. It was during this time that he discovered Dracophyllum fitzgeraldii F. Muell, which was later to be named in his honour.
Marriage and children
FitzGerald married Emily Blackwell, daughter of Edward HuntEdward Hunt
Edward Hunt arrived in Sydney in 1814 and soon rose to prominence in that city. He was a cabinet maker and involved in religious and charitable matters...
, M.L.C.
New South Wales Legislative Council
The New South Wales Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of New South Wales in Australia. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney. The Assembly is referred to as the lower house and the Council as...
, at Balmain
Balmain, New South Wales
Balmain is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Balmain is located slightly west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Leichhardt....
in 1860. FitzGerald had three sons and three daughters who survived his death.
His grandson was the Australian poet R. D. Fitzgerald
R. D. Fitzgerald
Robert David FitzGerald III AM OBE was an Australian poet.-Biography:FitzGerald was born in Hunters Hill, New South Wales, a third-generation Australian of Irish extraction, and studied science at the University of Sydney. He left before graduating, however, and followed in the footsteps of both...
.
Death
FitzGerald died on 12 August 1892 at Hunter's Hill, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and he is buried in the Presbyterian section of the old Balmain cemetery.Australian Orchids
From 1875 until 1882 in association with Arthur James Stopps who was a lithographer in the same public offices that he worked at, FitzGerald published seven parts of his work Australian OrchidsThe exquisite lithograph plates detailing FitzGerald's dissections of orchids, were hand-coloured by artists following his samples and instructions.
Australian Orchids made FitzGerald famous in the botanical world and J. D. Hooker another botanist, considered the work one which would be an honour to any country and to any Botanist.
Manuscript notes
Manuscript notes on botanical species including watercolour sketches and diagrams with botanical annotations which were completed by hand by Fitzgerald between 1870 and 1890, and are held by National Library of Australia.Published drawings
The originals of FitzGerald's drawings completed in Sydney published between 1874–94, of Australian orchids including 196 water-colour and pencil drawings with the artists pencilled notes in 2 volumes is held as a part of the Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales.Published letters
A number of letters dated between 1871-92 from FitzGerald to the German/Australian botanist Ferdinand von MuellerFerdinand von Mueller
Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, KCMG was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist.-Early life:...
about Australian plants and their identification with references to Herbarium specimens as well as a single letter from G.H. Druce to FitzGerald are held at the National Herbarium of Victoria
National Herbarium of Victoria
The National Herbarium of Victoria is one of Australia’s premier state herbaria. It was established in 1853 and is sited within the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. The present building was constructed in 1934 through a donation from philanthropist Sir Macpherson Robertson. It, along with a...
, Melbourne.
Eponyms
- The spider orchid, Caladenia fitzgeraldii RuppCaladeniaThe genus Caladenia belongs to the subfamily Orchidoideae of the orchid family . The abbreviation Calda. is often used in trade journals to indicate the genus....
is named in his honour. - The ravine orchid, Sarcochilus fitzgeraldii F. Muell. is named in his honour.
- The giant EricaceaEricaceaeThe Ericaceae, commonly known as the heath or heather family, is a group of mostly calcifuge flowering plants. The family is large, with roughly 4000 species spread across 126 genera, making it the 14th most speciose family of flowering plants...
, Dracophyllum fitzgeraldii F. Muell., which he discovered on Lord Howe IslandLord Howe IslandLord Howe Island is an irregularly crescent-shaped volcanic remnant in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, directly east of mainland Port Macquarie, and about from Norfolk Island. The island is about 11 km long and between 2.8 km and 0.6 km wide with an area of...
is named in his honour. - The orchid, Eugenia fitzgeraldi F.Muell. & F.M.Bailey is named in his honour.
Medals
- Received bronze medal from Agricultural Society of NSW in 1871 for his work on orchids.
- Received gold medal from the Exhibition Internationale de Paris in 1878 Australian Orchids.
- Received bronze medal from the Sydney International Exhibition in 1879.
- Received silver medal from the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880.
- Received the Amsterdam Medal D'Or in 1883.
- Received bronze medal from the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London in 1886.
Memberships
- Made an honorary member of Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria.
- Elected a fellow of the Linnean Society of London in 1874.
- Elected a member of the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1876.
Other honours
- Fitzgerald County, New South WalesFitzgerald County, New South WalesFitzgerald County is one of the 141 Cadastral divisions of New South Wales.Fitzgerald County was named in honour of the surveyor and botanist, Robert D. FitzGerald .- Parishes within this county:...
is named in his honour.