ROBERT BROWN
Terra Australis 1801 - 1805
A Public Symposium to Commemorate the Voyage of Matthew Flinders and his team of biologists
Robert Brown, Ferdinand Bauer and Peter Good
Featuring Guest Speaker
David Mabberley
The world authority on Robert Brown.
Tuesday 23rd April
Discovery Centre, Lecture Theatre
CSIRO off Clunies Ross St
3.15 - 7.00pm
followed by drinks and nibbles
(there will be a charge of $2 on the night for this)
Please phone 62465108 to book
Sponsored by Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Systematic Botany Society and the Austrian Embassy.
Note: David Mabberley will also give a public lecture on Ferdinand Bauer
24th April, 6.00 - 7.00 pm, National Library of Australia
Schedule
3.15: Welcome Judy West
Nature's Investigator - the diaries - Ian Cresswell
3.30: Mapping Terra Australis - Australia - Maura O'Connor
Matthew Flinders' charts and charting exposed.
4.00: Robert Brown and the Naturalised Flora - Richard Groves
Robert Brown noted 29 introduced plant species around Sydney and Parramatta between 1802 and 1804. This represents the first documentation of Australia's naturalised flora following European settlement of Australia's east coast.
4.30: Break
4.45: Dendrobium, Pterostylis and Caladenia - Mark Clements
An exposé of issues involved in resolving the protologue material for lectotypification of Brown names, with special reference to Australian Orchids.
5.15: Brunonia Australis - Helen Hewson
An overview of the contribution Robert Brown made to the botany of Victoria. In a very short time Brown collected a hundred or so flowering plant specimens, 26 of which became type specimens. Brunonia australis was represented as a syntype.
5.45: Break
6.00: To the Pantheon & Back Again: The career of Flinder's Naturalist, Robert Brown - David Mabberley
The scientific career of Robert Brown (1773 - 1858) was launched by Sir Joseph Banks's recruiting him as Flinders's naturalist. Brown's Australian experiences and connections with the Continental schools of scientific thought moulded his research, with the result that he was recognised as one of the great European intellectuals of his day. But by the time of his death, his star had faded. How and why all this came about is the subject of the lecture.
7.00: Drinks and nibbles