Mitchell, Sir Thomas L. (1792 - 1855)

After a military career, Mitchell arrived in Sydney, New South Wales, in 1827 to take up the position of Deputy Surveyor-General. On Oxley's death in 1828 he became Surveyor-General, and held the position until 1855. He led four major expeditions, to north-western New South Wales in 1831, to Bourke and down the Darling River in 1835, along the Lachlan River to the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers and into western, central and north-eastern Victoria in 1836, and to mid-western Queensland in 1845-1847. Botanists accompanied him in 1835 (Richard Cunningham, killed early in the expedition), 1836 (John Richardson) and 1845-1847 (William Stephenson). The first three expeditions were described in Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia (1838), in which John Lindley described 77 new species of plants. Mitchell's collections are at BM (specimens sent to Brown, and others donated later by Mitchell), CGE (those sent to Lindley) and K (specimens sent to W.Hooker). A few are also at E, GH, L, MEL, NSW, TCD and W. Mitchell also presented a collection to the Australian Museum, later transferred to the Sydney Botanic Gardens, New South Wales, and rediscovered in a dilapidated state in 1896 (Gilbert, 1986).

Extracted from: A.E.Orchard (1999) A History of Systematic Botany in Australia, in Flora of Australia Vol.1, 2nd ed., ABRS. [consult for source references]