Simmons, Richard (1862 - 1940)

Henry George (1889 - 1974)

(father and son).

Simmons and his son George worked at Rockhampton Botanic Gardens for an unbroken eighty-four years. In 1911 Simmons Snr assisted Professor Chamberlain of the University of Chicago to collect macrozamia plants and Byfield fern. In 1937 George Simmons, then Gardens Curator, was part of an expedition to Blackdown Tablelands where he collected numerous specimens some of which are held at the Queensland Herbarium.

Simmons Snr and Jr were both keen to help people with similar interests. However McDonald (1981) says "Simmons and his son George were both skilled naturalists whose scientific knowledge on local species was occasionally pirated by visiting academics. On other occasions scientists leaned heavily on the Simmons's specific knowledge and sometimes made heavy demands on their time and energies". Queensland Herbarium records indicate that George Simmons was an active plant collector at Yeppoon and Rockhampton areas between 1921 and 1931. Several cultivated species of plants from Rockhampton Gardens were sent to the Queensland Herbarium by Simmons Snr in 1923.

Source: Queensland Herbarium records (1988) and McDonald (1981). Published in Port Curtis District Flora and Early Botanists by G.N. Batianoff and H.A. Dillewaard (1988), Botany Branch, Queensland Herbarium.