Schultze and Hoare: the Collector and the Illustrator

Schultze and Hoare: the Collector and the Illustrator is an exhibition displaying images of plant specimens and watercolour paintings to tell the story of the first Europeans to make a scientific study of the plant and animal life around Port Darwin. The year 2019 marks 150 years since Frederick Schultze arrived in Port Darwin as the official botanist and naturalist on the 1869 Northern Territory Survey Expedition. In seventeen months he collected 995 plant specimens, all carefully labelled, shipping them back to the Adelaide Botanic Garden and Museum. He also collected more than 600 bird skins as well as numerous shells, fish, corals, sponges, insects and small vertebrates.

Because the natural colours of his specimens would not survive preservation processes of the day, the expedition’s assistant surgeon William Webster Hoare, an accomplished amateur artist, was commissioned to paint watercolours to illustrate a variety of Schultze’s specimens. These are now appreciated as artworks in their own right.

The exhibition draws on new research that has established the extent to which Schultze’s plant specimens have survived in the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and the National Herbarium of Victoria. Also exhibited will be a selection of preserved vertebrates from the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT).

Exhibition on mezzanine level, open during Library hours.

Interested in exploring the wonderful world of scientific collecting? Join Director of the NT Government's Heritage Branch Michael Wells and guest speakers on Wednesday 6 February 5:30pm - 6:30pm. Bookings to the talk are essential. 

Image credit: Specimen No. 623 Dipodium Stenochilum, collected by F. Schultze. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew