John Dallachy Explained

John Dallachy (c. 1808 – 4 June 1871) was a curator of Melbourne Botanic Gardens and a plant collector.

Dallachy was born in Elginshire, Scotland. He worked as a gardener for the Earl of Aberdeen and Kew Gardens. In 1847, he went to Ceylon to manage a coffee plantation. Sailing to Australia in 1848, he took up work as a gardener for Jonathan Were in Brighton, Victoria. He was an overseer and later a superintendent of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens from 1849 to 1857. Following the appointment of Ferdinand von Mueller as director, Dallachy continued as curator until 1861.^[1]

Expeditions

From 1849 onwards, Dallachy made a number of expeditions (mainly within Victoria) to collect plant specimens. These included:^[2]

• c. 1849 Baw Baw region, (Victoria)
• August 1849 Mount Macedon, (Victoria)
• January 1850 Mount Disappointment, (Victoria)
• August 1850 Pentland Hills, (Victoria)
• 1853 Ovens Valley and Mount Buffalo, (Victoria)
• 1858 Wentworth and Mount Murchison, near Wilcannia, (New South Wales)
• 1860 Wimmera River and Lake Hindmarsh, (Victoria)
• 1864–1871 Rockingham Bay, Queensland

His plant specimens are located in National Herbarium of Victoria| (MEL), with duplicates in the herbaria London (BM), Berlin (B), Kiel (KIEL) and Vienna (W).^[3]

Notes and References

1. Gross, A. (1972) Web site: Dallachy, John (1808-1871). Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. 23 March 2013.
2. Encyclopedia: Dallachy, John (c. 1803 - 1871) . Encyclopedia of Australian Science. 23 March 2013.
3. Web site: Dallachy, John (1808 - 1871). Australian National Herbarium. 23 March 2013.