Walter Lawry Buller KCMG (9 October 1838 – 19 July 1906) was a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 lawyer, naturalist

Natural history

Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...

 and ornithologist

Ornithology

Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...

.

Buller was the author of A History of the Birds of New Zealand (1872-1873, 2nd ed. 1887-1888), with illustrations by John Gerrard Keulemans

John Gerrard Keulemans

Johannes Gerardus Keulemans was a Dutch bird illustrator.-Biography and Work:...

. In 1882 he produced the Manual of the Birds of New Zealand as a cheaper, popular alternative. In 1905, he published a two-volume Supplement to the History of the Birds of New Zealand which brought the work up to date.

Buller was born at the Wesleyan mission, Newark at Pakanae in the Hokianga

Hokianga

Hokianga is an area surrounding the Hokianga Harbour, also known as The Hokianga River, a long estuarine drowned valley on the west coast in the north of the North Island of New Zealand....

, the son of a Cornish

Cornish people

The Cornish are a people associated with Cornwall, a county and Duchy in the south-west of the United Kingdom that is seen in some respects as distinct from England, having more in common with the other Celtic parts of the United Kingdom such as Wales, as well as with other Celtic nations in Europe...

 missionary

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

, Rev. James Buller, who had helped convert the people of Tonga

Tonga

Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...

 to Methodism

Methodism

Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...

. He was educated at Wesley College

Wesley College, Auckland

Wesley College is a secondary school in Pukekohe, New Zealand. The school provides education from year 9 to 13.The school was founded by members of the Methodist Church in 1844, making it one of the country's oldest schools. Initially located in Grafton and then the Three Kings area of Auckland, it...

 in Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

. In 1854, he moved to Wellington

Wellington

Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

 with his parents, where he was befriended by the naturalist William John Swainson. In 1859 he was made Native Commissioner for the Southern Provinces. In 1871 he travelled to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and was called to the bar at the Inner Temple

Inner Temple

The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...

. Three years later he returned to Wellington and practiced law.

Buller helped establish the scientific display in the New Zealand Court at the World's Fair in Paris and was decorated with the Officer of the Legion of Honour by the President of France in November 1889.

Buller was a government

Government

Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...

 minister from 1896 to 1899. He emigrated to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and died at Fleet in Hampshire

Fleet, Hampshire

Fleet is a town and civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England, located 37 miles south west of London. It is part of Hart District. The 2007 population forecast for Fleet was 31,687.-History:...

.

Wellington playwright Nick Blake authored a play on Buller's life, Dr Buller's Birds which debued at the 2006 NZ International Arts Festival.

List of honours

• KCMG
• Officier de la Légion d'Honneur
  Légion d'honneur
  The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
  
  (France)

External links

• Dictionary of New Zealand Biography Sir Walter Lawry Buller
• New Zealand National Library Sir Walter lawry Buller
• Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966: Sir Walter Lawry Buller
• Illustrations from History of the birds of New Zealand (1873 edn.)
• Illustrations from the Supplement to the second edn. of History of the birds of New Zealand