William Blandowski
Encyclopedia
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
zoologist and mining engineer, was born in Gleiwitz
Gliwice
Gliwice is a city in Upper Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. Gliwice is the west district of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union – a metropolis with a population of 2 million...
, Upper Silesia, Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
(now: Gliwice
Gliwice
Gliwice is a city in Upper Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. Gliwice is the west district of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union – a metropolis with a population of 2 million...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
).
In 1849 he moved to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
where he made a small fortune in the goldfield
Gold mining
Gold mining is the removal of gold from the ground. There are several techniques and processes by which gold may be extracted from the earth.-History:...
s near Castlemaine, Victoria
Castlemaine, Victoria
Castlemaine is a city in Victoria, Australia, in the Goldfields region of Victoria about 120 kilometres northwest by road from Melbourne, and about 40 kilometres from the major provincial centre of Bendigo. It is the administrative and economic centre of the Shire of Mount Alexander. The...
. He was a founder of the Geological Society of Victoria in 1852. He was the first scientist appointed to the new Victorian Museum
Museum Victoria
Museum Victoria is an organisation which operates three major state-owned museums in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; these are: the Melbourne Museum, the Immigration Museum and Scienceworks. It also manages the Royal Exhibition Building and a storage facility in Melbourne's City of Moreland.Museum...
on 1 April 1854. In 1856-1857 he led a scientific collecting expedition (the Blandowski Expedition
Blandowski Expedition
The Blandowski Expedition was a scientific expedition that travelled from Melbourne to the area of the junction of the Darling and Murray Rivers in north-western Victoria, and south-western New South Wales, Australia, to study the natural history of the region and to acquire specimens for the...
) to the junction of the Murray
Murray River
The Murray River is Australia's longest river. At in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between New South Wales and Victoria as it...
and Darling River
Darling River
The Darling River is the third longest river in Australia, measuring from its source in northern New South Wales to its confluence with the Murray River at Wentworth, New South Wales. Including its longest contiguous tributaries it is long, making it the longest river system in Australia.The...
s, which procured a large number of biological specimens for the museum, especially new fish species.
He was a member and on the council of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria, a forerunner of the Royal Society of Victoria
Royal Society of Victoria
The Royal Society of Victoria is the oldest learned society in the state of Victoria in Australia.The Royal Society of Victoria was formed in 1859 from a merger between The Philosophical Society of Victoria and The Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science , both founded...
, but became a controversial figure in 1857 when he wrote an article describing some of his newly discovered fish species. In naming these fishes, he proposed to 'honour' certain members of the council by using their names for the specific names of the new species. However, for two of these species, named after two very prominent members of council, the following descriptions were used:
In 1857 and 1858 he was a member of the Philosophical Institute's 'Exploration Committee' that organised the Burke and Wills expedition
Burke and Wills expedition
In 1860–61, Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills led an expedition of 19 men with the intention of crossing Australia from Melbourne in the south to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north, a distance of around 3,250 kilometres...
and Blandowski felt strongly that Victoria's should be actively involved in the exploration of Australia.
Blandowski returned to Europe in 1859 and complained of his treatment in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
He died in Bunzlau (nown Bolesławiec) in 1878. He is commemorated in a genus of marine fish (Blandowskius), and of the Murray River perches (Blandowskiella).
External links
- An Australian chronicle revisited http://www.smh.com.au/national/an-australian-chronicle-revisited-20100902-14rq5.html?skin=text-only