Peter Good

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Peter Good (date of birth unknown, died 12 June 1803) was the gardener assistant to botanist Robert Brown on the voyage of HMS Investigator under Matthew Flinders, [1] during which the coast of Australia was charted, and various plants collected.

Contents

Biography

Good had worked as a foreman at Kew Royal Gardens, during which time he had assisted botanist Christopher Smith in transporting a shipment of English plants to Calcutta. [2] He was working as a kitchen gardener at Wemyss Castle, Scotland, when Joseph Banks offered him the appointment as gardener to Brown, at a salary of £105 a year. [3]

The voyage

Good made an extensive seed collection during the voyage, and also collected plant specimens for both his own and Brown's collections. He died of dysentery in Sydney Cove, [4] and his plant collection was incorporated into Brown's. Brown immensely admired his work ethic, and named the plant genus Goodia in his honour. [5] Banksia goodii (Good's Banksia) is also named after him.

See also

Works

Reference section

Notes

  1. From the Ends of the Earth, Christian Lamb, Christian Lamb, 2004, ISBN   1-903071-08-9 p 40
  2. The Letters of Sir Joseph Banks, Neil Chambers (ed), World Scientific, 2000, ISBN   1-86094-204-0 p 369
  3. The Life of Matthew Flinders, Miriam Estensen, Allen & Unwin, 2003, ISBN   1-74114-152-4 p 147
  4. Vallance, T.G., Moore, D.T. & Groves, E.W. 2001. Nature's Investigator The Diary of Robert Brown in Australia, 1801-1805, Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra, (pp.409-410) ISBN   0-642-56817-0
  5. The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, Robert Jameson, William Jardine and Henry Darwin Rogers, A. and C. Black, 1858 p333

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Further reading