Hundreds, if not thousands, of specimens, new to Europeans, were collected and illustrated and taken back to Europe. Many of the plants that now adorn New Zealand Aotearoa gardens and bush were, therefore, first described and given scientific names during the visits by Cook and his colleagues. John Robson will be giving a Garden Research Foundation Lecture on the botanical results from Captain James Cook’s three voyages in the Pacific during 1768–1780.
About the speaker
John Robson has two lifelong interests – maps and Captain James Cook. He has published many books combining them in his publications. His book, Captain Cook’s War and Peace about Cook’s early Royal Navy career was published in 2009. He contributed the maps to John Gascoigne’s award winning book, Encountering the Pacific, and has written chapters for 2 books about Cook in Alaska. He is past-President of the international Captain Cook Society.
He began a second career as a cruise ship lecturer in recent years. Robson has lectured on cruise ships for Discovery, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Noble Caledonia and Seabourn as well as advising on and appearing in several television documentaries.
Robson moved to New Zealand from the UK in 1981 and now lives in Hamilton with his corgi, Cassie, and a house full of Cook books and Cookabilia.
Cost: $5.00 per person.
Location: Piwakawaka Room, Hamilton Gardens, Hamilton
For more information: https://hamiltongardens.co.nz/events/garden-research-foundation-lecture/?date=2023-09-14
Related contet
Plant specimens collected by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander on Captain Cook’s 1769 Endeavour voyage created the first physical record of New Zealand’s natural history.
Discover more about plant collections in museums in this article and in the The value of early collections.
Find out how botany curators at Te Papa collect, describe and catalogue native plants in Documenting New Zealand’s Ferns.
Activity ideas
Try the activity Traditional fern collections with your class and get them to collect, press, mount and label ferns to develop a traditional herbarium. You may wish to do the activity Alternative fern collections concurrently.
