Baker, Richard Thomas (1854 - 1941)

Summary

Richard Baker was widely recognised for his research into Australian trees and their utilisation and phytochemical properties, and as a pioneer in studies on the latter. Having migrated to New South Wales in 1879, he taught for the next nine years at Newington College, Sydney. In 1888 he became Assistant to Joseph Maiden, Curator of the Technological Museum. Baker was in charge of the Museum from 1896 (when Maiden left to become Director of the Sydney Botanic Gardens) and formally appointed Curator in 1898 (and also Economic Botanist three years later). Curation and expansion of the Museum's collections was accomplished alongside his research. Much of that research was conducted with his Museum colleague Henry Smith. Their major work was A research on the eucalypts, especially in regard to their essential oils (1920), this being just one of the books they published together. A skilled artist, many of Baker's books and scientific papers included his illustrations. An active member of professional organisations, Baker was a Council Member of the Linnean Society of New South Wales from 1897 to 1922.

Details

Born Woolwich, Kent, England, 1 December 1854. Died Sydney, 14 July 1941. Educated Peterborough Training Institution, and science and art certificates from South Kensington Museum. Senior assistant-master, School Board for London 1875-79; science and art master and senior house-master, Newington College, Sydney 1880-88; assistant curator to J.H. Maiden, Technological Museum, Sydney 1888-96; in charge of the museum from 1896; curator from 1898; economic botanist 1901-22; lectured in forestry, University of Sydney 1913-24. Mueller Medal, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science 1921, W.B. Clarke Medal, Royal Society of New South Wales 1922. Published several books, the major one being "Hardwoods of Australia and Their Economics" (1919).

Chronology

1875 - 1879

Career position - Senior assistant-master, School Board for London

1879

Life event - Migrated to New South Wales

1880 - 1888

Career position - Science and art master and senior house-master, Newington College, Sydney

1888 -

Career position - Member, Linnean Society of New South Wales

January 1888 - 1898

Career position - Assistant Curator to J.H. Maiden, Technological Museum, Sydney

1894 -

Career position - Member, Royal Society of New South Wales

1897 - 1922

Career position - Member of Council, Linnean Society of New South Wales

1898

Taxonomy event - Eucalyptus bridgesiana R.T.Baker

1898

Taxonomy event - Eucalyptus oreades R.T.Baker

1898 - 1922

Career position - Curator, Technological Museum, Sydney

1900

Taxonomy event - Eucalyptus intermedia R.T.Baker

1900

Taxonomy event - Eucalyptus angophoroides R.T.Baker

1901 - 1922

Career position - Economic Botanist, Technological Museum

1913

Taxonomy event - Honoured with Eucalyptus bakeri Maiden

1913 - 1924

Career position - Lecturer in Forestry, University of Sydney

1915

Taxonomy event - Eucalyptus australiana R.T.Baker (= E. radiata Sieb. var. australiana Blakely (1934))

1917

Taxonomy event - Eucalyptus beyeri R.T.Baker

1921 -

Career position - Foundation Councillor (Botany), Australian National Research Council

1921

Award - Mueller Medal (jointly with C. Chilton), Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

1922

Life event - Retired

1922

Award - Clarke Medal, Royal Society of New South Wales

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• Australian Botanists - Biographies, MS 064; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

• Richard Thomas Baker - Records, 1890 - 1941; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

Powerhouse Museum

• Richard Thomas Baker - Records, 1891 - 1940, MRS 4, 16, 202, 109, 225; Powerhouse Museum. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• Collins, David, Chemistry in 19th Australia - Select Bibliography, An exhibition of the Encyclopedia circa 2005 with assistance from Ailie Smith and Gavan McCarthy., eScholarship Research Centre (original publisher), Melbourne, 2009, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/ciab/ciab_ALL.html. Details
• McCarthy, Gavan; Smith, Ailie; Moje, Christine; Rigby, Rebecca, The Study of Australian Eucalypts, eScholarship Research Centre, 2013, http://www.eoas.info/eucalypts/index.html. Details

Books

• List of Original Publications and Papers by R.T. Baker (Sydney: W.A. Gullick, Government Printer, 1911). Details
• Baker, Richard T., The Australian flora in applied art, part I: the waratah (Sydney: Technological Museum, 1915), 84 pp. Details
• Baker, Richard T., Building and ornamental stones of Australia (Sydney: Government Printer, 1915), 169 pp. Details
• Baker, Richard T., The hardwoods of Australia and their economics (Sydney: Government Printer, 1919), 522 pp. Details
• Baker, Richard T. and Smith, Henry G., A research on the pines of Australia (Sydney: Government Printer, 1910), 458 pp. Details
• Baker, Richard T.; Smith, Henry G., A research on the eucalypts, especially in regard to their essential oils (Sydney: Government Printer, 1920), 471 pp. Details
• Baker, Richard T.; Smith, Henry T., A research on the eucalypts of Tasmania and their essential oils (Tasmania: Government Printer, 1912), 71 pp. Details
• Wrigley, J.; and Fagg, M., Eucalypts: a Celebration (Crows Nest Australia: Allen & Unwin, 2010), 344 pp. Details

Book Sections

• 'Baker, Richard Thomas (1854-1941)' in Australian Encyclopaedia, Chisholm, Alec H., ed., vol. 1 (Sydney: Grolier, 1965), p. 393. Details
• Bogle, Michael, 'R.T. Baker' in Design in Australia, 1880-1970 (North Ryde, New South Wales: Craftsman House, c.1998), pp. 47-48, 52. Details
• McKern, H. H. G., 'Research into the volatile oils of the Australian flora, 1788 - 1967' in A century of scientific progress: the centenary volume of the Royal Society of New South Wales (Sydney: Royal Society of New South Wales, 1968), pp. 310-31, https://www.royalsoc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/CV-11-McKern.pdf. Details
• Watson, Anne, 'The legacy of a vision: from Lucien Henry to R.T. Baker' in Visions of a republic: the work of Lucien Henry, Paris, Noumea, Sydney, Stephen, Ann, ed. (Sydney: Powerhouse Publishing, 2001), pp. 108-125. Details
• Willis, J. L., 'Baker, Richard Thomas (1854-1941), botanist and museum curator' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 7: 1891 - 1939 A-Ch, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1979), pp. 154-155. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/baker-richard-thomas-5108. Details

Journal Articles

• 'Obituary: Mr. R. T. Baker', Australian Journal of Science, 4 (1) (1941), 17-18. Details
• Baker, R. T., 'Note on the Cinnamomum, &c., in the Proposed Addendum (to the British Pharmacopoeia)', The Chemist and Druggist of Australasia, 14 (1899), 67-68. Details
• Baker, Richard T.; Smith, Henry G., 'On the Presence of a True Manna on a "Blue Grass", Andropogon annulatus , Forsk.', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 30 (1896), 291-308. Details
• Baker, Richard T.; Smith, Henry G., 'On the Essential Oil and the Presence of a Solid Camphor or Stearoptene in the "Sydney Peppermint" Eucalyptus piperita, Sm', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 31 (1897), 195-200. Details
• Baker, Richard T.; Smith, Henry G., 'On "Grey Gum", (Eucalyptus punctata, DC.,) particularly in Regard to its Essential Oil', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 31 (1897), 259-280. Details
• Baker, Richard T.; Smith, Henry G., 'On the "Stringybark" Trees of N.S.Wales, Especially in Regard to their Essential Oils', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 32 (1898), 104-119. Details
• Baker, Richard T.; Smith, Henry G., 'On the Darwinias of Port Jackson and their Essential Oils', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 33 (1899), 163-176. Details
• Bean, A. R., 'The Discovery and Documentation of the Eucalypts of Queensland and New South Wales, 1896-1961', Australian Systematic Botany Society Newsletter, 142 (March) (2010), 2-5. Details
• Crawford, J. M.; Vine Hall, R. (Baker, Richard T.; Welch, M. B.; Grant, R.; Froggatt, W. W.; Lofts, G. H.; Burton, W. L.; Brookman, J. R.; Morse, R. V.; Humble, W.), 'Preservation of wooden poles - I and II (Appendices, and discussions and communications)', Transactions of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 5 (1924), 342-354, https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.862590066385336. Details
• Lucas, A. M., 'A nineteenth-century exploration of phytochemistry in botanical systematics: Joseph Henry Maiden and Eucalyptus kinos', Historical Records of Australian Science, 28 (1) (2017), 18-25, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR16020. Details
• Mellor, D. P., 'Presidential address', Journal and proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 76 (1943), 1-46. Details
• Mellor, D.P., 'Obituary: Richard Thomas Baker', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 76 (1942), 6. Details
• Pearson, Michael, 'The good oil: eucalyptus oil distilleries in Australia.', Australasian Historical Archaeology, 11 (1993), 99-107. Details

Resources

• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/56100555. Details
• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q7329451. Details
• 'Baker, Richard T (1854-1941)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-638648. Details

See also

• Hall, Norman, Botanists of the Eucalypts: short biographies of people who have named eucalypts, whose names have been given to species or who have collected type material (Melbourne: CSIRO, 1978), 101 pp. Details
• Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details
• Walkom, A. B., 'Presidential address', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 67 (1942), i-xv, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/pdf4/1926874i00108650.pdf. Details