P000373 revised AU-VU:EOAS Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation

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 English AACR2 Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules Person created 1993-10-20 human Annette Alafaci updated 2025-12-16 human https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P000373b.htm person Drummond James AACR2 c. 1786 27 March 1863 Place of Birth Inverarity, Scotland Place of Death Toodyay, Western Australia, Australia Botanist Naturalist James Drummond was an avid botanist and plant collector. He was curator at Ireland's Cork Botanical Gardens from 1808, before migrating to Australia in 1829. Drummond worked as the Western Australian Government's naturalist. He was also appointed superintendent of the government gardens. He went on numerous expeditions across Western Australia where he collected thousands of seeds and plants for export to England. Today his plant specimens are found in herbaria across the world. He named several of Western Australia's native species and 119 specimens have been names after him. His father Thomas Drummond, was a gardener on the Fotheringham estate at Inverarity.

Prior to arriving in Australia, James Drummond was curator of the Cork Botanical Gardens, an associate of the Linnean Society and had published several papers on Irish plants. In 1829 he, together with his wife and six children, accompanied Captain Stirling to Western Australia on the ship Parmelia. Drummond was appointed Government Naturalist, but worked more in the role of botanist. The position was without pay. He was also appointed superintendent of the government gardens, and received a salary of £100. From 1835, Drummond began collection plant specimens and seeds to export to England. Hundreds of new species were named from his collections. These expeditions lead him to travel much of Western Australia's southern lands. Together with his sons, especially Johnston, and other botanists (including John Gilbert) he collected over 3500 specimens. Drummond also discovered that some local plants were in fact poisonous to livestock resulting in large stock losses.

In July 1845 Drummond's son Johnston was killed during an expedition at Moore River. This caused James Drummond to give up collecting. However 15 months later he was awarded an honorarium from the Queen's Bounty for his services to botany. This inspired Drummond to begin collecting again until 1855 when he was too old to continue.

post-ADB contributions made by Mr Charles Nelson

1787 1787 Life event - Baptised on 8 January 1787 1808 Career position - Curator of the Cork Botanical Gardens, Ireland 1810 1810 Career position - Associate of the Linnean Society 1829 1829 Life event - Arrived in Australia (Western Australia) on the Parmelia August 1839 August 1839 Career position - Expedition for 1st collection at Rottnest Island 1840 1840 Career position - Expedition for 2nd collection at Albany and Cape Riche 1841 1844 Career position - Pioneered the Victorian Plains 1842 1842 Taxonomy event - Collector of the type Eucalyptus macrocarpa Hook. 1843 1843 Career position - Expedition for 3rd collection at Sterling Ranges and Albany 1846 1846 Award - Queen's Bounty Honorarium awarded for services rendered to botanical science 1846 1847 Career position - Expedition for 4th collection at Sterling Ranges, Cape Riche, Salt River and West Mount Barren 1847 1847 Taxonomy event - Collector of the type Eucalyptus goniantha Turcz. 1847 1848 Career position - Expedition for 5th collection at Mount Caroline and Albany 1850 1851 Career position - Expedition for 6th collection at Champion Bay 1852 1852 Taxonomy event - Collector of the type Eucalyptus erythronema Turcz. 1867 1867 Taxonomy event - Honoured with Eucalyptus drummondii Benth. Drummond collected the type 1867 1867 Taxonomy event - Collector of the type Eucalyptus leptopoda Benth. Schauer, Johann Conrad (1813 - 1848) Gilbert, John (1812 - 1845) Clarkson, Barnard Drummond (1836 - 1909)

Clarkson was grandson of James

Wikidata

VIAF - Virtual International Authority File

 Drummond, James (1787-1863)

Trove

 'Drummond, James', in Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology Drummond, James Swinburne University of Technology, Centre for Transformative Innovation Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Book Section: James Drummond, bap.1787-1863 Fisher, Clemency Thorne James Drummond, bap.1787-1863 Oxford Oxford University Press 2004 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Journal Article: In the Footsteps of James Drummond with Charles Austin Gardner Perry, D. H. In the Footsteps of James Drummond with Charles Austin Gardner 1971 Western Australian Naturalist 11 8 178-180 Journal Article: James and Thomas Drummond: their Scottish origins and curatorships in Irish botanic gardens (ca 1808­ca 1831) Nelson, E. Charles James and Thomas Drummond: their Scottish origins and curatorships in Irish botanic gardens (ca 1808­ca 1831) 1990 Archives of Natural History 17 1 49-65 Book Section: Drummond, James (1784-1863), botanist and plant collector Erickson, Rica Drummond, James (1784-1863), botanist and plant collector Melbourne Melbourne University Press 1966 Australian dictionary of biography, volume 1: 1788 - 1850 A-H Douglas Pike 325-326 Journal Article: The Drummond collection of Western Australian fungi at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Hilton, R. N. The Drummond collection of Western Australian fungi at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 1983 Nuytsia 4 333-57 Book: The Drummonds of Hawthornden Erickson, R. The Drummonds of Hawthornden Osborne Park, W.A. Lamb Paterson 1969 Book Section: James Drummond and the Royal Irish Institution Carr, D. J. and Carr, S. G. M. James Drummond and the Royal Irish Institution Sydney Academic Press 1981 People and Plants in Australia D. J. Carr and S. G. M. Carr 280-7 Journal Article: Retracing history through herbarium specimens Milne, Pina Retracing history through herbarium specimens 2020 Studies in Western Australian history 35 75-87 Book Section: The impact of James Drummond on Western Australian botany Marchant, N. G. The impact of James Drummond on Western Australian botany Perth Department Environmental Biology, Curtin University of Technology 2005 The Drummond Symposium: a review of the work of James Drummond, the first Government Botanist in Western Australia Davies, S. J. J. F 15-26 Review: Retracing some of the expeditions by Moore and Drummond in south-west Western Australia Olde, Peter Retracing some of the expeditions by Moore and Drummond in south-west Western Australia 2014 Australasian Systematic Botany Society Newsletter 161 54-7 Journal Article: "There are Greater Things in Life Than Cricket": Tetratheca aphylla (Elaeocarpaceae), James Drummond and the Exploration of the Helena and Aurora Range Gibson, Neil and Butcher, Ryonen "There are Greater Things in Life Than Cricket": Tetratheca aphylla (Elaeocarpaceae), James Drummond and the Exploration of the Helena and Aurora Range 2013 Nuytsia 23 95-9 Edited Book: Explorers Routes Revisited: Moore Expeditions 1836; Drummond Expeditions 1841-1842 Brooker, Lesley Explorers Routes Revisited: Moore Expeditions 1836; Drummond Expeditions 1841-1842 Kalamunda, W.A.: Carlisle, W.A. Lesley Brooker; Hesperian Press 2012 Journal Article: James Drummond of the Swan River Colony Sherwood, B. R. James Drummond of the Swan River Colony 2010 The Linnean 26 3 19-26 Book: Dictionary of Australian biography Serle, Percival Dictionary of Australian biography Sydney Angus & Robertson 1949 Book: The greater prize than gold: Augustus Oldfield, nineteenth century botanical collector and ethnographer Henderson, M. Helen; and Henderson, William G. The greater prize than gold: Augustus Oldfield, nineteenth century botanical collector and ethnographer Perth, W.A. The Book Reality Experience 2018 Book: 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 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

Source used to compile entry

 Book Section: Botany and Society in the Swan River Colony Hamersley, M. J. Botany and Society in the Swan River Colony Sydney Academic Press 1981 People and Plants in Australia D. J. Carr and S. G. M. Carr 259-79 James Drummond - Records JS Battye Library of West Australian History, State Library of Western Australia James Drummond - Records ACC 2275A 1946 - 1960 Correspondence in the Colonial Secretary's records; three letters from C.R. Darwin concerning the fertilization of Leschenaultia and other Goodenaceae 1860; letter from William Hutt, London 1846. James Drummond - Records Royal Western Australian Historical Society James Drummond - Records 1784 - 1863 Biographical notes on Drummond c1784-1863. James Drummond - Records Western Australia Herbarium James Drummond - Records 58.007(941) Dru 1839 - 1848 Copies, handwritten by Rica Erickson and arranged in chronological order, of most of Drummond's letters in the Kew Library, England, 1839-48, with extracts from Hooker's publication of them in his botanical journals [267 pages, 58.007(941) Dru]. Letters on the botany of Western Australia to the editor of "The Inquirer" 1842-43, copied by Rica Erickson [20 items, 58(044) Dru]. Letters selected from J. Mangles letterbooks 1834-41, includes letters by J. Drummond, J. Mangles, G.F. Moore and lady Stirling, copied by Rica Erickson [1 volume, 58(044) Let]. 267 pages James Drummond - Records JS Battye Library of West Australian History, State Library of Western Australia James Drummond - Records LBWA/3 1840 - 1860 Report to the Colonial Secretary 'on the botanical production of the country from the York district to the King George Sound' with details of experiments to identify poison plants causing stock losses, December 1840 (Published in "Perth Gazette" 5 and 12 December 1840). Australian Botanists - Biographies Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science Australian Botanists - Biographies MS 064 Hunt Institute Biographies. Short biographies, averaging 2 pages, of Australian botanists, botanical collectors or artists. 0.24 m, 3 boxes