"Perennial herb with stems prostrate to 1.5 metres."
“Is it on the List?”
Hermann Beckler collected 120 different species of plants around Menindee. It is that list that the Beckler Botanical Bounty Project is using. So correct identification is very important!
The type of habitat where we were searching for our plants
I am a gardener, not a botanist. I find it hard to hold the Latin names in my head. I have no idea of many of the botanical plant terms. So identifying plants was a huge learning curve for me — and I am still only a little way on that curve!
We have been so lucky to have had the support of a botanist whose work takes him regularly to Kinchega National Park. As you walk with him he points to plants and says, “That’s a so and so (fill in Latin plant name here), that’s a such and such (add different Latin name). That one over there is on Beckler’s list, this one isn’t.” So he was able to help sort plants in the field. That was a massive help.
Looking for the right plants
However much we would have liked it, he couldn’t always be with us. And sometimes he was unsure. So then it was back to the reference books.
I am working on plants from the genus Cullen. This year I was working on a species Cullen discolor. But I had to be sure that my identification was correct.
Cullen discolor
It is described as ‘a perennial herb with stems prostrate to 1.5 metres’. Okay, I get those terms. Then the description said ‘tomentose to hispid’. These I discover are descriptions of hairiness. Its leaves are pinnately 3 foliate, narrow to broad, lanceolate to elliptic and less pubescent on the upper surface. The margins are toothed. There are petioles and stipules, peduncles and calyxes — and I never got to dissect the flower, which has more specialised terminology!
Reference material
So, having nutted my way through the key, and gone to botanical dictionaries and other more knowledgeable people, I am confident that this is Cullen discolor.
“Perennial herb with stems prostrate to 1.5 metres.”
At least I knew that this Cullen was ‘on the list’. Some artists went through the identification process, only to find it was one that Beckler hadn’t collected. Then it was out into the bush again to repeat the process.
Back in 1860 Hermann Beckler collected plant specimens during the Burke and Wills Expedition. (For posts about that check here and here.) Those specimens ended up in the Herbarium in Victoria. Now zoom forward 150 years to 2010, the 150th Anniversary of the Expedition.
There were a number of events and celebrations that year to mark the event. Mali Moir, respected and very talented botanic artist devised a botanic art project. After discussing her idea with some others the Beckler Botanical Bounty was begun. The idea was to go to Menindee, collect and press specimens of the same species that Beckler had collected. These specimens would sit alongside Beckler’s in the Herbarium. However, Mali’s truly fabulous inspiration was that each specimen would be painted. There is a list of 120 taxa collected in 1860 within 20km of Menindee. This list was the basis of our work.
So in 2010 the first group went to Menindee and began the process. I went in 2011 and 2012, and would love to be there again in 2013!
The Menindee post officeThe mains street of MenindeeThe Maiden Hotel
The broad process is that we identify the plant, collect it (with the correct permits, of course), press it and then start the painting. But things are not always that easy! Correctly identifying a plant can involve time, patience and some very thick reference books! Then there is a very good chance that it is not on Beckler’s list, so it is back outside again!
Some of the reference material we use for identification.Collected specimens, ready to be pressed and stored
After the specimen is collected and pressed, the drawing and painting begins. If you are interested in finding out how individual artists go about their work you can follow the link to our Beckler’s Botanical Bounty Blog.
So now to the link between Hermann Beckler and the group of botanic artists (including me) that head up to Menindee in October. I wrote about the Burke and Wills Expedition into inland Australia here, and mentioned that part of the group had been left behind with the supplies at Menindee. Included in that group was Hermann Beckler.
Beckler was born in Bavaria in 1828. He trained as a doctor, but was always fascinated by plants. He came out to Australia, landing at Moreton Bay, Queensland in 1856, with a desire to explore inland Australia and collect plant specimens. While living in Brisbane he corresponded with Dr Ferdinand Mueller, the Colony of Victoria’s government botanist. To meet with Mueller, Beckler joined a party droving sheep through inland New South Wales and arrived in Melbourne in 1859.
In June 1860 Beckler applied to join the Victorian Exploring Expedition Party (aka the Burke and Wills Expedition). He had strong support from Mueller, who was also a member of the organising committee. Beckler was taken on as doctor and botanist. However, when the expedition reached Menindee in October 1860, Beckler resigned because he was so fed up with Burke’s erratic demands and poor leadership.
While waiting for the replacement doctor to come from Melbourne Beckler stayed with the supply party camped at Pamamaroo Creek. During this time that Beckler was able to collect specimens from the area, including Scropes Range to the north.
Meanwhile a group of men, who had set out with the intention of overtaking Burke’s group, had also met with disaster. Their Aboriginal guide, Dick returned to the supply camp after trudging 300 miles. A rescue party, which included Beckler, set off. On December 27th they found the missing men and slowly returned to Menindee.
There was another attempt to reach Cooper Creek. This time Beckler got as far north as Kooriatto Creek, where he remained with two dying men, Patten and Becker. This third journey took five months. Beckler, despite having to minister to the sick and dying, managed to collect 150 plant specimens and make botanical observations. During his three treks he collected approximately 500 specimens.
After testifying to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the expedition in 1862, Beckler returned to Germany and spent the rest of his life as a village doctor.
His plant collection however remained in Victoria. Mueller was establishing the National Herbarium of Victoria and was eager to add Beckler’s specimens to the collection. It is that collection that has sent us northward to Menindee.
Last time I mentioned that there was a link between a group of botanical artists, including myself, and the Burke and Wills Expedition. (Actually, although this name has gone deep into Australian folk lore, it was officically called the ‘Victorian Exploring Expedition’.) To explain the link, firstly I need to explain the expedition.
The intention of the expedition was to find an inland route from the more settled southern areas of Australia to the north, the Gulf of Carpentaria. It was organised by the Royal Society of Victoria in Melbourne, which, after much discussion, chose Robert O’Hara Burke as the leader of the expedition — a strange choice, as Burke had no experience with expeditions or the Australian interior.
They set off on 20th August 1860, with 18 men, 25 camels, 22 horses and 6 wagons carrying 21 tonnes of equipment. This included a cedar camp table and chairs and a Chinese gong! They left Royal Park in Melbourne but only made a few miles before nightfall. The first stopping place was Essendon, in what is now Queens Park.
The monument to the expedition at their starting point in Royal Park, Melbourne.Plaque on the memorialMemorial with modern explanation plaqueCamel sculpture in Queens Park, Essendon
They reached Menindee, via Swan Hill, on 12th October. It had taken two months to travel 750 km – the regular mail coach did the journey in little more than a week. There had been arguments and disputes for much of that journey. In Menindee James Landells, who was both second in charge and the cameleer, resigned. William Wills was promoted to his position. Hermann Beckler, the surgeon, also resigned. (Remember Beckler, as he is the link to our botanic project.)
The camping area at Pamamaroo Creek, near Menindee
As the plaque says, at this point Burke decided to split the party, taking a smaller group ahead to Cooper Creek. The intention was that the others bring up the supplies from Menindee to Cooper Creek. Burke and his group arrived there on 11th November. They thought they would stay there until the end of summer and avoid travelling in the heat. However Burke wanted to make a dash for the Gulf of Carpentaria. Burke, Wills, John King and Charles Gray set off for the Gulf on 16th December, with six camels, one horse and enough food for just three months. The men left at Cooper Creek were instructed to wait for 4 months.
After 59 days they reached the Gulf — well almost. The mangroves were so thick that Burke and Wills turned back to rejoin Grey and King about 5 km away from the coast. They had food for 29 days and had to endure monsoonal rains on the return journey. They shot and ate the camels. On April 17th Grey died.
Meanwhile, back at Cooper Creek, the party had waited for Burke’s return. They were low on food and, thinking that Burke and the others must have perished, decided to return to Menindee. They buried provisions, marked the tree and left in the morning of Sunday 21 April. Burke, Wills and King returned THAT EVENING, missing the others by 9 hours. They realised that they didn’t have the strength to follow to Menindee and Burke decided that they would head south-west, to South Australia. They left a letter at the same tree, telling of their intentions. However, they didn’t alter the date marked on the tree. 2 men from the main party did return. They found the camp deserted, the tree markings the same, and assumed that Burke had not been there. They left, with Burke and the other 2 men only about 30 miles away.
Over the next few months Wills, and later Burke, died. King survived with the help of a local Aboriginal tribe and was found by one of the rescue expeditions that was mounted.
So that is the broad bones of the story. If you are interested in finding out more, the Burke and Wills Historical Society has a page of links to other information. There are many interesting books written about the expedition, with some of them listed here.
As mentioned before, my link is with Hermann Beckler, who was still in Menindee. More of him next time.
(Thanks to Bev, for picking up the misspelling of Landells’ name!)
Anne Lawson Art 