Book Review: Australian Orchids by Fitzgerald R D

Reviewed by Berkelouw Rare Book Department

Robert David Fitzgerald (1830-1892) emigrated from Ireland to Australia in 1856. He was appointed Deputy Surveyor-General of New South Wales in 1873 and held the position of chief mining surveyor from 1874-1882.

In addition, Fitzgerald was a fellow of the Linnean Society of London, a member of the Royal Society of New South Wales, an ornithologist, a skilled taxidermist, and a devoted naturalist, who understood the importance of land preservation. Fitzgerald made several expeditions to Lord Howe Island to gather specimens for his extensive botanical collection. On one of these trips he discovered the giant epacrid, Dracophyllum fitzgeraldii F. Muell., which was named after him.

Fitzgerald found fame with the publication of the exquisite Australian Orchids, in which he described many species of orchids for the first time. The work was produced between 1875 and 1894, the last volume being published posthumously by his friend Henry Deane. Fitzgerald’s collaborator on Australian Orchids, Arthur James Stopps (1833-1931), was a talented lithographer in the Lands Department. His superb lithograph plates were hand-coloured using Fitzgerald’s instructions and samples.

This magnificent work helped to establish Fitzgerald as an leading authority on Australian orchids. To honour the enormous contribution he made to botany, his name was bestowed on several orchid species, including a spider orchid, Caladenia fitzgeraldii Rupp, and the ravine orchid, Sarcochilus fitzgeraldii F. Muell.

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