The Botanical Result of James Cook’s three Voyages in the Pacific 1768 – 1780
Thursday, 14th September 2023, The Piwakawaka Room, Hamilton Gardens
Talk to begin at 6.30.
Abstract
The botanical results from James Cook’s three voyages to the Pacific remain among the least studied of all the materials and information that were taken back to Europe. Hundreds, if not thousands, of specimens, new to Europeans, were collected and illustrated. Descriptions of the existing flora of many locations were made using the new taxonomy recently developed by Linnaeus. 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 – a short biography (as at July 2023)
John Robson was born at Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, U.K. in 1949. He has had two lifelong interests – maps and Captain James Cook. They were combined in 2000 when his first book, Captain Cook’s world, was published. A second book, The Captain Cook Encyclopaedia, appeared in 2005.
Robson has travelled extensively in his career, first as a mining geologist and later as a librarian. He retired as the Map Librarian at the University of Waikato in Hamilton in July 2018. He is past-President of the international Captain Cook Society. 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 two books about Cook in Alaska.
Robson moved to New Zealand in 1981 and now lives in Hamilton with his corgi, Cassie, and a house full of Cook books and Cookabilia. He has begun 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.
The Garden History Research Foundation 