Forensic transcription - the diaries of botanist E.H Wilson
Ernest Henry Wilson was a botanist and collector with a special interest in Chinese plants, thousands of which he collected and introduced to England and America as seeds, bulbs, cuttings and plants during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He worked firstly for the Veitch nurseries of England and then for the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard in America, making collecting trips for both institutions across China, Japan and other nearby islands.[1] He later made a trip to Australia and other countries within the Commonwealth during 1920-22 under the instructions of Charles Sargent, the founding director of the Arnold Arboretum.
Sargent had aspirations for the Arboretum ‘to become a great institution for gathering and spreading information about trees and allied plants specimens and a series of photographs of every species of tree in the world’. The Australian trip was ‘to add to the global collection of images and specimens, to make connections between the Arboretum and the staff of other international botanical institutions, to investigate potential timber trees for production in the United States, and to assess first-hand the state of the forest in the world.’[2]
To Wilson’s dismay much of his Australian collection was lost at sea when the ship it was travelling on sunk. The West Australian collection had been shipped back separately and fortunately still exists at the Arnold Arboretum.
His diaries also still exist and we had great forensic fun (although some forensic frustrations) transcribing the W.A. and NSW diaries for a Landscape Architect at the University of Melbourne’s School of Design.
Some extracts:
“Oct 24 - Westonia to Murredin and then to Bruck Rock 70 miles in all. From Murredin we journeyed south-west through flat scrub-clad country with here and there agricultural land. At Bruce Rock where is much farms & some fields were intended to yield 18 bushels to the acre … With water everything is possible here … We saw many birds & the old next of a Mallee Hen. Rabbits unfortunately are not rare here we ahve seen but one dead snake and the common & racehorse Goanna are the only reptiles … There are no good trees left …. man in his effort to “improve the country” has destroyed even were these were. Agriculture is necessary but its initiation is expensive - extravagantly so, & I fear that someday the price will be exacted.”
“Oct 27 - York to Perth 60 miles was a good road through the Darling Ranges. Much of the road was through open park like forsts. Jarrah, Red gum U Wandoo. Near York we saw the Powder (Gum) covered with Wandoo but what whark. Banksia Grandis was a fine signt with 10’ high pale yellow cones. Flowers were less numberous but the fruit was much better than elsewhere. The road trip was about 465 miles and over hills. Sand flowers and good agricultural land & has given a good idea of the vegetation of W.A. in the latitude of Perth. The features of the trip have been the outstanding variety of Xenophilon plants with brilliantly coloured fl. & mostly with prickly leaves. The abundance of ants and the plague of flies in the bush … We had no rain the whole journey which has been one of the most profitable and enjoyable in my experience. For much of this I am endebted to my companion D.A. Herbert.”
