Johann George Luehmann

Johann George Luehmann (12 May 1843 – 18 November 1904) was an Australian botanist, who served as the Assistant Botanist and, later, as the Curator at the National Herbarium of Victoria, and who also, from 1896, served as the Government Botanist of Victoria.

Family
The son of Johann Christian Lühmann (1818-1890), and Anna Lühmann (1826-), née Lohmann, Johann Georg Lühmann was born in Ostmoorende, Prussia (now Moorende, Jork, Germany) on 12 May 1843.

He married Flora Winifred "Dora" Tivey (1854-1882) on 4 June 1881. Flora died on 20 January 1882, one week after delivering a stillborn daughter (on 13 January 1822).

He married Maude Isolene Isabel Merchant (1865-1957) at South Yarra on 16 September 1891. They had five children.

1863
Luehmann emigrated to Australia in 1863, arriving in Melbourne in the White Star ship Queen of the South on 8 August 1863.

He was one of a number of influential German-speaking residents such as Ludwig Becker, Hermann Beckler, William Blandowski, Amalie Dietrich, Wilhelm Haacke, Diedrich Henne, Gerard Krefft, Johann Menge, Carl Mücke (a.k.a. Muecke), Ludwig Preiss, Carl Ludwig Christian Rümker (a.k.a. Ruemker), Moritz Richard Schomburgk, Richard Wolfgang Semon, Karl Theodor Staiger, George Ulrich, Eugene von Guérard, Robert von Lendenfeld, Ferdinand von Mueller, Georg von Neumayer, and Carl Wilhelmi  who brought their "epistemic traditions" to Australia, and not only became "deeply entangled with the Australian colonial project", but also were "intricately involved in imagining, knowing and shaping colonial Australia" (Barrett, et al., 2018, p.2). In 1895 he was the president of "The German Club of Victoria" (Deutschen Vereins von Victoria).

Assistant Botanist: National Herbarium of Victoria
In 1867, following the resignation of von Mueller's secretary, Ernst Bernard Heyne, Luehmann was appointed as the assistant to Ferdinand von Mueller at the National Herbarium of Victoria in Melbourne; and remained in the position until 1896.

Field Naturalists Club of Victoria
He was a foundation member (on 17 May 1880) of the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria, and served as its vice-president from 1899 to 1901.

Curator: National Herbarium of Victoria
Leuhmann was appointed Curator of the National Herbarium of Victoria following the death of Ferdinand von Mueller on 10 October 1896.

Government Botanist of Victoria
A short time after von Mueller's death, Luehmann was appointed Victorian Government Botanist.

Publications

 * Reliquiæ Muellerianæ: Descriptions of New Australian Plants in the Melbourne Herbarium, The Victorian Naturalist (1896-1897):
 * Luehmann, J.G., (1896a), "Acacia tysonii, (Luehmann)", The Victorian Naturalist, Vol.13, No.8, (November 1896), pp.111-112.
 * Luehmann, J.G., (1896b), "Acacia cuthbertsonii, (Luehmann)", and "Acacia palustris, (Luehmann)", The Victorian Naturalist, Vol.13, No.9, (December 1896), pp.117.
 * Luehmann, J.G., (1897a), "Eucalyptus torquata, (Luehmann)", The Victorian Naturalist, Vol.13, No.11, (February 1897), pp.117.
 * Luehmann, J.G., (1897b), "Eucalyptus corrugata, (Luehmann)", The Victorian Naturalist, Vol.13, No.12, (March-April 1897), pp.168.
 * Luehmann, J.G. (1898a), A Short Dichotomous Key to the Hitherto Known Species of Eucalyptus, Melbourne: Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science.
 * Luehmann, J.G. (1898b), "Observations on Xerotes sororia, (F. v. Mueller)", The Victorian Naturalist, Vol.14, No.10, (10 February 1898), pp.147-148.
 * Luehmann, J.G. (1898c), "Description of a new Australian labiate plant (Hemigenia macphersoni, (Luehmann))", The Victorian Naturalist, Vol.15, No.2, (9 June 1898), p.20.
 * Luehmann, J.G. (1898d), "Some Observations on Pre-Linnean Botanists", The Victorian Naturalist, Vol.15, No.5, (8 September 1898), pp.50-58.
 * Luehmann, J.G. (1901), "Description of a New Lobelia from Western Australia (Lobelia toppii, (Luehmann))", The Victorian Naturalist, Vol.17, No.9, (10 January 1901), p.169.

Death
He died, after a short illness, at his South Yarra residence on 18 November 1904, and was buried at the Melbourne General Cemetery on 19 November 1904.

Luehmann Street
Luehmann Street, one of the original streets in Page, Australian Capital Territory was named after him in 1969.

Species
Species named in his honour include:


 * Acacia luehmannii, (F.Muell)
 * Bassia luehmannii, (F.Muell)
 * Casuarina luehmannii, (R.T. Baker, 1900)
 * Darwinia luehmannii, (F.Muell. & Tate, 1896)
 * Eucalyptus luehmanniana, (F.Muell., 1878)
 * Leptospermum luehmannii, (Bailey, 1900)
 * Phyllota luehmannii, (F.Muell.)
 * Pultenaea luehmannii, (Maiden, 1905)
 * Rhodobryum luehmannianum, (Müll. Hal.)
 * Stipa luehmannii, (Reader)
 * Syzygium luehmannii, (F.Muell.)