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[entries in Dict Aust Biog & Botanical Collectors] David Burton ( ?1760s - 1792) Born in England c. 1760s, died on the Nepean River, New South Wales, on 13 April 1792. He was Public Gardener and Superintendent of Convicts at Parramatta 1791-1792. While duck-shooting on the Nepean River on 7 April 1792, Burton was severely injured in the arm by an accidental discharge from his gun. He was carried back to Parramatta where he died on 13 April. David Collins wrote of his death: "This young man, on account of the talents he possessed as a botanist, and the services which he was capable of rendering in the surveying line, could be but ill spared in this settlement". Burton's effects included: 'a thermometer, insect collecting apparatus, specimen boxes, a drawing book, paints and some sketches'. The whereabouts of any sketches executed for Banks is unknown, but many sketches in Banks's collection in the British Museum (Natural History) are unsigned, while others made for Banks have apparently been lost. His collections are in BM.

Burton's official position was superintendent of convicts, came to New South Wales on board HMS Gorgon in September 1790. On the recommendation of Joseph Banks he had been appointed superintendent of convicts at an annual salary of £40, but Banks privately agreed to pay him an extra £20 a year to act as his collector of botanical specimens. He also produced sketches and explored the New Holland natural history.

He was Public Gardener and Superintendent of Convicts at Parramatta 1791-1792.

Sketcher, natural historian and superintendent of convicts, came to New South Wales on board the Gorgon in September 1790. On the recommendation of Joseph Banks he had been appointed superintendent of convicts at an annual salary of £40, but Banks privately agreed to pay him an extra £20 a year to act as his collector of botanical specimens.

While duck-shooting on the Nepean River on 7 April 1792, Burton was severely injured in the arm by an accidental discharge from his gun. He was carried back to Parramatta where he died on 13 April. David Collins wrote of his death:

"This young man, on account of the talents he possessed as a botanist, and the services which he was capable of rendering in the surveying line, could be but ill spared in this settlement".

Burton's effects included: 'a thermometer, insect collecting apparatus, specimen boxes, a drawing book, paints and some sketches'. The whereabouts of any sketches executed for Banks is unknown, but many sketches in Banks's collection in the British Museum (Natural History) are unsigned, while others made for Banks have apparently been lost.

His collections are in BM.

David Burton (d.1792), botanist, surveyor and professional gardener, arrived at Port Jackson in H.M.S. Gorgon on 22 September 1791 as superintendent of convicts. Sir Joseph Banks, who considered him capable of useful service in New South Wales, had recommended his appointment for three years at £40 a year, and shortly before his departure had privately commissioned him, at £20 a year, to collect seeds and botanical specimens, with the stipulation that he was not to supply 'any vegetable production' directly or indirectly to any other person. When Burton arrived in Sydney, he was sent straightway to Parramatta to survey allotments for settlers, because Surveyor-General Augustus Alt was urgently seeking relief from field duties.

In December 1791 Governor Arthur Phillip, who had already discovered that Burton was 'a very steady man', instructed him to examine the land in the Parramatta district and to report 'with such caution that on any future examination the soil might appear in every part to be to the full as good as it should be represented'. Phillip suspected that very unfavourable opinions about the country were already being expressed in England and he feared that more weight might attach to them than to his own consistent advocacy of its agricultural potential. Burton furnished his report on 24 February 1792, and when Phillip submitted it to Dundas he emphasized that it had been prepared by a man who 'may be supposed to be a much better judge of the good or bad qualities of the ground than any of those persons who have hitherto given their opinions'. In general, Burton found that the soil throughout the area was good.

Meanwhile he collected and classified plants assiduously. On 18 December 1791 he informed Banks that he had put sixty tubs of plants and sundry boxes of seeds and specimens in the Gorgon and that ere long he hoped to enrich his collection with specimens from 'the other two Kingdoms of nature'. Early in March 1792 more boxes of seeds were sent in the Pitt and before the end of the month fifty tubs of plants were ready for dispatch in the Atlantic.

On 13 April 1792 at Parramatta, Burton died of wounds received through mishandling his own gun while on an expedition to the Nepean River. His burial was recorded in the register of St John's, Parramatta. Phillip visited him a few hours before he died, and on 20 May 1792 wrote at length to Banks detailing the circumstances. 'In this man', he said, 'I lost one whom I cannot replace and whom I could ill spare'.

Charles Fraser, a Scottish botanist and gardener with connections to the botanic gardens of Edinburgh and Glasgow, arrived in Sydney in 1816 as a foot soldier.

He returned with another paid collector George Suttor (along with date palms, olives and other plants) who had trained with James Lee and who was returning to the colony where, after his arrival in 1800, he had established Chelsea Farm raising lemons from seed and three orange trees. He was the first in Australia to propagate and advertise a range of fruit trees for sale. He had returned to England in 1810 as a witness in the case over the rebellion against Governor Bligh.[1]

William Baxter apparently led a more fortunate life as gardener and botanical collector just after settlement. He had developed his horticultural reputation as gardener to the Comtesse de Vandes in Bayswater, London, many of the plants he had nurtured being used for illustrations in Curtis’s Botanical Magazine. He was the first privately financed plant collector to be sent to Australia:[2] his mission was to collect seeds and roots for the London seedsman F. Henchman.

[1] Mackaness, George (ed.) 1948. Memoirs of George Suttor F.L.S; Banksian Collector (1774-1869). Sydney cites in Colleen Morris, OCAG

[2] Clough 2002 OCAG, p. 79.

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Charles Fraser, a Scottish botanist and gardener with connections to the botanic gardens of Edinburgh and Glasgow, arrived in Sydney in 1816 as a foot soldier.

He returned with another paid collector George Suttor (along with date palms, olives and other plants) who had trained with James Lee and who was returning to the colony where, after his arrival in 1800, he had established Chelsea Farm raising lemons from seed and three orange trees. He was the first in Australia to propagate and advertise a range of fruit trees for sale. He had returned to England in 1810 as a witness in the case over the rebellion against Governor Bligh.[1]

William Baxter apparently led a more fortunate life as gardener and botanical collector just after settlement. He had developed his horticultural reputation as gardener to the Comtesse de Vandes in Bayswater, London, many of the plants he had nurtured being used for illustrations in Curtis’s Botanical Magazine. He was the first privately financed plant collector to be sent to Australia:[2] his mission was to collect seeds and roots for the London seedsman F. Henchman.

[1] Mackaness, George (ed.) 1948. Memoirs of George Suttor F.L.S; Banksian Collector (1774-1869). Sydney cites in Colleen Morris, OCAG

[2] Clough 2002 OCAG, p. 79.