Brief history

The founding collections of the Tasmanian Herbarium date from the early 1830s, and were made by early colonial amateur botanists such as Robert William Lawrence, Ronald Campbell Gunn and Joseph Milligan, who were residents and collected widely across the state. There are also some older collections dating from the earliest European contacts with the island, notably the voyages of Captain James Cook in 1777, Captain Bruni D’Entrecasteaux in 1792 and 1793, Captain William Bligh in 1792, and the explorations of Robert Brown from 1802 to 1804.

Major collections held at the Herbarium include those of Leonard Rodway and William Weymouth (late 19th and early 20th century), and those of Winifred Curtis, Dennis Morris and Janet Somerville that underpinned the preparation of The Student’s Flora of Tasmania. Other important collections, comprising many thousands of specimens, include those of Geoff Bratt (lichens),  Ann and David Ratkowsky (bryophytes) and Tony Moscal (all groups). The most recent very significant acquisition is the lichen, bryophyte and subantarctic vascular plant collection which was transferred from the Australian Antarctic Division.