- Title
- The life and times of Dr Hermann Beckler (1828-1914) : An Australian - Barvarian Odyssey
- Creator
- Dodd, David
- Date
- 2016
- Type
- Text; Thesis; Masters
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/154228
- Identifier
- vital:11061
- Identifier
- https://library.federation.edu.au/record=b2687955
- Abstract
- The principal aim of this research thesis has been to reconstruct the life and times of Dr Hermann Beckler (1828-1914), a Bavarian-born scientist and adventurer who spent six years in Australia between 1856 and 1862. This study constitutes the first authoritative analysis of Beckler’s life. It focuses on the various turning points that influenced his odyssey-like journey from Bavaria to Australia and back again, as well as his travels within Australia, his interest in the natural environment and the botany of Australia, and his empathy towards the Indigenous people. Beckler was a product of the Age of Romanticism. He was an enigmatic and contemplative person, yet possessed a degree of toughness and resilience to overcome what appeared to be initially a self-imposed exile, replete with self-recriminations, as he tried to establish himself, firstly as a medical doctor and then as a pharmacist in the pioneering Moreton Bay region of colonial New South Wales. His interests in the natural sciences provided a solution to the problem of employment, and his botanical collecting skills ultimately gained him a position with Dr Ferdinand Mueller of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens. He worked as a botanical plant collector in northern New South Wales before his medical qualifications and botanical saw him appointed as medical doctor and botanist to the Victorian Exploring Expedition 1860-1861 led by Robert O’Hara Burke and William John Wills. Beckler recognized this appointment as an opportunity to explore the hitherto unknown parts of the interior of Australia and while he did his best to fulfill his role, he was frustrated by the mismanagement of the whole expedition by Burke’s erratic leadership and by the ineptitude of the Royal Society of Victoria’s Exploration Committee. He remains one of Australia’s and Germany’s forgotten explorer botanists. This thesis aims to bring to life Beckler’s contribution to this important episode in Australian colonial history.; Master of Business by Research
- Publisher
- Federation University Australia
- Rights
- Copyright David Dodd
- Rights
- Open Access
- Rights
- This metadata is freely available under a CCO license
- Subject
- Dr Hermann Beckler (1828-1914); Barvaria; Australia
- Full Text
- Thesis Supervisor
- Clark, Ian
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