notes on Lieutenant Herbert Dittrich (f. 1880s)

Dear Webmaster,

I'm writing about David Lindsay's 1885-86 Central Australian expedition, which departed Hergott Springs in late 1885 and reached Lake Nash on the Qld/N.T. border in April 1886. Lindsay took with him a botanical collector named Lieutenant Herbert Dittrich, on the recommendation of Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, with mixed results. Some botanical specimens were collected but most specimens were spoilt through poor preparation and Dittrich had a major falling-out with Lindsay by the expedition's end.

I thought you'd be interested to know of Dittrich's background. Your list refers to him as a pastoralist but I doubt this. According to Lindsay, Dittrich had experience in other countries, and I think he had only recently arrived in Australia at the time of the 1885-86 expedition. I don't know what became of him afterwards, nor of his records. A vocabulary of Aboriginal words collected at or near Dalhousie station is held at the Royal Geographical Society in Adelaide, but he also collected Aboriginal vocabulary (and presumably plant specimens) on the Gregory River, en route to Burketown. That was a side expedition apparently, undertaken while Lindsay's main party carried out their surveys of pastoral runs near Lake Nash.

Hope this is useful information,

PS - I'm hoping to trace the Dittrich collections and would be grateful for any information received.

Philip Jones

Dr Philip Jones, Senior Curator, Department of Anthropology,
South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, S.A. 5000
ph (08) 8207 7325 fax (08) 8207 7430

Source: Pers Comm