Fitzgerald, Robert Desmond (1830 - 1892)

Arrived in Sydney, New South Wales, in 1856. Employed at the Surveyor-General's office, eventually becoming Deputy Surveyor-General. Noted for the production of Australian Orchids (1875-1894), from his own illustrations, lithographed by A.J.Stopps. He had no substantial herbarium, but a few of his collections are in BM and MEL. Many of his original drawings (100+) are held in the National Library of Australia, Canberra.

Source: extracted from: A.E.Orchard (1999) A History of Systematic Botany in Australia, in Flora of Australia Vol.1, 2nd ed., ABRS. [consult for source references]
Portrait Photo: Maiden, J.H. (1908) Records of Australian botanists- (a) General, (b) New South Wales. Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales for 1908.Plate XI

Portrait from: Rogers, R.S. (1911) An introduction to the study of South Australian orchids, Adelaide, SA Education Dept.

FitzGerald was a surveyor and naturalist. Born in county Kerry, Ireland, he arrived in Sydney in 1856, where he was employed by the New South Wales Department of Lands. A keen naturalist skilled in ornithology and taxidermy, he turned to studying orchids after a trip with his friend Walter Scott Campbell to Wallis Lake, north of Newcastle, in 1864. FitzGerald's most famous work is Australian Orchids, produced between 1875 and 1882, in which he described many species of orchids for the first time.

Source: Extracted from: Wrigley, J.W. (2013) Eucalypt Flowers, National Library of Australia, Canberra.

Collecting localities for 'Fitzgerald, R.D.' from AVH (2021)

Data from 340 specimens