Hedley, Charles (1862-1926)

Born at Masham, England on 27th February 1862 and died in Sydney on 14th September 1926.

He moved to Queensland shortly after his arrival in Sydney in 1882. For some years he lived in Moreton Bay (1882- 1886) and Boyne Island near Gladstone (1886?-1888). In 1888 he was recorded doing voluntary work for the Queensland Museum and in 1889 he was given a job there.

Hedley joined the Australian Museum in Sydney in 1891. He was in charge of land shells and later appointed as conchologist. In 1896 he joined the Funafuti Coral Reef Boring Expedition of the Royal Society, London. He was a very successful collector publishing his findings between 1896-1900. In 1908 he was appointed as the assistant curator of the Australian Museum and 1920 as the principal keeper of collections.

Because of ill health as a child Hedley spent most of his life living near the sea. In Australia he became very interested in the study of the Great Barrier Reef and in 1925 he became scientific director of the Great Barrier Reef Investigation Committee.

Hedley was a true naturalist and his interest in botany is reflected in many botanical specimens from Boyne Island and Gladstone areas in Central Queensland during 1887 and 1888.

Source: Australian Encyclopedia (1977) and Queensland Herbarium Records. Published in Port Curtis District Flora and Early Botanists by G.N. Batianoff and H.A. Dillewaard (1988), Botany Branch, Queensland Herbarium.

Collecting localities for 'Hedley, C.' from AVH (2021)

Data from 215 specimens