Richardson, John Matthew (1797–1882)

Sentenced to seven years transportation in 1816, arriving in NSW on the Lord Eldon in 1817 where he worked in the fledgling Sydney Botanic Gardens. In 1818 he planted a Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria heterophylla) in the Gardens at the direction of Mrs Macquarie, the wife of Governor Lachlan Macquarie. This was dubbed "the Wishing Tree" and became a part of Sydney folklore, surviving until 1945 when age and decay mandated its removal.

Richardson travelled to New Zealand in 1820 on the Dromedary under orders from Gov. Macquarie to collect plants there. Granted a full pardon by Macquarie in 1821 and returned to England on board the Dromedary in charge of a collection of Australian plants and seeds. These were to be distributed to King George IV and various royal houses of Europe.

Richardson was re-convicted, for life, and transported on the Arab to Hobart, Tasmania, in 1822. Shortly afterwards the Colonial Botanist Charles Fraser brought him back to Sydney where he was again employed as a gardener at Sydney Botanic Gardens. He accompanied William Baxter on a collecting trip to Western Australia in 1824. A member of surveyor John Oxley's 1823 and 1824 expeditions, he moved to Melville Island (Northern Territory) with his young family in 1826–1828, collecting also on Timor (1826). On returning from Melville Island in 1829 on the Lucy Anne he helped William Baxter collect plants and seeds from King Georges Sound for the Sydney Gardens.

Further brushes with the law resulted in lashings and time working on a road gang in the Blue Mountains and at Mount Gibraltar near Bowral. In 1836 he was collector on Mitchell's expedition, and also collected in New South Wales in later life. He married for the second time, to Catherine Doyle at Singleton, in 1852. His collections are probably in BM, CGE or K.

John Richardson is commemorated in the name of Hibiscus richardsonii, of which he collected the seeds at Port Macquarie, New South Wales.

Sources:
- Anonymous, "Wishing Tree to be Removed", Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, 3 July 1945, p. 5. Available online at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/17945708 [accessed 13 Dec. 2021]
- Australian Plant Name Index (APNI) records, via The National Species List database, https://www.biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/APNI [accessed 13 Dec. 2021]
- Grandison, R. (24 Aug. 1989) Address to the Pioneers Association of South Australia: "William Baxter, Botanist, with particular reference to Kangaroo Island in the 1820s". Transcript available online at: https://dspace.flinders.edu.au/xmlui/bitstream/handle/2328/23540/001A.pdf [accessed 13 December 2021]
- Lindley, J. (1825) Hibiscus Richardsoni. The Botanical Register 11: t. 875. Available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/132316 [accessed 13 Dec. 2021]
- Orchard, A.E. (1999) A History of Systematic Botany in Australia, in Flora of Australia Vol.1, 2nd ed., ABRS. [consult for source references]
- Macquarie, L. (7 February 1821) Despatch addressed to Earl Bathurst, reproduced in Watson, F. (ed.) (1917) Historical records of Australia. Series I., Governors' despatches to and from England Vol. 10: pp. 401–402. Available online at https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-471963565/view?partId=nla.obj-472913805#page/n424 [accessed 13 December 2021].
- Richardson, J. (23 March 1872) Letter to the Editor, Illustrated Sydney News and New South Wales Agriculturalist and Grazier newspaper, 11 May 1872, p. 3. Available online at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/63618650 [accessed 13 Dec. 2021]
- Skinner, R. (19 April 1820) Letter to Navy Commissioners, reproduced in McNab, R. (1908) Historical Records of New Zealand vol. 1, pp. 523–523. Available online at http://www.enzb.auckland.ac.nz/docs/2013-files/McNab1/pdf/mcnab1011.pdf#page=23 [accessed 13 December 2021]
- Barbara Richardson, pers. comm.
- "List of runaways apprehended during the week", New South Wales Government Gazette 123: 496, 9 July 1834, available online online at https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/230686997/12476684 [accessed 21 July 2021]