QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Queensland a jewel in the Godeffroy crown

Background: The waterfront of Apia on the north coast of the Samoan island of Upolu. Many Germans disembarked when La Rochelle , one of the fastest ships in the world, dropped anchor in Moreton Bay that August day in 1863. Most sought to carve new lives out of this strange land, one set off to explore its dangers and curious wonders, and every one to make their own far reaching contribution the new state of Queensland … all through an enterprising ship-owner from Hamburg. He settled in Apia and directed the Godeffroy operations there for the next decade, collecting in Tahiti, Fiji, Tonga, Australia, Samoa and other South Pacific islands. Other scientific collectors were hired in different parts of the Pacific, adding to the growing stock of birds, mammals, fishes, shells, butterflies, beetles and other insects, plants and ethnographic objects. The words ‘natural history dealership’ have been used to describe the museum’s trade in exotica, but there can be little doubt that European scientific circles were agog at the continual stream of rare finds – and in quantities sufficient to satisfy every individual or institution with deep enough pockets. Godeffroy’s collectors were, with one exception, male, but the chance he took on a single, middle aged mother who was a talented and dedicated amateur naturalist was to pay dividends in more than mere monetary terms. Unqualified and unaccredited, Amalie Dietrich nevertheless came with excellent references, and JC VI demonstrated yet again his keen ability to think outside the square. He would not be disappointed. Some of the story of Amalie Dietrich’s remarkable decade, almost entirely alone in the unmapped wilderness of central Queensland, is told on the following pages. What is equally significant is the recognition of and reaction to the wonders of the Fifth Continent, to an extent not seen since Cook’s east coast voyage a century before. Australian specimens were still rare in Europe, and Amalie’s shipments were eagerly awaited by European scientists. At last they were able to fully study and classify the entirely new flora and fauna of Australia. Indebted to this unusual woman, they praised her work and bravery and bestowed awards. A large number of the samples which she collected are still the type specimens for those species today.

Museum Godeffroy employed not only the ships’ masters but also scientists and collectors, to obtain specimens of flora and fauna from far corners of the globe, as part of a systematic program to build a natural history museum of international renown. Strong business acumen underlay the altruism, as multiple examples, often in the dozens, were requested of each item, for onwards sale to other museums and collectors in Europe and the UK.

Beginning as a personal collection of birds, shells, fish and other animals as well as cultural objects from all localities visited by the Godeffroy ships, JC VI’s natural history collection rapidly grew from cabinet to warehouse. In 1860 Godeffroy engaged Swiss zoologist Dr Eduard Gräffe and sent him out to the Pacific in October 1861 to supervise the acquisition of more material.

Cards such as the upper pair of examples in the Pitt-Rivers Museum in Oxford, were prepared as catalogue items by the museum, displaying its range of natural and ethnographic curiosities from Queensland to the fascinated scientists and collectors of Europe.

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