Daniel Solander

It wasn't always a gallery space.

You know, for 170 years, the National Herbarium of New South Wales, which is a collection of preserved plant specimens, you know, dating back to when Captain Cook and Sir Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander were, you know, collecting plant material.

And that's all preserved in there up to, you know, yesterday and today when botanists are discovering and finding species.

So this vast catalogue of flora used to be in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, in the Brown building, in the Anderson building.

Some of those stories date way back.

I'm walking through cabinets that store specimens collected by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander during Captain James Cook's first voyage to New Zealand, circa 1770.

It's just amazing what you can find in a collection like

this.

Banks made most careful preparations.

He provided himself with the best instruments for making all kinds of scientific observations and for preserving specimens of natural history, and persuaded Dr. Solander, a distinguished pupil of Linnaeus, to become his associate in the enterprise.

He also took with him two draftsmen to delineate all objects of interest that did not admit of being transported or preserved, and four servants.

This voyage occupied three years.

During that period, all engaged in it incurred many and severe hardships, several, including three of the attendants of Dr. Solander and Mr.

Banks, losing their lives.

The results were highly important.

No sooner had Mr.

Banks made most careful preparations.

He provided himself with the best instruments for making all kinds of scientific observations, and for preserving specimens of natural history, and persuaded Dr. Solander, a distinguished pupil of Linnaeus, to become his associate in the enterprise.

He also took with him two draftsmen to delineate all objects of interest that did not admit of being transported or preserved, and four servants.

This voyage occupied three years.

During that period all engaged in it incurred many and severe hardships, several, including three of the attendants of Dr. Solander and Mr.

Banks, losing their lives.

The results were highly important.

No sooner had Mr.