Alexander Collie

Alexander Collie (born June 2, 1793 in Insch , Aberdeenshire , Scotland , † November 8, 1835 at King George Sound ) was a Scottish doctor and botanist who toured Western Australia in 1829, where he was a researcher and colonial doctor .

Early life

Collie was born in Insch in Aberdeenshire , Scotland on June 2, 1793 to Alexander and Christina Collie (née Leslie). As the youngest of three sons, Collie studied medicine in Edinburgh and later in London . In January 1813 he joined the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons .

Career

He sailed aboard the frigate HMS Doris to Tenerife , China and the East Indian Islands before returning to Europe to study botany , mineralogy and chemistry . In 1824 he was a doctor on board the HMS Blossom and went to Africa , Brazil , Chile , the Sandwich Islands , California , Kamchatka , Taiwan and Mexico .

Collie accompanied HMS Sulfur in February 1829 on their expedition to Western Australia, where he assisted the birth of Frederick Henry, the son of Governor James Stirling and his wife Ellen on the high seas . After arriving at Rottnest Island in June 1829, Collie worked as a doctor in Garden Island and explored the flora of Australia in his spare time. He was given 610 acres of land on the banks of the Swan River .

Together with Lieutenant Preston, he explored the southwest of Western Australia. They discovered two rivers that James Stirling named after them: the Collie River and the Preston River . In 1830 he was appointed by the governor to investigate the conditions in the Peel settlement. After 28 deaths and many illnesses, he found that dirty water, bad food and a lack of medical facilities were responsible for the illnesses.

In 1831, Alexander Collie was allocated an additional 200 acres in Albany , where he was the city's first government employee. He returned to Perth two years later to serve as a colonial doctor for the Swan River Colony from 1833 to 1835. He died on November 8, 1835 at the age of 42 on King George Sound, presumably of tuberculosis .

legacy

The town of Collie and the Collie River are named in his honor, a granite - Monolith was built for him in Collie. The blue- cheeked jay Calocitta colliei was named after him as a result of his voyage on board the Blossom to Mexico.

literature

• Gwen Chessell: Alexander Collie: Colonial Surgeon, Naturalist and Explorer ( English ). University of Western Australia Press , Perth 2008, ISBN 0980296536 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} B.C. Cohen: Collie, Alexander (1793-1835) . Australian Dictionary of Biography . 1966. Retrieved February 1, 2009.