George Macleay

Sir George Macleay (* 1809 in London , † June 24, 1891 in Menton ) was a British-Australian politician , paleontologist and zoologist .

Life

He was the third son of Alexander Macleay , attended Westminster School and went to Australia with his parents in 1826. In 1829 he accompanied Charles Sturt on his expedition to the Murrumbidgee River and the mouth of the Murray River . He proved himself there and became Sturt's assistant. He was then a farmer (Brownlow Hill near Camden about 30 miles from Sydney) and in 1854 he became a member of the legislative assembly of New South Wales and he was offered a ministerial office in 1857, which he turned down. In 1859 he went to England, in 1860 he became a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London (on whose council he was from 1864) and then lived in southern France and traveled with his steam-powered yacht in the Mediterranean (visiting Greece, Turkey, Syria). In 1873 he traveled again to Sydney to put his affairs in order.

His main interests were gardening and farming, but he was also interested in zoology and paleontology, and contributed to Richard Owen's book on Australian fossils. He was also in contact with Thomas Henry Huxley and sent him a lungfish from Australia. He remained friends with Charles Sturt, who named a river in New South Wales after him (Rufus River, since Macleay was red-haired).

In 1869 he became Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) and in 1875 he was knighted as Knight Commander of the same order. He was a trustee of the Australian Museum .

He was married twice but had no children.

literature

• Macleay, George. In: Percival Serle: Dictionary of Australian Biography . Angus and Robertson, Sydney 1949 (English)
• David S. Macmillan: Macleay, Sir George (1809-1891) . In: Douglas Pike (Ed.): Australian Dictionary of Biography . Volume 2. Melbourne University Press, Carlton (Victoria) 1967 (English).