Hermann Beckler

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Hermann Beckler
Landscape drawing (Australian outback)
Map of its collections in Australia

Hermann Beckler (born September 28, 1828 in Höchstädt an der Donau ; † December 10, 1914 in Fischen im Allgäu ) was a German doctor who worked as a naturalist and expedition member in Australia .

Life

Hermann Beckler grew up as one of five children in his birthplace and studied medicine in Munich . On June 20, 1855, he completed his studies with a dissertation on uterine blenorrhea. In addition to his interest in medicine, his enthusiasm for natural science and botany shaped his later publications. Immediately after completing his studies on September 30, 1855, he made his way from Hamburg to Australia to work as a doctor there. In the following years he also earned his living as a druggist , plant collector and shepherd . Through these activities, as well as his contacts with the Germans Ferdinand von Müller and Georg von Neumayer , he was nominated as a participant in the Burke and Wills expedition , which was a personal highlight of his experiences. Well aware of the responsibility and the strong public interest of this company - also in Germany at the time - he resigned from his position due to differences that occurred during the expedition. Beckler remained a member of the company insofar as he looked after the storage facility left behind by those who moved on and also took over medical care until the end. After the tragic end of the expedition, he was faced with allegations of treason and the abandonment, first in Australia, but then also in Germany. After his return in 1862, he wrote his own report in order to rehabilitate himself , but it was not published.

During the years in Australia, Hermann Beckler wrote a large number of letters to his younger brother Karl, which impressively portray his experiences, but also Australia in the 19th century, the life of European immigrants and the encounter with the Aborigines . After his return he opened a practice as a doctor in Fischen im Allgäu and lived there until his death. A street was named after him in his birthplace.

Fonts

  • Beckler, Hermann: About uterine blennorrhea . Inaugural dissertation, Munich 1855.
  • Beckler, Hermann: Discoveries in Australia . Letters and notes from a German 1855–1862. Stuttgart: Thorbecke, 2000, ISBN 3-7995-0608-X .
  • Beckler, Hermann: From Edward's River to Melbourne . Abroad. Weekly for regional and ethnology. No. 13, 1860, pp. 293-296.
  • Beckler, Hermann: The music of the birds . In: The Gazebo. 1867, pp. 558-559
  • Beckler, Hermann: Corroberri. A contribution to the knowledge of music among the native Australians . In: The Globe. Volume 13, 1868, p. 82 f.
  • Beckler, Hermann: The Aborigines of Australia . In: Annual report of the Geography Association in Dresden. 1872, pp. 1-18.
  • Beckler, Hermann: A Journey to Coopers Creek . Melbourne: Miegunya Press, 1989. Translated by Stephen Jeffries, ISBN 9780522844849 .

literature

  • Heider, Josef: Hermann Beckler . In: Life pictures from Bavarian Swabia . Edited by publications of the Swabian Research Association at the Commission for Bavarian State History. Anton H. Konrad, Weißenhorn 1954, pp. 419–444.
  • Voigt, Johannes H .: Introduction . In: Hermann Beckler: Discoveries in Australia. Letters and notes from a German 1855-1862 . Stuttgart: Thorbecke, 2000, pp. 7-24. ISBN 3-7995-0608-X .
  • Eickenboom, Christine: Letters from Australia. On the relevance of a collection of letters for the reconstruction of the German image of Australia in the mid-19th century . In: Limbus. Australian yearbook for German literary and cultural studies. Topos Australia . Edited by Franz-Josef Deiters, Axel Fliethmann, Birgit Lang, Alison Lewis, Christiane Weller. Freiburg im Breisgau: Rombach, 2013, pp. 157–172. ISBN 978-3793097471 .
  • Dodd, David: The Aboriginal contribution to the expedition, observed through Germanic eyes . In: The Aboriginal story of Burke and Wills. Forgotten narratives . Edited by Ian Clark et al. Fred Cahir. Victoria: Collingwood, 2013.

Web links

Commons : Hermann Beckler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ For bibliographical information see essentially Heider, Josef: Hermann Beckler . In: Life pictures from Bavarian Swabia .
  2. ↑ See Beckler, Hermann: Entdeckungen in Australien , p. 291
  3. ↑ Beckler, Hermann: Entdeckungen in Australien , p. 289
  4. ↑ See Beckler, Hermann, Entdeckungen in Australien , p. 308
  5. ↑ cf. also Voigt, Johannes H .: Introduction , pp. 15-16
personal data
SURNAME Beckler, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctor and naturalist
DATE OF BIRTH September 28, 1828
PLACE OF BIRTH Höchstädt on the Danube
DATE OF DEATH December 10, 1914
Place of death Fishing in the Allgäu