William Blandowski goes bush! The lower Murray expedition, 1856–1857

Tim Stranks

Museums Victoria Collections & research Journals PRISM PRISM Volume 2 William Blandowski goes bush! The lower Murray expedition, 1856–1857

Museums Victoria / Collections & research / Journals / PRISM / PRISM Volume 2 / William Blandowski goes bush! The lower Murray expedition, 1856–1857

Gall Gall Station, the property of Mess. J. H. Williams, Lower Murray [Watercolour on paper showing Gol Gol Station, occupied by John Williams, his wife Elizabeth and his brother Henry], 1857. Gerard Krefft. Source: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, reg. no. PXD 9/29. / Source: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales / Photo: Gerard Krefft

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Abstract

William Blandowski (1822–1878) was born in Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia (now known as Gliwice, Poland) and arrived in Australia in September 1849 seeking new opportunities. Within five years, he had secured employment as the founding curator of the Museum of Natural History in Melbourne, Victoria, and gained a role as the state’s government zoologist. Through a series of museum expeditions to central Victoria, the Mornington Peninsula and Western Port in 1854–1855, Blandowski built up the museum collections and opened them to the public.

This paper provides the main facts and figures relating to Blandowski’s fourth and final expedition for the museum, known as the ‘lower Murray expedition, 1856–1857’, and aims to make knowledge about the expedition more widely available. The expedition traversed an area now known as the central Murray, along with parts of the lower Darling River. This account describes the lengthy route of the expedition, and the main localities along the way where natural history collection events took place.

A major impetus for this paper is to re-evaluate the work of Blandowski, Krefft, the other European team members and the different First Peoples groups that partnered with them at each stage of the expedition. The main outcomes of the expedition are analysed and recontextualised, including the significant natural history collections and associated information assembled at a particular point in the mid-nineteenth century following European occupation. The paper also details the expedition’s successful engagement with respective First Peoples communities, its reliance on and valuing of First Peoples’ knowledge of Country (which was unique for its time).