Naturalist - Blog Posts
On this day, 13th February 1743, Sir Joseph Banks was born.
Sir Joseph Banks was a British botanist and naturalist who sailed with Captain James Cook on the Endeavour voyage of 1770.
Joseph Banks was born on 13 February 1743 in London. His passion for botany began at school. From 1760 to 1763 he studied at Oxford University, during which time he inherited a considerable fortune. In 1766, Banks travelled to Newfoundland and Labrador, collecting plant and other specimens. The same year he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.
In 1768, he joined the Society’s expedition, led by Captain James Cook, to explore the uncharted lands of the South Pacific. The expedition circumnavigated the globe and visited South America, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia and Java. Banks collected an enormous number of specimens on the way and, on his return, his scientific account of the voyage and its discoveries sparked considerable interest across Europe.
The journal kept by the then 25-year-old Joseph Banks on board HMS Endeavour is one of the State Library’s most significant manuscripts. It records the first Pacific voyage of Captain James Cook from 1768 to 1771. Following the Endeavour’s return to England in 1771, Banks was hailed as a hero.
The State Library’s Sir Joseph Banks collection includes correspondence, reports, invoices, accounts, maps and watercolour drawings which document the far reaching influence of Banks on the colony. This significant archive containing over 7,000 pages has recently been digitised and now needs to be transcribed. Once fully transcribed the archive will be keyword searchable which will enhance discovery and access to the collection and increase the research potential in this significant archive.
Find out more about how to transcribe the Banks Papers
Colored a sketch of my goblin girl!
She is kind of based on myself, I want to make a slice of life comic about her moving to the city and being confused by social norms and not knowing how to interact normally with humans.
She’d probably get depressed by how humans interact with nature and industrialized society.
Girls will be like “oh I’m just running some quick errands” and then spend all day in the wetlands appreciating the unique flora and fauna
your outdoor catboy boyfriend is fucking killing the local mouse girl population KEEP YOUR CATBOYS INSIDE