Moritz Richard Schomburgk
Moritz Richard Schomburgk, generally known as Richard Schomburgk, was a German botanist and curator of the Adelaide Botanic Garden.
Family
Schomburgk was born in Freyburg, Saxony, the son of Johann Friedrich Ludwig Schomburgk, and his wife Christiane Juliane Wilhelmine.He married Pauline Henriette Kneib at sea aboard Princess Louise. Among their children were:
- Otto Heinrich Schomburgk, born shortly after the death of his uncle Otto Alfred Schomburgk. He held several important posts such as Chief Probation Officer with the South Australian public service. He married Ada Louise Downer, daughter of Henry Downer. They had one son, Richard, and two daughters, Pauline Louise and Alice Marie.
- Eldest daughter Linna Maria 1849 Marie Caroline? Schomburgk married widower Rev James Sunter in Sydney on 28 May 1894.
- Second daughter Clara Louise Schomburgk married Alexander Philip on 3 November 1880.
- Youngest daughter Hermine Rosalie Schomburgk married John Herbert Evans on 8 April 1891.
Another brother, Otto Alfred Carl Schomburgk, and his wife Maria Charlotte Schomburgk, arrived in South Australia with Moritz Richard Schomburgk aboard the Princess Louise in August 1849. They had a son Robert Carl.
His youngest brother, Julius Ludwig Schomburgk,, was chief designer for Adelaide silversmith J. M. Wendt.
A sister, Caroline Schomburgk, was the second wife of Rev. Dr Carl Wilhelm Ludwig Muecke of Tanunda, also a passenger on the Princess Louise.
Education
Schomburgk studied botany at Berlin and in the Royal Gardens at Potsdam.Career
In 1844 he went on the Prussian-British expedition to British Guiana and Brazil, led by his brother Robert.He acted as their historian and botanist, collecting for the University of Berlin museum, and after their return spent three years preparing the three-volume record of the expedition, which was presented to Frederick William IV, King of Prussia.
Australia
After the revolutions of 1848, Richard and his brother Otto, and Otto's wife Maria Charlotte Schomburgk. Other emigrants by the Princess Louise include Carl Linger and Carl Wilhelm Ludwig Muecke.He settled in Gawler, South Australia; and, through this, he was one of a number of influential German-speaking residents such as Ludwig Becker, Hermann Beckler, William Blandowski, Amalie Dietrich, Wilhelm Haacke, Diedrich Henne, Gerard Krefft, Johann Luehmann, Johann Menge, Carl Mücke (a.k.a. Muecke), Ludwig Preiss, Carl Ludwig Christian Rümker (a.k.a. Ruemker), Richard Wolfgang Semon, Karl Theodor Staiger, George Ulrich, Eugene von Guérard, Robert von Lendenfeld, Ferdinand von Mueller, Georg von Neumayer, and Carl Wilhelmi who brought their "epistemic traditions" to Australia, and not only became "deeply entangled with the Australian colonial project", but also were "intricately involved in imagining, knowing and shaping colonial Australia".
In 1865, he became Director of the Adelaide Botanic Garden, a position he kept until his death and was succeeded by Maurice William Holtze.
Works
He wrote Versuch einer Zusammenstellung der Flora und Fauna von Britisch-Guiana.Death
Schomburgk died in Adelaide, South Australia.Taxa named in his honor
- Moritz Richard Schomburgk is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of Australian lizard, Ctenotus schomburgkii.
- the yellowfin whiting Sillago schomburgkii Peters, 1864