Geological specimen (BM1911 1557) from Garden Island, Natural History Museum

This is a geological specimen collected by Archdeacon Thomas Hobbes Scott (1783-1860) from Garden Island, Western Australia, in 1829. The sample is found in the National History Museum in Kensington, London. The sample is a sedimentary rock with tubular formations that Scott thought were fossils. The labels were probably written by Scott: one states ‘Garden Island’ as the place of collection while a second states ‘No.1’ – perhaps a reference to Scott’s register of collections – and ‘from the bottom of Drummond’s [Well?] 20 feet Garden Isd.’

On the reverse is another smaller label stating ‘BM1911 1557’, referring to British Museum. The move of the natural history collections to the British Museum (Natural History) in Kensington occurred between 1881-1883, however the museum remained part of the British Museum until the twentieth century.

The specimen is part of a collection across two drawers of geological specimens labelled:

‘15 specimens of newer Pliocene fossils from Garden island, presented by Archdeacon Scott’ (Cabinet 67, Drawer P)

and

‘22 Specimens of rocks and fossils to illustrate the memoir of Archdeacon Scott on the neighbourhood of Swan River, presented by the Archdeacon, Proc. Geol. Soc., volume 1, p.320’ (Cabinet 68, Drawer A)

Thomas Hobbes Scott was a layman clerk who had been in the British colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) since 1819, being appointed as Archdeacon in 1824. He was a senior public servant second only to the lieutenant-governor in Port Jackson, and a member of the Legislative Council. He was, however, increasingly frustrated with the colony and agitated to return to England.

On his eventual return voyage in November 1829 aboard the HMS Success the ship struck Carnac Reef off Garden Island, marooning Scott for several months in the fledgling Swan River Colony established six months earlier under the leadership of Captain James Stirling. The uncharted reefs and shoals had wreaked havoc over previous months, damaging three vessels. Consequently the colonists had been largely restricted to Garden Island, however by November work was underway laying out the new settlement at Perth under the direction of Government Surveyor John Septimus Roe. As the colony had no ordained minister, Scott oversaw the construction of the temporary church where he held the colony’s first Christmas service. In addition to his ecclesiastical work he also toured the fledging colony and made a small geological collection.

His specimen labels reveal that he collected rocks and petrified shells from the Upper Swan, Mount Eliza, Fremantle, the Darling Range, Clarence in the Cockburn Sound and Garden Island. The labels provide detail into his collecting sites. One label states ‘north west of the Success 2 feet deep just below the surface’. Another states ‘petrified roots fm the subterranean coast, Garden Island’. Many of the labels are poorly preserved, while others are wrapped in newspaper, suggesting the circumstantial nature of the collecting process.

When he returned to London he donated his collection to the Royal Geological Society in 1831. The purpose appears to have been to enhance his memoir, as indicated by a label with the collection stating ‘Specimens to illustrate the Memoir of Archdeacon Scott on Swan River, presented by the venerable Archdeacon Scott, RGS’, referring to his membership of the influential Royal Geographic Society where he read a paper ‘Geological remarks on the vicinity of Swan River and the Isle Bauche or Garden Island’. These specimens were of interest to the Geological Society who stated in their journal in 1829 : ‘There is no subject of greater interest to us, at present, than the fossil organised remains of that country’.  Interestingly Archdeacon Scott was one of several noted geological clerics in colonial Australia; perhaps unsurprisingly, in this pre-Darwinian period the geological collection was used to prop up antediluvian world views. However, what Scott presumably viewed as the fossils of forests inundated by the Biblical flood were evidence for past changes in sea level.

Coincidently, for histories of collecting in Western Australia, the sample label refers to James Drummond (1886-1863) who had been appointed Honorary Government Naturalist for the colony. In 1829 he had established a garden on Garden Island, to help sustain the struggling colonists. The well for his garden provided a cross section into the local geological strata from which this sample was obtained. In 1831 Drummond established a garden next to the new Government House in Perth, and be appointed ‘Superintendent of Government Gardens’ on an annual salary of 100 pounds. However, he proved ineffectual as a botanical collector, and his collections to British botanist James Mangles were essentially worthless. Other colonial natural history collectors such as Georgina Molloy would soon emerge to bring the unique nature of WA to European attention.

Image 1: Geological specimen (BM1911 1557) from Garden Island, Natural History Museum
Image 2: Geological specimen (BM1911 1557 4) from Garden Island, Natural History Museum