Anthelme Thozet

Who was Anthelme Thozet?

Anthelme Thozet was a French-Australian botanist and ethnographer.

He was born May 26, 1826 in Chegnieu-la-Balme, and fled Calais for London in September 1854 as a political refugee following the 1848-51 revolt in France. He migrated to New South Wales Australia in late 1854/early 1855 as part of a French gold digging expedition to Bathurst. He then moved to Sydney in early 1856 where he worked as a clerk at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney before being drawn to Rockhampton by the Canoona gold rush. While living in Sydney he met Maria Isabella Berthold, a German immigrant, and they had a son, Auguste.

Thozet established the second hotel in Rockhampton, the Alliance, but driven by a never failing professional interest in botany he commenced researching native Australian plants used by indigenous people of Northern Queensland, Australia including the Darumbal clans around Rockhampton. Thozet established his own plant nursery in North Rockhampton on 70 acres which are today bounded by Thozet Creek, Thozet Road, Rockonia Road and the Fitzroy River.