George Maxwell

Who was George Maxwell?

George Maxwell was a professional collector of plants and insects in Southwest Australia. The botanical specimens he obtained were used to make formal descriptions of the region's plant species.

He was born in England in 1804 and moved to Western Australia in 1840 to settle at King George Sound, remaining there until his death at Middleton Beach in 1880. Maxwell occupied himself a number of activities, selling curios and offering to guide visitors to the port. He began collecting plants and insects of the region, assisting the botanist James Drummond in 1846. The collections he made, in the company of Drummond and Ferdinand von Mueller, would provide type specimens for the publication of scientific descriptions. Maxwell's collections are now preserved in Australian herbarium, his contribution to the botanical knowledge of the region and Flora Australiensis was noted by Mueller in the Gardeners' Chronicle;

Only two years ago I made long journeys with him over rough country for several days on horseback to collect plants and seeds.