Robert Brown Bicentenary

[Kristina Lemson]

Dear Colleagues

The years 2001-2003 mark the Bicentennial of the Flinders Expredition to
circumnavigate "Terra Australis", and thus the bicentennial of the field
work which lead to Robert Brown publishing his "Prodromus Florae Novae
Hollandiae et Insulae Van-Diemen" in 1810. Brown's work is regarded as a
significant milestone in Australian taxonomic botany, and of course, it was
the Flinders voyage which confirmed Terra Australis to be an island
continent. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who may be
interested in being involved in mounting a re-enactment of the voyage and
it's scientific work, or anyone who knows of such a project already in
existence.
The aim would be to re-visit the stops and collection sites made on the
original voyage, undertaking a significant scientific programme along the
way, including documenting the current state of the sites in comparison
with notes from Brown, Flinders etc. The voyage would differ from the
original in visiting major capital cities and in undertaking work along the
northern coast of WA, which was skipped by Flinders et al beacuse of the
condition of their vessel. It is hoped to include as many scientists from
relevant areas as possible. The "pie in the sky" target is to mount a full
re-enactment of the voyage ex-England in July 2001, but a reduced programme
leaving Fremantle, Western Australia in November 2001 may be more
achievable. It may be possible to use a replica sailing ship for the
voyage. In tandem with the ship-board programme a programme of local
community events of historical and ecological focus  could be run. The
project is timely for another reason, as the year 2001 is also the
centenary of the Federation of the Commonwealth of Australia.
The project is still very much in the "expression of interest" stage, and
the hard work will begin next year. Organisations and Societies are also
invited to respond.

Kristina Lemsom
Botany Dept
University of Western Australia
Crawley, 6907, Western Australia.