Tuggeranong Suburbs - BANKS Traditional Cache
Tuggeranong Suburbs - BANKS
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Number 8 in the series of Tuggeranong suburbs.
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The suburb of Banks is named after Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820). The suburb was gazetted on 12 March 1987. The theme of the street names is botany or natural history.
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Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS (13 February 1743 – 19 June 1820) was a British naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences.
Banks was appointed to a joint Royal Navy/Royal Society scientific expedition to the south Pacific Ocean on HM Bark Endeavour, 1768—1771. This was the first of James Cook's voyages of discovery in that region. This voyage went to Brazil, where Banks made the first scientific description of a now common garden plant, bougainvillea (named after Cook's French counterpart, Louis Antoine de Bougainville), and to other parts of South America.
The voyage then progressed to Tahiti (where the transit of Venus was observed, the overt purpose of the mission), to New Zealand and to the east coast of Australia, where Cook mapped the coastline and made landfall at Botany Bay and at Endeavour River (near modern Cooktown) in Queensland, where they spent almost seven weeks ashore while the ship was repaired after foundering on the Great Barrier Reef.
While in Australia, Banks, the Swedish botanist Daniel Solander and the Finnish botanist Dr. Herman Spöring Jr. made the first major collection of Australian flora, describing many species new to science. Almost 800 specimens were illustrated by the artist Sydney Parkinson and appear in Banks' Florilegium, finally published in 35 volumes between 1980 and 1990.
Banks is accredited with the introduction to the Western world of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa, and the genus named after him, Banksia. Approximately 80 species of plants bear Banks's name.
Banks arrived back in England on 12 July 1771 and immediately became famous. He intended to go with Cook on his second voyage, which began on 13 May 1772, but difficulties arose about the accommodation for Banks and his assistants, and he decided not to go. In July of the same year he and Daniel Solander visited the Isle of Wight, the western islands of Scotland and Iceland aboard Sir Lawrence and returned with many botanical specimens.
In 1773, he toured south Wales in the company of artist Paul Sandby. When he settled in London he began work on his Florilegium. He kept in touch with most of the scientists of his time, was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1773, and added a fresh interest when he was elected to the Dilettante Society in 1774. He was afterwards secretary of this society from 1778 to 1797.
On 30 November 1778 Bank's was elected President of the Royal Society, a position he was to hold with great distinction for over 41 years.
Banks's health began to fail early in the 19th century and he suffered from gout every winter. After 1805 he practically lost the use of his legs and had to be wheeled to his meetings in a chair, but his mind remained as vigorous as ever. He had been a member of the Society of Antiquaries nearly all his life, and he developed an interest in archaeology in his later years. He was made an honorary founding member of the Wernerian Natural History Society of Edinburgh in 1808.
In May 1820 he forwarded his resignation as president of the Royal Society, but withdrew it at the request of the council. Banks passed away on 19 June 1820 and was buried at St Leonard's Church, Heston. Lady Banks survived him, but there were no children.
Banks appeared on the Australian currency paper $5 dollar note before it was replaced by the later polymer currency. In 1986 he was honoured on a postage stamp depicting his portrait issued by Australia Post.
*******FTF - rhino 3004*******
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