The Flickr Sydneyparkinson Image Generatr

From "A Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas in HIs Majesty's Ship the Endeavour (1768-1771)" by Sydney Parkinson. Exhibit in the Natural History Museum, London.

"In the summer of 1768, Sydney Parkinson, aged just 23, set sail from Plymouth on one of the most important and scientifically groundbreaking voyages of all time.

"Employed as naturalist artist on board HMS Endeavour, Parkinson was to create a visual record of the ship's voyage across the Pacific. Parkinson produced over 1,300 paintings and sketches of the plants and animals he encountered during the expedition, and these represent one of the most significant visual legacies in natural history.

"Sadly, Parkinson never returned from the voyage. He, along with many others, died from dysentery, just six months before the Endeavour arrived home.

"Parkinson's account of the Endeavour voyage was published by his brother, Stanfield, using Sydney's papers and illustrations. The account captures Sydney's many observations. These include the changing weather and state of the sea, and his curiosity about the people he met during the voyage." [Text accompanying the museum exhibit]

The tree grows from 12 to 18mts. a rainforest specimen native to North Queensland, that produces these beautiful flowers in summer, they are very popular with many birds and insects. The flowers grow along the stems in great profusion.

Also called Queensland Black Bean, and also valued as a timber tree, one was planted by our bushcare group alongside Mimosa Creek, Macgregor, Brisbane it is now very large.

Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander sailed as botanists while they accompanied Lieutenant James Cook (later Captain James Cook) on his voyage of discovery to the southern oceans of the world between 1768 and 1771.on board HM Bark Endeavour

..One of the specimens collected by Joseph Banks (later Sir Joseph) and Daniel Solander, was this one, Castanospermum australe and it was included along with many others in Sir Joseph Banks' Florilegium - a collection of copperplate engravings of plants discovered during the voyage.

A sudden crack and a shudder: at about 11 PM on June 11, 1770. HMS Edeavour, commander Captain James Cook, ran onto the Great Barrier Reef just off Australia. From 1768 he'd safely managed the bark from Madeira to Rio de Janeiro, through southernmost Tierra del Fuego to New Zealand, and now atop the coral mass of the Great Reef.
The Endeavour lowered its sails and tried to anchor-pull itself off the reef but to no avail. Only at high tide did she come loose but was making water. Quickly all hands - including the now famous botanists Joseph Banks (1743-1820), Daniel Carlsson Solander (1733-1782) and Herman Diedrich Spöring (1733-1771) - manned the pumps. The Endeavour with its enormous collection of natural specimens put together during the past two years managed to stay afloat. She was moored at the Bay of Inlets, now the Endeavour River, for repairs. It was found that a piece of sharp coral the size of a man's fist had sliced through the hull and was - thankfully - wedged there. If the hole had been larger the vessel would most probably have sunk together with its rich natural collection.
Now - while she was being repaired - our intrepid naturalists set about enriching their collection. Between June 17 and August 3 they brought together a hugely variegated set of natural specimens from Eastern Australia. One of these was this Everlasting Daisy, also called a Paper Daisy or Golden Bract or just plainly Straw Flower.
It was almost immediately drawn in outline by the gifted Quaker botanical illustrator Sydney Parkinson (c.1745-1771), also a member of Banks's naturalist team. Neither Parkinson nor Spöring lived to see an enthusiastic European reception of their work. Both died at sea of dysentry on the way to Cape Town, South Africa. But their Straw Flower survived, and it was soon cultivated at Kew and disseminated throughout Europe.
Each time I look at strawflowers I remember these intrepid nature lovers who did their work in the most cramped and inconvenient of circumstances in constant fear that their collections would not survive the sea voyage. But they never lost their good humor.
This photo was taken in the Kruidtuin of Antwerp, associated with St Elisabeth's hospital as a herbal garden ever since the beginning of the nineteenth century. The day was overcast, but this Sundaze sparkled!