Shoot, Catalogue, Eat: Interacting with Nature at a Tasmanian Penal Station

Abstract

This paper examines the fascinating - if slightly incongruous - links that the Port Arthur penal station (1830-1877) had to an active and influential globe-spanning network of naturalists, explorers and collectors. Particularly during the first two decades of the station's life, Port Arthur's denizens - both free and bond alike - partook in acts of collection and rudimentary analysis, driven by a desire to understand the natural world around them. Focusing on the figure of Thomas James Lempriere, an officer at the station between 1833 and 1848, this paper discusses how interactions with the natural world at the edge of Empire influenced - and continues to influence - the scientific world.