The Grampians

For over 40 years Herbert Bennett Williamson visited the Greater Grampians region on no less than 25 occasions¹ almost exclusively during holiday leave from his teaching duties. Williamson’s journeys throughout this region were conducted predominantly on foot and bicycle, over hundreds of kilometres of scarcely signed landscape. It was not until the later 1920s that he would adopt the ‘luxury’ of a motorcar.

Until early in the twentieth century, much of the far Western district was botanically relatively unexplored terrain by white Australians.

Discoveries at the Grampians

Pultenaea patellifolia H.B. Will.

This specimen — new to science at the time of its discovery — was discovered and collected by Williamson at Mt. Byron in the Black Ranges (part of the Grampians), in October 1927. The story of the discovery and collection of this species was told in The Herald newspaper in 1927.

This species was formally described by Williamson in a publication in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria in 1928. Pultenaea patellifolia, known by the common name Mt. Byron Bush-pea, is considered rare; it only grows in open-forest in the Black Ranges³.

Letter written by H.B. Williamson accompanying specimen sent to the Herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K) dated 5 Oct 1899 [K000799702 & K000799703]. Specimen image courtesy of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. © copyright of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Sending specimens worldwide

Williamson’s passion for surveying Victorian flora and sharing his finds with others included internationally renowned botanists and institutions. In addition to his considerable contributions to Australian herbaria, Williamson sent specimens found in the Grampians to Kew herbarium in London, as well as the Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C.

In total, Williamson formally described 60  plant species⁴ and for each of those species a type specimen (such as the one shown to the left), which represents the features and dimensions of that species is provided to a national or international herbarium for reference by other researchers.

Collection of the type specimen to describe the plant features often requires multiple visits, as Williamson notes in the letter accompanying this specimen, ‘wishing to obtain fruit (in vain) I watched it for 6 seasons refraining from plucking many specimens.’