{{Short description|Irish-Australian surveyor, ornithologist, botanist and poet}} {{About|the early Australian botanist|his poet grandson|R. D. Fitzgerald}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Robert D. FitzGerald | image = Robert D FitzGerald00.jpg | image_size = frameless | caption = | birth_date = 30 November 1830 | birth_place = [[Tralee]], [[County Kerry]] | death_date = {{death-date and age|12 August 1892|30 November 1830}} | death_place = [[Hunters Hill]], [[Sydney]], [[New South Wales]] | occupation = [[surveying|surveyor]], [[Ornithology|ornithologist]], [[botanist]] and [[poet]] | spouse = Emily Blackwell | parents = Robert David FitzGerald & Mary Ann, ''née'' Bell | children = three sons and three daughters }} '''Robert David FitzGerald''' (or possibly '''Robert Desmond FitzGerald'''<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.anbg.gov.au/biography/fitzgerald-robert.html|title= Fitzgerald, Robert D. (1830 - 1892)|publisher=[[Australian National Botanic Gardens]]|access-date=7 July 2016}}</ref>) (30 November 1830 – 12 August 1892) was an Irish-Australian [[surveying|surveyor]], [[Ornithology|ornithologist]],<ref name="UniMelb"/> botanist and poet.
Whilst working as a public servant FitzGerald's private passion and ability regarding ornithology and botany became so skillful that he communicated directly with [[Charles Darwin]] regarding Australian species of plant and was referred to several times in the book ''The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species'' of 1877.<ref name="DEWR"/> He also collected orchids for the German-Australian botanist [[Ferdinand von Mueller]].<ref name="DEWR"/>
His extraordinary skills gave rise to a volume of work completed over seven years called ''Australian Orchids'' which [[Joseph Dalton Hooker]] another botanist, considered ''"would be an honour to any country and to any Botanist"''.<ref name="DictBio"/>
==Biography==
===Early life=== FitzGerald was born in [[Tralee]], [[County Kerry]], Ireland. His father, also Robert David FitzGerald, was a banker, and his mother was Mary Ann, ''née'' Bell.<ref name="UniMelb" /><ref name="DictBio" /> He studied civil engineering at Queen's College, Cork, (now known as [[University College Cork]]), and emigrated to Australia.<ref name="DictBio"/>
===Working as a surveyor=== FitzGerald arrived in Sydney, Australia in 1856 and a short time later was appointed to the Department of Lands as a [[technical drawing|draftsman]] for the crown.<ref name="UniMelb"/>
Working steadily until 1868 FitzGerald was then promoted to control the roads branch of that department.
By 1873 he had become Deputy Surveyor General,<ref name="UniMelb"/> and by 1874 he had been given responsibility as the Chief Mining Surveyor<ref name="UniMelb"/> as well as controller of Church and School Lands for New South Wales.<ref name="DictBio"/> Following the advent of the [[Crown Lands Act]] of 1884 part of his duty was to analyse and consider the future roles of his department and ironically that analysis resulted in a number of [[retrenchment]]s including his own.<ref name="DictBio"/>
===Ornithology and botany=== In his private life FitzGerald developed his skills as an ornithologist. Coupled with his skills as a [[taxidermist]] he initially (during 1855–56) contributed a number of articles on the birds of his hometown Kerry to that town's magazine.<ref name="DictBio"/>
More specifically FitzGerald had an enormous interest in botany and in 1864 he travelled to [[Wallis Lake]], north of [[Newcastle, New South Wales|Newcastle]] in New South Wales to collect ferns and orchids which he intended to cultivate around his [[Hunters Hill]] home.
This interest in orchids was maintained throughout his life and in 1869, 1871 and 1876 he visited [[Lord Howe Island]] to collect further botanical samples. It was during this time that he discovered ''Dracophyllum fitzgeraldii F. Muell'', which was later to be named in his honour.<ref name="DictBio"/>
===Marriage and children=== FitzGerald married Emily Blackwell, daughter of [[Edward Hunt (politician)|Edward Hunt]], [[New South Wales Legislative Council|M.L.C.]], at [[Balmain, New South Wales|Balmain]] in 1860. FitzGerald had three sons and three daughters who survived his death. His youngest son was [[Gerald Fitzgerald (artist)]] and his grandson was the poet [[R. D. Fitzgerald]].<ref name="DictBio">{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |id2=fitzgerald-robert-david-3527 | title = Robert David FitzGerald (1830–1892) |volume=4| pages= 178–179 |access-date = 2008-10-19}}</ref>
===Death=== FitzGerald died on 12 August 1892 at [[Hunters Hill]] and he was buried in the [[Presbyterian]] section of the old [[Balmain Cemetery]].<ref name="DictBio"/>
==Published works==
===''Australian Orchids''=== [[File:RD Fritzgerald Orchids 1882-1894 02.jpg|thumb|Australian Orchids, Part one, volumes 2 & 3, Robert David FitzGerald, 1882]] From 1875 until 1882 in association with [[Arthur James Stopps]] who was a [[lithographer]] in the same public offices that he worked at, FitzGerald published seven parts of his work ''Australian Orchids''. The exquisite lithograph plates detailing FitzGerald's dissections of orchids, were hand-coloured by artists following his samples and instructions. ''Australian Orchids'' made FitzGerald famous in the botanical world and [[Joseph Dalton Hooker]] another botanist, considered the work one "which would be an honour to any country and to any Botanist".<ref name="DictBio"/>
''Australian Orchids'' included descriptions of more than two hundred species. Fitzgerald was encouraged by the government of the day, who covered his costs and published his work, but the author died before the task was completed and nearly one hundred of his unpublished drawings are held in the [https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/92eVlAbY State Library of New South Wales]. After completing his drawings, Fitzgerald did not dry and preserve the specimens but threw them away, so few species he described and named have preserved [[Type (biology)|type]] specimens. No attempt was made to follow any system of classification and the plates and pages were not numbered, making it difficult for readers to find a particular drawing.<ref name="Rupp">{{cite book|last1=Rupp|first1=Herman M.R.|title=The Orchids of New South Wales|date=1944|publisher=Government Printer of N.S.W.|location=Sydney|pages=x–xi}}</ref>
===Manuscript notes=== Manuscript notes on botanical species including watercolour sketches and diagrams with botanical annotations which were completed by hand by Fitzgerald between 1870 and 1890, and are held by National Library of Australia.<ref name="UniMelb"/>
===Published drawings=== The originals of FitzGerald's drawings completed in Sydney published between 1874 and 1894, of Australian orchids including 196 water-colour and pencil drawings with the artists pencilled notes in 2 volumes is held as a part of the Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales.<ref name="UniMelb">{{cite web | url = http://austehc.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/archives/P000407a.htm | title = FitzGerald, Robert David (1830 - 1892) | publisher = University of Melbourne - Bright sparcs | access-date = 2007-04-16 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070907032255/http://austehc.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/archives/P000407a.htm | archive-date = 7 September 2007}}</ref>
===Published letters=== A number of letters dated between 1871 and 1892 from FitzGerald to the German/Australian botanist [[Ferdinand von Mueller]] about Australian plants and their identification with references to Herbarium specimens as well as a single letter from G.H. Druce to FitzGerald are held at the [[National Herbarium of Victoria]], Melbourne.<ref name="UniMelb"/>
==Honours and awards==
===Eponyms=== # The spider [[orchid]], ''[[Caladenia fitzgeraldii]]'' is named in his honour.<ref name="DictBio"/> # The ravine orchid, ''[[Sarcochilus fitzgeraldii]]'' is named in his honour.<ref name="DictBio"/> # ''[[Dracophyllum fitzgeraldii]]'', which he discovered on [[Lord Howe Island]] is named in his honour.<ref name="DictBio"/> #''Eugenia fitzgeraldii'', now a [[Synonym (taxonomy)|synonym]] of ''[[Syzygium hodgkinsoniae]]''<ref name="APC">{{cite web |title=''Syzygium hodgkinsoniae'' |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/64727|publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=22 July 2025}}</ref> was named in his honour.<ref name="DEWR"/>
===Medals=== #Received bronze medal from Agricultural Society of NSW in 1871 for his work on orchids. #Received gold medal from the Exhibition Internationale de Paris in 1878 ''Australian Orchids.'' #Received bronze medal from the Sydney International Exhibition in 1879. #Received silver medal from the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880. #Received the Amsterdam Medal D'Or in 1883. #Received bronze medal from the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London in 1886.<ref name="DEWR">{{cite web| url = http://www.anbg.gov.au/library/fitzger.html| title = R.D. Fitzgerald - biographical and botanical sources| publisher = Department of the Environment and Water Resources| access-date = 2007-04-16| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070526081230/http://www.anbg.gov.au/library/fitzger.html| archive-date = 26 May 2007}}</ref>
===Memberships=== #Made an honorary member of Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria. #Elected a fellow of the Linnean Society of London in 1874. #Elected a member of the Royal Society of New South Wales in 1876.<ref name="DEWR"/>
===Other honours=== #[[Fitzgerald County, New South Wales]] is named in his honour.<ref name="NSWGeo">{{NSW GNR|id = KWQloeWATR|title = Fitzgerald|accessdate = 4 August 2013}}</ref>
{{botanist|Fitzg.|FitzGerald}}
==References and notes==
{{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162186816 |title=ILLUSTRATIONS. |newspaper=[[The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser]] |volume=LIV |issue=1678 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=3 September 1892 |access-date=7 July 2016 |page=531 |via=National Library of Australia}} — obituary
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{{DEFAULTSORT:FitzGerald, Robert}} [[Category:1830 births]] [[Category:1892 deaths]]
[[Category:Australian surveyors]] [[Category:19th-century Australian botanists]] [[Category:Botanists active in Australia]] [[Category:Botanical collectors active in Australia]] [[Category:Colony of New South Wales people]] [[Category:Explorers of Australia]] [[Category:Australian people of Irish descent]] [[Category:19th-century Irish botanists]] [[Category:Australian ornithologists]] [[Category:People from Tralee]] [[Category:Burials at Balmain Cemetery]] [[Category:Writers from County Kerry]] [[Category:Scientists from County Kerry]] [[Category:Alumni of University College Cork]]