William Paterson (1755-1810)

He arrived in New Holland in 1791 as a captain in the 102nd Regiment.  He had asked Joseph Banks to support his application to become a Fellow of the Royal Society before leaving England. Banks advised him to postpone his application until he had been able to 'advance Natural History', suggesting that his departure for New South Wales would provide him with a good scope for discoveries. Not only did Paterson collect natural history items for Banks but he also supplied seed to the Lee and Kennedy and Colvill nurseries.  While based on Norfolk Island he compiled an account of the flora and entrusted this to Banks.  The manuscript is believed to be that in the Dixson Library collection in Sydney.  While it was undoubtedly useful for its time, it reveals that Paterson had only a limited knowledge of botany.  He used only generic and common names, not binomials.  On the basis of the botanical treatment for Norfolk Island Paterson asked for membership of the Royal Society.  He wrote to Banks:
 

"In a letter to Gov.  King you are so good as to offer me your assistance in publishing the Natural History of Norfolk Island, but my return from that place put it out of my power to finish what I first intended viz.  The Birds and Fishes.  However with the drawings &c. that accompany's this you will be in possession of the Botanical part, and from the few specimens of the strata which were sent before, you will be able to judge of the formation of the Island.

"Should you think the memorandums worth publishing or if it could be done by offering them to the Royal Society I would consider the Honor still greater, at the same time may I beg to solicit your interest of becoming a Fellow of the Society and hope by my attention to Natural History you will think me deserving of that honor."
 

Banks declined to nominate Paterson for membership of the Society until his return to England. It was thus 1797 before Paterson was elected a Fellow.

Text extracted from R.M. Barker & W.R. Barker in P.S.Short (ed.) (1990), 'Botanical Contributions  Overlooked...', 'History of Systematic Botany in Australasia'. Australian Systematic Botany Society.
Portrait by William Owen (1769–1825), painted 1799. Original held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Accession number 806.

Paterson's notes on the Flora of Norfolk Island have been digitised and can be seen in an album that forms part of the Mitchell Library collection of the State Library of New South Wales:
http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/album/albumView.aspx?acmsID=825798&itemID=825834
His correspondence with Banks can also be seen in the same collection:
http://www2.sl.nsw.gov.au/banks/series_27/27_view.cfm