A visit to Sims Island

2nd April 1818

On this day, 2nd April 1818, Allan Cunningham visited Sim’s Island while accompanying Phillip Parker King on his first Survey of coastal Australia. 1

Robert Heward transcribed the following words from Allan Cunningham’s journal:

A small island, two miles to the northward of Goulburn’s Island, and which at my suggestion has [p246] been named Sim’s Island, (in honour of the excellent conductor of the Botanical Magazine [John Sims]) 2 afforded me several fine specimens, and some papers of seeds. I have likewise found some bulbs of Crinum venosum, Br.? which I have not seen in any other part of Australia.

The opportunities of landing on the north coast, and the islands in the vicinity, have enabled me to add to my collections materially, although not to the extent I had reasonably calculated. The aggregate sum of my collections made on the coasts of Australia, does not exceed 300 species. 3

ROBERT HEWARD’S BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF ALLAN CUNNINGHAM, Page 245
  1. Source: Curry, Maslin and Maslin’s Allan Cunningham Australian Collection Localities[↩]
  2. Find out more about John Sims at Wikipedia[↩]
  3. Source: Robert Heward’s Biographical Sketch of Allan Cunningham Page 245[↩]