John White A.M., M.D., F.LS. (c. 1756–1832), Surgeon-General of New South Wales: a new biography of the messenger of the echidna and waratah

Abstract

John White, Surgeon-General of New South Wales, is best remembered for his handsome book Journal of a voyage to new South Wales published in London during 1790. He was a native of County Fermanagh in northwestern Ireland. He became a naval surgeon and in this capacity was appointed to serve as surgeon on the First Fleet which left England for New South Wales (Australia) in 1787. While living in New South Wales, White adopted Nanberree, an aboriginal boy, and fathered a son by Rachel Turner, a convict, who later married Thomas Moore. John White returned to England in 1795, became a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London and was granted the degrees of Doctor of Medicine and Master of Arts by the University of St Andrews. White was married twice, and was survived by his second wife and his four children, including his illegitimate, Australian-born son, Captain Andrew Douglas White. Dr John White died in 1832 aged 75 and is buried in Worthing, Sussex, England. While serving as Surgeon-General at Sydney Cove, New South Wales, between 1788 and 1794 John White collected natural history specimens and assembled a series of paintings of plants and animals. After returning to England, White lent these paintings to botanists and zoologists, and permitted copies to be made. Thus, he contributed substantially to European knowledge of the indigenous flora and fauna of Australia.