Frederick George Waterhouse

Frederick George Waterhouse (25 August 1815 – 7 September 1898) was an English naturalist, zoologist and entomologist who made significant contributions to the study of the natural history of Australia.

On 7 July 1852 he married Fanny Shepherd Abbott (c. 1831 – 7 August 1875), and soon after they sailed for South Australia in the Sydney, the first steamer to make the voyage.

His original intention was to prospect for gold at the Victorian diggings, but he was unsuccessful and found employment with C. T. Hargrave, surveying in the Mount Lofty Ranges and Kangaroo Island.

[1] In 1860 he became curator of the South Australian Institute Museum, which opened in 1862, and which he had helped to found in 1856 with the donation of his own valuable entomological and ornithological collection.

His replacement at the Museum, William Haacke, made his name there by proving that echidnas were oviparous, but resigned after a series of disputes with the Board and Director.