William Blandowski

Blandowski's education was impacted by the death of his father, financial hardships, and controversies which resulted in quiet expulsions from various institutes.

There are reports his passage was paid by a patron, Karl Bernhardt Maximilian Wiebel (Wibel) (1808 – 1888) a founding member of the Zoological Museum in Hamburg.

[1] He began exploring the area around Adelaide, and his sketches from this period include geological scenes, fossils, animals, the Aboriginal people and their artefacts.

Blandowski was ambitious, and made unsuccessful applications to the government, and influential colonists, to fund his explorations and surveys.

He made a fortune on the goldfields, and he invented a double-action force pump to prevent mines being flooded.

[6] Blandowski left the expedition early, returning to Melbourne via riverboat and steamer at the beginning of August.

Blandowski decided to name some fish species documented on this expedition after members of the Philosophical Institute's council.

The insulted parties attempted to have him expelled from the institute, but eventually withdrew themselves when they could not obtain the required two-thirds majority of votes.

[10] Blandowski remained active in the Philosophical Institute for the next three years, participating in the Exploration Committee that organised the Burke and Wills expedition.

In his account of the expedition, Blandowski states that he brought back to Melbourne 28 boxes and parcels, of about 16,000 specimens, registered under 2000 different number and travelled about 1300 miles.

[11] In the early 21st century revived interest in Blandowski's explorations has generated discussion on the provenance of the sketches and illustrations attributed to him.