Newman, Francis William   (c.1796 - 1859)

Died at the Botanical Gardens, Hobart, 23 rd August, 1859, aged 63.

He was gardener to surgeon and pastoralist James Bowman (son-in-law of John and Elizabeth Mqcarthur) at Lyndhurst, Glebe (NSW).

On the death of James Anderson (1842) he applied for the superintendent's position at RBG Sydney. Although he was unsuccessful, his botanical knowledge enabled him to secure the appointment in 1845 as superintendent of the gardens of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land (later Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens).

In his first years Newman introduced sixty new genera comprising 250 species, including new varieties of fruits, grains, and grasses. He also prepared a border for fifty plants indigenous to the colony.

In 1848 the pond was made from a nearby creek, thus saving much expense in carting water from the town.

With his botanical knowledge and practical experience in horticulture, the Gardens were enlarged, and greatly improved and beautified, which led to an increasing number of visitors.

There was a great deal of plant exchange and members of the Royal Society were allowed plants from the Gardens to the amount of their subscription to the Society.

In 1857 Newman published an extensive Catalogue of Plants in the Royal Society's Gardens.

When he died in 1859 it was said that "the Colony had lost a benefactor...for he laboured constantly and earnestly in importing every plant, tree, or shrub that was either useful, profitable, or ornamental."

Buried at St. George’s Cemetery (in the vault of Mr H. Lipscombe, 27 th August).

He was the immediate predecessor of Francis Abbott at the Botanical Gardens, Hobart.

Source: Extracted from:
Maiden, J.H. (1909) Records of Tasmanian botanists. Papers and proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania for the year 1909. pp. 9-29.
Ann Cripps in Aitken & Looker (eds.) 'The Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens', 2002, Melbourne.