Alexander Collie

Alexander Collie ( born June 2, 1793 † November 8, 1835 ) was a Scottish physician and botanist who traveled to Western Australia in 1829, where he worked as a researcher and colonial doctor.

Early life

Collie was born in Insch in Aberdeenshire, Scotland on June 2, 1793, the son of Alexander and Christina Collie (born Leslie ). As the youngest of three sons Collie studied medicine in Edinburgh and later in London. In January 1813, he joined the Association Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons.

Career

He sailed aboard the frigate HMS Doris to Tenerife, China and the East Indies, before he returned to Europe to study botany, mineralogy and chemistry. In 1824 he was a doctor on board HMS Blossom and went to Africa, Brazil, Chile, at the Sandwich Islands, California, Kamchatka, Taiwan and Mexico.

Collie accompanied the HMS Sulphur in February 1829 on their expedition to Western Australia, where he stood by on the high seas of the birth of Frederick Henry, the son of Governor James Stirling and his wife Ellen. After arriving at Rottnest Iceland in June 1829 Collie worked as a doctor in Garden Iceland and explored in his spare time the flora of Australia. Him were allocated on the banks of the Swan River 610 acres of land.

Together with Lieutenant Preston, he explored the southwest of Western Australia. They discovered two rivers, the James Stirling named after them: the Collie River and the Preston River. In 1830 he was appointed by the governor to investigate the conditions in the Peel settlement. After 28 deaths and many cases of illness, he noted that dirty water, bad food and lack of medical facilities were responsible for the disease.

In 1831 Alexander Collie additional 200 hectares of land were allotted in Albany, where he was the first government employees of the city. He returned two years later returned to Perth to assist as a colonial doctor the Swan River Colony 1833-1835. He died on November 8, 1835 at the age of 42 years at King George Sound probably from tuberculosis.

Legacy

The town of Collie and Collie River are named in his honor, a granite monolith was erected for him in Collie. The Blauwangenhäher Calocitta colliei was named in consequence of his ride aboard the Blossom to Mexico, according to him.