Joseph Banks was an Oxford University drop-out and a fellow amateur scientist, who, with his persistent botanical curiosity and considerable fortune, persuaded James Cook to take him and his fully-equipped and staffed laboratory aboard the Endeavour when Cook sailed for Port Jackson in 1770.

James Cook and Joseph Banks consulted Dampier’s notes when they set off on their voyage in 1770, Cook for the navigational skills, technical innovations and description of trade winds and currents and Banks for the biology…

…Having become the foremost scientist of his time, Banks finally got his degree from Oxford, became President of the Royal Society and his wishes being King George III’s command, together the two commissioned natural history exploration on an unprecedented scale. Along with Banks’ collections from his own voyage, King George and Banks oversaw the greatest assemblage of botanical specimens from around the world to found the collection that was to become the magnificent Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew.   

The greatest “dabbler” of his time, Banks, first known as The “Great South Sea Caterpillar”, metamorphosed into a “Bath Butterfly” and became recognised as the sought-after authority on everything in general and the settlement of New South Wales in particular…