John White (surgeon)

Template:Short description Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox scientist John White (c. 1756 – 20 February 1832) was an Irish surgeon and botanical collector.

Biography

White was born in the townland of Drumaran, near Belcoo, in County Fermanagh in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland, about 1756,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Nelson, E. C. (1986), "The first Ulsterman in Botany Bay, Surgeon-General John White', The Linen Hall review 3 (2): 8–9</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and not, as stated in the Dictionary of Australian Biography<ref name=DAB>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Australian Dictionary of Biography,<ref name=ADB>Template:Australian Dictionary of Biography</ref> in Sussex, England. On 18 June 1778 John White qualified as a surgeon's mate, first rate, following examination at the Company of Surgeons in London. He entered the Royal Navy on 26 June 1778 as surgeon's mate aboard Template:HMS. He was promoted surgeon in 1780, serving aboard Template:HMS until 1786 when Sir Andrew Hamond recommended him as principal naval surgeon for the voyage of the First Fleet to Australia.<ref>Correspondence, Sir A.S. Hamond to Under Secretary Charles Nepean,16 October 1786. Cited in Britton (ed.), p.24</ref>

In March 1787 White joined the First Fleet at Plymouth as surgeon for the convict transport Charlotte, where he found that the convicts had been living for some time on salt meat, a bad preparation for a long voyage. He succeeded in obtaining supplies of fresh meat and vegetables for them, and arranged that they should be allowed up on deck in relays to obtain fresh air.<ref name=ADB/> On arrival in Australia, White engaged one of the convicts, Thomas Barrett, to engrave a silver medallion to mark the occasion.<ref name="Medal">Template:Cite news</ref> The medallion, or "Charlotte Medal", is displayed in Australia's National Maritime Museum.<ref name="Medal"/>

In 1788 White was appointed Surgeon-General of New South Wales and organised a hospital for the new colony, somewhat hampered by a lack of medical supplies. He became interested in the native flora and fauna of the new land and investigated the potential of Australian plants for use as medicine. He observed the olfactory qualities of eucalyptus and distilled eucalyptus oil in 1788.

White wrote A Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales (1790),<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> which described many Australian species for the first time.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Journal had 65 copper-plate engravings of birds, animals and plants, many of which were based on the water colour paintings of Sarah Stone,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref> and during the next five years was translated into German and French.<ref name=ADB/> It is believed (by his unnamed biographer) that Thomas William Parr was employed as a sketch artist by White to produce natural history drawings as a starting point for development and colouring by other artists.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> White was the first to describe Litoria caerulea, a species of frog endemic to Australia and New Guinea, which has several common names, including "White's tree frog". In 1792, Thomas Watling a convict artist newly arrived to the colony was appointed by the government to assist John White in the production of copies of illustrations of various plants, insects and animals. A portrait of John White, a miniature on ivory, signed by Thomas Watling and dated "N.S.Wales 1792" is in the National Museum of Australia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

According to his journal, White severely disliked Australia, describing it as: "a country and place so forbidding and so hateful as only to merit execration and curses." He applied for leave of absence in 1792, and received it in 1794, sailing for England on 17 December 1794 and later travelled to Ireland. In 1796 he resigned his position when given the option of returning to Australia. Earlier in 1796, White was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, and on 10 March 1797, the Senate of the University of St Andrews conferred the degree of Doctor of Medicine on him. White was a surgeon on HMS Royal William, and for 20 years he was stationed first at Sheerness from 1799 and then at Chatham Dockyard from 1803. He retired on a half pension in 1820, and died in Worthing, England in 1832.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Legacy

Sydney's White Bay is named in his honour.<ref>Template:NSW GNR</ref>

John White is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of Australian lizard, Egernia whitii.<ref>Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. Template:ISBN. ("White, J.", p. 284).</ref>

See also

• History of public health in Australia

Further reading

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Citation, also at Project Gutenberg Australia and the University of Sydney.
• Nelson, E.Charles. Dr John White FLS Surgeon-General of New South Wales: A Portrait by Thomas Watlinng. The Linnean 32(2)p. 21-22.