Haebich, Anna. “Negotiating Botanical Collections: Dr Johann Preiss in Germany and Western Australia.” In “The European Exchange,” edited by Ashley Hay and Natasha Cica. The Griffith Review 69 (2020): 101–108.
It is not widely known that many Australian colonial natural history collections are represented in German museums and herbaria, nor that there are initiatives to transform these artefacts of colonial heritage and science back into objects from living cultures with living custodians and their own stories to tell. Dr Johann August Ludwig Preiss (1811–1883) played a significant role in this evolving story as the first professional botanist to collect systematically in the Colony of Western Australia from 1838 to 1842.
© 2020 Anna Haebich and Griffith University