Peter Good

Peter Good (date of birth unknown, died 12 June 1803) was the gardener assistant to botanist Robert Brown on the voyage of HMS Investigator under Matthew Flinders,^[1] during which the coast of Australia was charted, and various plants collected.

Biography

Good had worked as a foreman at Kew Royal Gardens, during which time he had assisted botanist Christopher Smith in transporting a shipment of English plants to Calcutta.^[2] He was working as a kitchen gardener at Wemyss Castle, Scotland, when Joseph Banks offered him the appointment as gardener to Brown, at a salary of £105 a year.^[3]

The voyage

Good made an extensive seed collection during the voyage, and also collected plant specimens for both his own and Brown's collections. He died of dysentery in Sydney Cove,^[4] and his plant collection was incorporated into Brown's. Brown immensely admired his work ethic, and named the plant genus Goodia in his honour.^[5] Banksia goodii (Good's Banksia) is also named after him.

See also

• List of gardener-botanist explorers of the Enlightenment
• European and American voyages of scientific exploration

Works

• Journal of Peter Good, Gardener on Matthew Flinders' Voyage to Terra Australis, 1801–03, Stationery Office Books, September 1981, ISBN 0-11-983258-5