Palmer, Edward (1842 - 1899)
Born on 8 March 1842 in Wollongong, NSW; Died on 3 May 1899 in Rockhampton, Qld.
From the preface of the book he wrote, 'Early Days in
North Queensland', published shortly after his death, we have these details:
Mr. Palmer was a native of Wollongong, in New South Wales, and came to Queensland in 1857. He took up and formed his well-known station, 'Conobie', on the western bank of the Cloncurry River, situated about midway between Normanton and Cloncurry, in 1864, first with sheep, but subsequently, like most ofthe Gulf squatters, he substituted cattle therefor, which by the year 1893 had grown into a magnificent herd.
Mr. Palmer also took part in the political life of Queensland, representing his district, then known as the Burke, but afterwards as Carpentaria, until the general election of 1893, when he retired in favour of Mr. G. Phillips, C.E., who held the seat for three years.
In the financial crisis of 1893 and subsequent years when the value of cattle stations in North Queensland owing to the ravages of ticks and the want of extraneous markets, gradually dwindled almost to the vanishing point, Mr. Palmer was a great sufferer, and he was compelled to leave his old home at 'Conobie', which was bound to him by every tie dear to the human breast, and most dear to the man who had carved that home out of the wilderness by sheer courage and indomitable endurance.
Mr. Palmer's constitution, originally a very good one, was undermined partly by a long life of exposure and hardship under a tropical sun, but chiefly owing to the misfortunes which latterly overtook him, and after a few years of service under the State in connection with the tick plague, he died in harness at Rockhampton on the 4th day of May, 1899.
MR. G. PHILLIPS, C.E. (1903)
One chapter in his book is titled: 'INLAND EXPLORATION' and he outlines the many expeditions in Queensland during his lifetime, with the preface comment "Many of the original explorers and pioneers were known to him personally".
In the text on the expedition of the "Gregory borothers" in the 1850s he notes:
The party consisted of eighteen persons, the principal members being:
Commander, A. C. Gregory;
Assistant Commander, H. C. Gregory;
Geologist, J. S. Wilson;
Artist and Storekeeper, J. Baines;
Surveyor and Naturalist, J. R. Elsey;
Botanist, F. von Mueller;
Collector and Preserver, J. Flood."
So it can be assumed he was on familiar with the scientific community of the day, and this probably accounts for his plant collecting.
Source: Extracted from:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/38649/38649-h/38649-h.htm
Palmer, Edward (1903) 'Early Days in
North Queensland', ANGUS & ROBERTSON, Melbourne.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Palmer_(Australian_politician)
Portrait Photo: frontispiece of above book.
Collecting localities for 'Palmer, E.' (with filters) from AVH (2026)
Data from 314 specimens
