Walter Lawry Buller

Walter Lawry Buller

… one of the women present then produced a newly-hatched chick from her bosom (where it was kept for warmth) and gave it to me … After sketching the likeness of this defenseless chick (which proved to be a male) I sacrificed his little life on the sacred altar of science and made a pretty cabinet specimen of the skin …

Buller describes how he obtained a specimen after a Māori kiwi hunt at Pirongia, October 1882. From Buller’s A History of the Birds of New Zealand, 2nd edition, Volume 2, London, 1888, p315

Walter Buller was the first native-born New Zealander to make a name for himself in the international world of science. He achieved this by a combination of ability, ambition and sheer effrontery.

Buller was born on a mission station in Hokianga and laboured all his life to overcome the imputation of inferiority from his colonial birth. From the time of his school days, he developed an interest in natural history and especially in birds. He learned about scientific modes of study and began shooting and skinning birds to make his own museum collection. In 1857, before he had written a single scientific paper, Buller wrote to the Linnean Society of London and arranged to have himself elected a fellow, which gave him the letters FLS to his name. Fellows were required to be at least 21, but Buller carefully did not mention that he was only 19.

By 1870, Buller was ready to publish a comprehensive account of the birds of New Zealand. In order to see it properly published, he negotiated an arrangement under which he presented his collection of bird skins to the Colonial Museum and went on paid leave from his magistrate’s position with a free passage to London. A History of the Birds of New Zealand, published there in 1872-73, was an impressive quarto volume illustrated in hand-coloured lithographs by the specialist natural history artist JG Keulemans. It won high praise, and Buller was awarded the honour of CMG from Queen Victoria.

Buller went on to produce a torrent of scientific papers, published mainly in the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, but aimed at an audience overseas. His efforts only slowed after he gained the next honour he craved – fellowship of the Royal Society of London. In 1888, he returned to London to publish a new edition of his History, in larger format and illustrated by Keulemans in the latest technology of chromolithography. On the strength of this and other efforts, Buller won his knighthood.

‘Buller’s Birds’, as his History became known, is still quoted and Keulemans’ magnificent illustrations still stand as the iconic images of New Zealand birds. It helped to popularise the native birds and even to elevate some species to symbols of a new national identity. But Buller was slow to join the new movement for their conservation. Even after rarer species such as hūia were placed under statutory protection, Buller continued to take specimens for his collections.

In his later years, Sir Walter Buller continued to write about New Zealand birds, but from Britain; he was at last the very image of a British gentleman.

By Ross Galbreath

Medals and awards

FLS 1858, CMG 1875, FRS 1879, KCMG 1886, Hon DSc

(Cambridge) 1900

Further reading

Walter Lawry Buller biography – Dictionary of New Zealand Biography website

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand 1868-1961 online

Read A History of the Birds of New Zealand online – New Zealand Electronic Text Centre website

Ross Galbreath, Walter Buller: the reluctant conservationist, GP Books, 1989;

E G Turbott, Buller’s Birds of New Zealand, Whitcombe & Tombs, 1967

Permission of the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga O Aotearoa, must be obtained before any reuse of this image

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