John Buchanan

John Buchanan

Much of the grass land of Otago has been … deteriorated, since its occupation, by fire, and it is no wonder that many of the runs require eight acres to feed one sheep … It is a fallacy to suppose that grass country requires repeated burning to clear the surface of the excess of plants, as the old and withered grass forms shelter to the young shoots, protecting them from parching winds, sun and frosts.

From John Buchanan’s essay on ‘The Botany of Otago’, Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 1 (1868), p182

John Buchanan was one of New Zealand’s best scientific artists, as well as a pioneering botanist.

Following an early career in Scotland designing patterns for wallpaper and fabrics – many of which featured botanical themes – Buchanan sailed to New Zealand in 1852. He bought a 10-acre farm near Dunedin where he began collecting and recording the unfamiliar native flora.

After trying his luck on the Victorian goldfields, Buchanan returned to Dunedin where one of his first jobs was as assistant to Alexander Garvie on his provincial reconnaissance surveys between 1856 and 1859. In 1858, Buchanan was the first person to find gold at the Tuapeka and Clutha Rivers, after which he spent two years prospecting and botanising – reputedly walking up to 50 miles a day – looking for gold and collecting plants to send to his friend John Ross, an amateur botanist in Scotland. Ross, in turn, recommended Buchanan to Joseph Hooker as botanist to serve on James Hector’s geological surveys of Otago and the West Coast sounds. Hector engaged Buchanan’s services, and Buchanan accompanied the expedition as botanist and draughtsman, producing maps, botanical drawings and some outstanding watercolour paintings, including a series of sketches of Milford Sound, the study for his famous painting Milford Sound Looking North-West from Freshwater Basin.

Buchanan continued to collect plants, and his collection, along with an important essay, Sketch of the Botany of Otago, was displayed at the New Zealand Exhibition of 1865. Later that year, when Hector was appointed director of the new Geological Survey and Colonial Museum in Wellington, he engaged Buchanan on the permanent staff.

Over the following years, Buchanan accompanied Hector on a series of strenuous field trips to Northland, Taranaki, Kaikoura, Otago and Southland. He then continued to explore the country from his base in Wellington, collecting plants from numerous mainland sites as well as the Auckland and Campbell Islands, and recording his observations in a series of field-books and landscape and natural history drawings.

A foundation member of the New Zealand Institute, Buchanan lithographed the illustrations for the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute from 1867 to 1885. He also published 36 scientific papers of his own. Buchanan’s most significant work, the three-volume The Indigenous Grasses of New Zealand, catalogued and illustrated the country’s native grasses, assessing their economic importance and suitability for stock grazing. The third volume was published in 1880.

By Rebecca Priestley

Medals and awards

FLS 1876

Further reading

John Buchanan biography – Dictionary of New Zealand Biography website

29 articles written by Buchanan, published in the Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, are available online:

Articles by John Buchanan – Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand website

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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