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Cape York Expedition (1948)

 Organization

Dates

  • Existence: 1948    

Biographical Note

The Cape York Expedition was part of the series sponsored by Richard Archbold and Archbold Expeditions to systematically collect and record the flora and fauna of New Guinea. Specifically, this expedition aimed to encourage a greater understanding of "the biological highway between Australia and New Guinea" through collecting material and environmental observations of the Cape York, Australia area to complement the work done in New Guinea (2, 1949, p. 372). The American Museum of Natural History scientific party was comprised of four men. Leonard Brass acted as leader and botanist, G.H.H. (George Henry Hamilton) Tate was chief mammalogist, Hobart van Deusen joined as mammalogist and Geoffrey M. Tate, brother of George, collected reptiles, insects, and amphibians and acted as business and transportation manager for the expedition. Upon invitation, Donald Vernon, a representative from the Queensland Museum, joined the expedition to make independent collections for that institution. Additional expedition staff included cook J. McLaughlin, as well as Willie Somerset, George Moreton, and Roy Stephen, Aboriginal men hired as field assistants (3, 1953, p. 141). The AMNH representatives were primarily focused on collecting mammals for the AMNH and botanic specimens for the Arnold Arboretum. In addition, plant and soil research samples were collected for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research of Australia and the Chas. Pfizer and Company of New York.

This was the first Archbold Expedition that was not led by Richard Archbold. Brass had participated in the first three New Guinea Expeditions between 1933 and 1939 and assumed the leadership for this and many subsequent Archbold New Guinea expeditions. He arrived in Cairns, on the eastern end of Queensland, Australia at the end of January 1948 to begin preparation for the collecting trip, including arranging permissions and coordinating with local institutions and offices. Between February 2 and 23, he executed a reconnaissance air journey of the Cape York Peninsula. George Tate independently surveyed mammals inother areas of Queensland both before and after this expedition (4, 1951, p. 18). By the end of February, Brass, Tate, and the remainder of the scientific party had assembled at Cairns. This was established as the supply base for all shipments and deliveries from the United States. Due to a local transportation strike, the planned journey to the top of the Peninsula was delayed for six weeks, forcing the scientific work to focus on the nearby environs: Speeway, Mossman River Gorge and Mt. Bellenden Ker. In mid-April, the strike ended, and the party was able to travel up the tip of the Cape York Peninsula to continue the expedition as originally planned. Between May and Septemberthe party slowly worked its way south back toward Cairns, with collecting stations and camps at sites including Red Island Point, Newcastle Bay, Thursday Island, Portland Roads, the Iron Range, Mt. Tozer, Brown's Creek, Wenlock, Coen, and Shipton's Flat. They traveled by various methods, including pack horse, foot, auto, boat and even bicycle (5, 1953, p. 153). Their camp conditions and environment changed with the terrain(6, 1949, p. 366-372).

In total the AMNH specimen collections included 1504 mammals, 477 reptiles and amphibians, 118 freshwater fishes, and 5400 insects and spiders. 2215 plant numbers in total were collected and dispersed to the Arnold Arboretum, with 131 plant samples for the Council for Scientific and Industrial research of Australia and 206 soil samples for Pfizer and company (7, 1953, p. 204). The results of the expedition were instrumental to better understanding the migration and evolutionary patterns of many of the flora and fauna of New Guinea and northern Australia (8, 1951, p. 17-18).

SOURCES

(1) Brass, Leonard J., "Results of the Archbold Expeditions No. 68: Summary of the 1948 Cape York (Australia) Expedition," Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 102, Article 2, 1953.

(2) Brass, Leonard J., "Camps on Cape York," Natural History 58, no. 8, 1949.

(3) Brass, Leonard J., "Results of the Archbold Expeditions No. 68: Summary of the 1948 Cape York (Australia) Expedition," Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 102, Article 2, 1953.

(4) American Museum of Natural History, 83rd Annual Report for the year 1951-1952, 1952.

(5) Brass, Leonard J., "Results of the Archbold Expeditions No. 68: Summary of the 1948 Cape York (Australia) Expedition," Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 102, Article 2, 1953.

(6) Brass, Leonard J., "Camps on Cape York," Natural History 58, no. 8, 1949.

(7) Brass, Leonard J., "Results of the Archbold Expeditions No. 68: Summary of the 1948 Cape York (Australia) Expedition," Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 102, Article 2, 1953.

(8) American Museum of Natural History, 83rd Annual Report for the year 1951-1952, 1952.

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Found in 1 Collection or Record:

The Archbold Collections at the American Museum of Natural History, 1928-1980.

 Collection
Identifier: Archive Mammalogy Archbold
Scope and Contents The Archbold Collections at the American Museum of Natural History is comprised of material that documents the expeditionary fieldwork of Richard Archbold and the Archbold Expeditions. It is housed within the AMNH Department of Mammalogy Archive, and encompasses a variety of formats, including photographs, slides, film, scrapbooks, correspondence, financial records, and field documentation such as catalogs, specimen lists, field notes and journals. These describe both the day-to-day...
Dates: 1928 - 1980; Majority of material found within 1930 - 1964