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Early Polish Scientists Commemorated in Manapouri

The work of a father and son pioneering Polish scientists will be commemorated with a plaque unveiling at Manapouri on Tuesday 12 December.

Southland District Council staff have been working with the Polish Embassy in Wellington on a plaque to be placed at Pearl Harbour commemorating the botanical discoveries of scientists Johann and Georg Forsters, who were on Captain James Cook’s second southern expedition.

The Manapouri plaque will be officially unveiled jointly by the Ambassador of Poland to New Zealand Zbigniew Gniatkowski and Mayor of Southland Gary Tong at the event at Pearl Harbour (beside the Real Journeys building) at 1.30pm. All are welcome.

Of attendance will be Polish Honorary Consul for South Island Winsome Dormer, President of the Federation of the Polish Organisations in New Zealand Cecylia Klobukowski, local councillor as well as members of the Otago/Southland Polish and local community.

The Manapouri plaque project was prompted on behalf of the Polish community by Te Anau writer Alina Suchanski. Council community partnership leader Simon Moran has been liaising with Polish Ambassador to see the project through to completion.

It is 245 years since Cook’s expedition ships HMS Resolution and Adventure set sail from Plymouth Sound in 1772. While in New Zealand, the Forsters discovered 119 plants and 38 bird species in both Dusky Sound, Fiordland, and Queen Charlotte Sound in the Marlborough Sounds.

The Polish Trails in New Zealand project was started by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Wellington in 2013 as one of several projects celebrating the 40th anniversary of Poland-New Zealand diplomatic relations. Ten plaques issued in memory of famous Poles were unveiled around New Zealand so far. The Forsters’ plaque will be a continuation of that historical trail.

Ambassador Gniatkowski says the Forsters’ connection encouraged him to visit Fiordland last year and meet with Mayor Gary Tong and Council staff.

Johann Reinhold (father) and J. Georg (son) Forsters were both 18th century’s naturalists of Polish descent, best known from accompanying James Cook on his second voyage the Pacific. Johann’s findings became the bedrock of colonial professionalism and helped set the stage for the future development of anthropology and ethnology. Georg’s report of that journey, A VoyageRound the World, contributed significantly to the ethnology of the people of Polynesia and remains a respected work. As a result of the report, G. Forster was admitted to the Royal Society at the early age of 22 and came to be considered one of the founders of modern scientific travel literature.

ENDS

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