Economic Botany Collections

Gum resin

This exudate was brought from New Guinea by the Italian explorer L.M. D`Albertis who collected it in 1875. This rather eccentric character first visited New Guinea in 1872, travelling inland about 20 miles from the north-west tip of what is now Irian Jaya. He was forced to abandon his trip due to ill-health, but returned to the area in 1875. He based himself on Yule Island in the Gulf of Papua, and from here made several journeys inland over the following three years.

In 1875 D'Albertis had the opportunity to travel with a British missionary, Reverend MacFarlane, 150 miles into the interior along the Fly River and this may well be the journey on which this gum was collected. He repeated the excursion in 1876 and was able to reach much further, travelling on the Neva – a nine ton steamer borrowed from the Governor of South Wales. The details of his experiences in New Guinea were published in two volumes.

The gum resin is from a genus found throughout the Old World tropics. It was donated to the collection by Professor A. Liversidge, a British scientist who lectured at Sydney University in Australia from 1873 – 1907 holding the final position of Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy. Whilst in Australia, Liversidge was instrumental in establishing a faculty of science at the University and was the first dean. He was also involved in many aspects of ‘public science’, being a leading analyst of water supply and fossil remains, a consultant to the mines department, and a trustee of the Australian Museum. On retiring from Sydney in 1907, Liversidge returned to Surrey where he lived until his death in 1927.

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