The collection includes scientifically and historically significant collections gathered by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander during the voyage of HMS Endeavour in 1770, as well as 2,000 specimens collected by Robert Brown during Flinders' circumnavigation of Australia (1801–1805),[3] and three collections made by Darwin during the Voyage of the Beagle to South America, Australia, and the Pacific.[5] The herbarium was established in 1853 by Ferdinand von Mueller, the Government Botanist for Victoria, and is situated within the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. The present building was constructed in 1934 through a donation from philanthropist Sir Macpherson Robertson. It, along with a 1989 extension, houses the entire collection of 1.5 million plant and fungal specimens. The Herbarium's botanic library is an important source for the history of Australian botany, and has contributed some 124 volumes (of the 1212 volumes contributed by Australia Institutions) to the online digital Biodiversity Heritage Library.[6]
Piechart of Australian contributions to the Biodiversity Heritage Library[6]
The herbarium is also a partner in the Australasian Virtual Herbarium project, thereby making all of its collection data available to anyone to use.[2] The herbarium also publishes an online key together with descriptions of plants found in Victoria via VicFlora.[7]
Collections
Over half of the existing collection was acquired by Mueller.[2] The herbarium includes the following collections:[2]
^Thiers, B. (2020 - continuously updated). National Herbarium of Victoria Collections Summary. Index Herbariorum. A global directory of public herbaria and associated staff. New York Botanical Garden’s Virtual Herbarium. Available from: MEL Collections Summary (accessed 21 August 2020)
^Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Darwin Collections (accessed 20 August 2020)