Lhotsky

John Lhotsky (1795–1866) was a Galicia-born Austrian naturalist, lecturer, artist and author. He wrote and published on the topics of zoology, botany, geology, geography and politics. Lhotsky was active in the early colonies of New South Wales and Tasmania from 1832 until 1838. During his sojourn in Australia, Lhotsky described himself, and was known as, Polish.

Lhotsky, whose first name is also given as Joannes Lhotsky, Johann Lhotsky and Jan Lhotsky, was born in Lemberg, Galicia, Austrian Empire (now Lviv, Ukraine), the son of Joseph Lhotsky. He moved to Vienna in 1812 and was awarded his doctorate from the University of Jena. He became a member of the Bavarian Botanical Society during this period. In 1819 he published a botanical work Flora Conchica, and other papers for scientific journals, however, his political writing led to a prison sentence of six years. He was released in 1828.

Lhotsky was commissioned, by Ludwig I of Bavaria, to explore and describe the 'new world', spending eighteen months in Brazil before travelling to Australia. He landed at Sydney on 18 May 1832, moved to Hobart in 1836, and sailed to London 1838. While in Australia, and after his return to Europe, he published seminal works on a range of topics. In addition to his books and articles, his works include landscape paintings, and zoological and botanical illustrations.

He produced numerous articles for newspapers and scientific journals, describing his investigations of the natural history of Australia. His first work on this topic is supposed to have been 'Australian sketches, no l', anonymously published in the Sydney Gazette. The account of his expedition, A Journey from Sydney to the Australian Alps, was important for the description of the Monaro region and Snowy River. One article, Song of the Women of the Menero Tribe, gives the earliest specimen of Australian music. Lhotsky also visited the site of the future capital, Canberra, and was the first to note the name 'Kembery' from which it derived. His unpublished works include a vocabulary of the Tasmanian peoples. He published art criticism in Sydney from 1834 onwards, and is noted as the first to do so, describing the possibilities of the Australian landscape as a subject and its absence in the colony's active artists. Lhotsky obtained an interview with William Buckley. The volume Illustrations of the Present State and Future Prospects of New South Wales (1835–36) was published by William Moffit with coloured plates, and gave the "State of Agriculture and Grazing in New South Wales".

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