Amalie Dietrich

Amalie Dietrich

On 7th August 1863 the self-taught naturalist Amalie Dietrich arrived at Moreton Bay, Queensland, on the Godeffroy-ship La Rochelle. In Europe she had accompanied her naturalist husband Wilhelm on many journeys, collecting and selling specimens to scientists and scientific institutions. However, her husband left her. Her experience in collecting had made her some influential friends, and the wealthy Hamburg ship-owner Johann Caesar Godeffroy offered her a job as naturalist with his company, as he had just established a new museum in Hamburg. She was asked to collect Australian plants and animals, and this she did for 10 years in Queensland, sending back masses of material to Hamburg during that time. Frequently travelling on her own she explored many areas that had only recently been visited by Europeans for the first time. Her specimens included the first taipan known to science - considered one of the most poisonous land snakes - which is still on display in the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin. She returned to Germany in 1873.

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