Alexander Collie

Alexander Collie (2 June 1793 – 8 November 1835) was a Scottish surgeon and botanist who journeyed to Western Australia in 1829, where he was an explorer and Colonial Surgeon.

Early life Collie was born in Insch in Aberdeenshire, Scotland on 2 June 1793 to Alexander and Christina Collie (née Leslie). The youngest of three sons, Collie studied medicine in Edinburgh before moving to London to further his studies. In January 1813, he joined the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons and became an assistant surgeon in the navy.

Career He sailed on the frigate to Tenerife, China and the East Indies, before returning to Europe to study botany, mineralogy and chemistry. In 1824 he was a surgeon on board and travelled to Africa, Brazil, Chile, the Sandwich Islands, California, Kamchatka Peninsula, Taiwan and Mexico.

Collie Street in Fremantle is also named in his honour.

Scientific Legacy A Mexican bird species, the black-throated magpie-jay (Calocitta colliei Vigors, 1829), was named after him following his visit to the area on the Blossom in the 1820s.

Botanists William J. Hooker and G. A. W-Arnott went through his collected plant material back in the UK. The specimens are now stored at Kew Gardens.