Alexander Morton

Alexander Morton (11 September 1854 – 27 May 1907) was an American-born Australian naturalist and museum curator.

Morton was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1854. His father, Thomas William Morton, was a planter and had emigrated to Queensland to take up the position of manager of the Manchester Queensland Cotton Co. While in Queensland, Thomas invested in a sugar plantation but died before it could realise a return leaving Alexander having to support himself and he went to work as a sailor. He was at sea for two years, working on vessels moving Melanesians to Queensland to work in the plantations and briefly visiting England and Europe before returning to Australia to study natural sciences. He died of heart disease in 1907 at Sandy Bay at Whitminster Lodge private hospital. but these have all now been synonymised.