Anthelme Thozet

Anthelme Thozet (25 May 1826 – 31 May 1878) was a French-Australian botanist and ethnographer.

Early life He was born 25 May 1826 in Chegnieu-la-Balme (Register of Contrevoz), and fled Calais for London (giving his profession as engineer) in September 1854 as a political refugee following the 1848 French revolution. He migrated to New South Wales Australia in late 1854/early 1855 as part of a French gold digging expedition to Bathurst. He then moved to Sydney in early 1856 where he worked as a clerk at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney before being drawn to Rockhampton, Queensland by the Canoona gold rush.

Life in Rockhampton Thozet Creek sign, 2022Thozet established the second hotel in Rockhampton, the Alliance, but driven by a never failing professional interest in botany he commenced researching native Australian plants used by Indigenous peoples of Northern Queensland, Australia including the Darumbal clans around Rockhampton.

Thozet is credited with pioneering research into bush tucker. In 1866 he published Notes on Some of the Roots, Tubers, Bulbs and Fruits Used as Vegetable Food by the Aboriginals of Northern Queensland, Australia, W H Buzacott, Rockhampton. This pamphlet includes a description of midamo, a mixture of mangrove roots and berries made by baking the root of the common mangrove (Avicennia Tomentosa) called Egaie by the tribes of Cleveland Bay, and Tagon–Tagon by those of Rockhampton.

Thozet was instrumental in developing the Rockhampton Botanic Gardens founded in 1861, the South Rockhampton Cemetery, and the tree plantings along the Fitzroy River in the Rockhampton CBD area. He supplied plant and seed specimens to other botanists and Botanical Gardens, including Ferdinand von Mueller,

The website Bionomia shows that the specimens he collected continue to contribute to scientific knowledge with (as of June 2020) six publications having used his specimens.

In 2011, there was some suggestion that Thozet may have planted Australia's first mango trees on "Muellerville", sourcing them from explorer Charles Nicholson who may have picked them up as seedlings in India. However, this claim has been disputed.

Thozet was active in promoting the interests of Rockhampton overseas, and in the Separation League, attempting to have the northern portion of Queensland recognised as a separate State. The family travelled overseas between 1869 1872 which included an extended stay in France where Thozet gave lectures and raised more money to continue his research. They also visited England where Anthelme and Maria were married in a Surrey registry office on 22 November 1872.

At the 1862 International Exhibition in London, Thozet received silver medals for his exhibits on tobacco grown and cigars manufactured in Rockhampton. He was awarded silver medals at the 1862 Lyon International Exhibition, the 1865 Royal Prussian Exhibition in Berlin, and the 1875 Society d'Acclimatisation in Paris.

Thozet's son Auguste and daughter-in-law Lucy Anne (née Nobbs) were buried beside him in 1902 and this small family cemetery is located on Codd Street, North Rockhampton.

In December 1922, Anthelme Thozet's widow Maria sustained injuries in a fall at her home where she lay for 13 hours before being found the next morning by her neighbours and then taken to hospital. She never recovered and died on 4 August 1923. Maria Thozet was buried in the North Rockhampton Cemetery despite wanting to be buried the family cemetery on "Muellerville" alongside her husband, son and daughter-in-law. Apart from some parkland, the original Muellerville property is now a completely residential area.

In 2010, Rockhampton Regional Council and the University of Queensland conducted archeological investigations, locating three graves at the north end of Norris Park, which lies on land that was part of the original Muellerville property.

In 2012, there was a push to have Norris Park renamed to Muellerville Park. Situated on Thozet's original Muellerville property, Norris Park was named as such as a tribute to William Norris, a long serving employee of Rockhampton City Council.

Legacy Thozet Road and Muellerville Walk signpost, 2022No photographs of Thozet are known to exist. The tree species, Eucalyptus thozetiana was also named in his honour in 1906.

Muellerville Walk was developed in 2014 to guide visitors around the western boundary of what was once Thozet's vast property, with the starting point being at Thozet's grave in Norris Park. Muellerville Walk was upgraded in 2017 with interpretive signage and a fully connected pathway. The three-storey structure was one of the three original buildings to be constructed on the campus in 1964. With the building housing the Primary Industries Research Centre (Plant Sciences) and the Centre for Environmental Management, it was named the Thozet building on 9 October 2003 in honour of Thozet's outstanding contribution to pioneering plant science and research and in the development of horticulture in Rockhampton and Central Queensland. Artists Bill Gannon, Luke Gannon and Jon Watson created murals of Aunty Ollie (a custodian of the Darumbal people) and Malcolm Mann (a Darumbal traditional owner) which were officially unveiled in September 2017. Since then, the building has been simply referred to as "Building 7" in the university's own online articles. In a 2019 online article, the university stated that the structure is "now known as building 7". After a period of public consultation, the Rockhampton Museum of Art was chosen as the winning name with 101 votes compared to eight votes received from those who preferred the name of the Thozet Art Gallery.