John White

John White (c. 1756 – 20 February 1832) was an Irish surgeon and botanical collector.

Biography White was born in the townland of Drumaran, near Belcoo, in County Fermanagh in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland, about 1756, and not, as stated in the Dictionary of Australian Biography and the Australian Dictionary of Biography, in Sussex, England. On 18 June 1778 John White qualified as a surgeon's mate, first rate, following examination at the Company of Surgeons in London. He entered the Royal Navy on 26 June 1778 as surgeon's mate aboard . He was promoted surgeon in 1780, serving aboard until 1786 when Sir Andrew Hamond recommended him as principal naval surgeon for the voyage of the First Fleet to Australia.

In March 1787 White joined the First Fleet at Plymouth as surgeon for the convict transport Charlotte. The medallion, or "Charlotte Medal", is displayed in Australia's National Maritime Museum. which described many Australian species for the first time. Journal had 65 copper-plate engravings of birds, animals and plants, many of which were based on the water colour paintings of Sarah Stone. It was soon translated into German and French. White was the first to describe Litoria caerulea, a species of frog endemic to Australia and New Guinea, which has several common names, including "White's tree frog". In 1792, Thomas Watling, a convict artist newly arrived to the colony, was appointed by the government to assist John White in the production of copies of illustrations of various plants, insects and animals. A portrait of John White, a miniature on ivory, signed by Thomas Watling and dated "N.S.Wales 1792", is in the National Museum of Australia.

According to his journal, White severely disliked Australia, describing it as: "a country and place so forbidding and so hateful as only to merit execration and curses." He applied for leave of absence in 1792, and received it in 1794, sailing for England on 17 December 1794 and later travelled to Ireland. In 1796 he resigned his position when given the option of returning to Australia. Earlier in 1796, White was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, and on 10 March 1797, the Senate of the University of St Andrews conferred the degree of Doctor of Medicine on him. White was a surgeon on HMS Royal William, stationed first at Sheerness from 1799 and then at Chatham Dockyard from 1803. He retired on a half pension in 1820, and died in Worthing, England, in 1832.

Legacy Sydney's White Bay is named in his honour.

John White is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of Australian lizard, Egernia whitii.