Charles Darwin, 1809 – 1882
February 12, 2009 marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, naturalist and author. It is also 150 years since the publication of his most famous and challenging work, On the origin of the species. His writings changed the way many people perceived the world and even today his work is still a flash point in the debates between religion and science.
Darwin was an English naturalist whose writings revolutionised natural history. Following an epic five-year round the world voyage on the HMS Beagle, Darwin began to formulate his theories of natural selection and evolution, culminating in the publication in 1859 of On the Origin of the Species.
New Zealand and Canterbury connections
Darwin has connections to New Zealand, including a Cantabrian correspondent. During its five-year voyage of exploration the Beagle spent nine days in the Bay of Islands in 1835. The voyage was a pivotal experience for the young naturalist but his memories of his time in New Zealand were less than fond. Read more about that encounter on the nzhistory website.
Christchurch correspondence
Christchurch City Libraries’ Richard Greenaway in his Avonside Anglican Parish Cemetery tour records a Darwinian connection to Christchurch in the person of William Swale, a horticulturist and beekeeper who wrote for an English periodical, the Gardener’s chronicle. He corresponded with Darwin who honoured him by quoting him in lectures and in his own contributions to the Gardener’s chronicle.
A labourer and gardener, Swale had no nose and had difficulty making himself understood, but this did not stop him being a successful business operator. He lived in Antigua Street (formerly South Christchurch Road), and sold plants in Market (Victoria) Square. He had two gardens, one on Kilmore Street, the other a 2.75-acre plot known as the Avonside Botanical and Horticultural Gardens on what is now Woodham Road, near Wilding Park. He raised trees and shrubs, won prizes for his fruit and vegetables at the Christchurch Horticultural Show, and penned columns for the Lyttelton Times.
According to Greenaway: “Swale looked closely at nature. When writing of pollinating insects, he observed that ‘The grasshopper is equally as industrious as the bee in puncturing the keel and splitting it open. I have often been amused during the last summer here with his antics jumping about releasing the stamens’.” Swale died on February 18, 1875.
Christchurch events marked the 200th anniversary
From February 12 to 15 Christchurch hosted BioED2009 - one of six co-ordinated international events celebrating the birth of Charles Darwin. These meetings are being run under the auspices of the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS), Commission on Biological Education (CBE) and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The aim of the “Darwin 200 Symposia” was to celebrate the impact of Darwin’s ideas on current scientific knowledge, with scientific symposia and satellite meetings taking place on five continents.
The New Zealand host of BioED2009 was The Allan Wilson Centre and they also sponsored the premier of a new play Collapsing Creation; Charles Darwin and the origin of The Origin performed by Free Radical Productions. The play premiered in the James Hay Theatre at 7.30pm on February 12.
Charles Darwin resources
Our Internet Gateway recommends
- Complete Darwin Online
- Contains Darwin’s complete publications, private papers, a Darwin bibliography, manuscript catalogue and hundreds of supplementary works.
- BBC Darwin
- BBC’s Darwin site featuring radio clips and other Darwin information.
- Darwin 200
- Official British website of commemorative activities and Darwin information.
- Darwin, Charles Robert
- An in-depth biography from the Dictionary of National Biography.
- The Darwin Lectures – Radio New Zealand
- A six part series of podcasts first broadcast on Radio New Zealand in 2008. The series explores the ideas of Darwin and their impact and features some of New Zealand's most eminent scientists.
- Darwin Wedgwood Family Tree
- Charles Darwin was part of a large and intermarried clan of Darwins and Wedgwoods (the famous china family). Among his descendants and relations are the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, poets Frances Cornford and John Cornford, writer Gwen Raverat and Skandar Keynes (Darwin’s great-great-great grandson who played Edmund in The Chronicles of Narnia films).
- The Ever evolving theories of Darwin
- Article from Time Magazine. Includes link to photos.
- Galapagos Conservancy
- Formerly known as Charles Darwin Foundation, Inc., it is an organisation that advocates for the lasting protection of the Galapagos Islands. Information for travellers, conservationists, teachers and students.
- Galapagos National Park
- Official website for the Galapagos National Park.
Browse the resources in your library
- Charles Darwin
- Books and other resources about Charles Darwin in our libraries.
- Charles Darwin
- Titles by Charles Darwin in our catalogue.
- Evolution
- Books and other resources about Evolution in our libraries.
- Galapagos Islands
- Books and other resources about the Galapagos Islands in our libraries.
