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Thomas Reedy (1842-1929) was head gardener for Sir William Macarthur. In 1875, as an expeditionary member on the Chevert Expedition, he collected plants from islands in the Great Barrier Reef, the Torres Strait and New Guinea for Macarthur. Three surviving letters to his employer, Sir William Macarthur, are introduced, transcribed and minimally annotated.
Thomas Reedy (1842-1929), gardener from 1854-1926 at Camden Park, the family estate of the Macarthurs in western Sydney was sent by Sir William Macarthur on the Chevert Expedition to New Guinea in 1875. He collected plants on islands off the Queensland coast; Cape Grenville; around the Somerset outpost on the tip of Cape York; on islands in the Torres Strait; and around two locations on the mainland of southern Papua New Guinea. Reedy sent or brought back 800-1000 living plants, in addition to an unknown number of seeds, and at least 157 dried specimens, the latter sent to Baron Ferdinand von Mueller in Melbourne. This study is focused on locating the dried plant specimens now held in herbaria and highlighting their significance.
Reedy is something of an enigma with little ever written about him. His initial has been presented erroneously since 1875 and has gone through various morphs including J, P, M and T; searches for Reedy best use all these initials or
just his family name.