Forsyth, William   (1864 - 1910)

Born on 5 October 1864 in Crieff, Perthshire, Scotland; died 14 September 1910 in Sydney, NSW.

He came from a Scottish farming background.

His date of arrival in Australia is not known for certain, although a person named William Forsyth arrived in Sydney as an assisted migrant in 1884 on board the ship 'Bann.'.

He served as Overseer of the Centennial Park in Sydney from 1892 until his death.

Forsyth earned his BA aged 45, from the University of Sydney, which he had attended as an evening student.

In the 1890s Joseph Henry Maiden, Director of the Sydney Botanic Gardens, encouraged bryophyte collecting and made sure they were included in the collections of the National Herbarium of New South Wales. He delegated William Forsyth to concentrate on bryophytes during general field excursions.

His enthusiasm for the task resulted in the addition of some 1200 specimens in just two years.

He was Curator of Bryophytes from 1898 to 1903 adding many new Australian species during field trips on his own or with Maiden, W.F. Blakely and others to many areas of New South Wales.

His publication 'Contribution to a knowledge of the moss flora of N.S.W.' (Forsyth 1899), recorded 61 species of which 43 were new to the colony and 26 were from Port Jackson. In 1900 he added collections from Richmond and Tweed Rivers, New England, Germanton (now Holbrook) and Tumbarumba.

He also began an exchange program with overseas bryologists on whom he depended for identifications, in particular Brotherus in Helsinki.

He was evidently a photographer too, a quote from Lionel Gilbert's 2001 book on Maiden about his local church activity in 1889, says:

"... and on 10 July, Maiden gave 'his popular ... lecture' on 'A Botanist on Mount Kosciusko', illustrated 'by very beautiful lantern photographs', doubtless taken by William Forsyth. ... "

Sources: Extracted from:
https://www.botanicgardens.org.au/sites/default/files/2023-09/Volume-3%281%29-1993-Ramsay215-229.pdf
'Bryophytes of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Government House and the Domain, Sydney',
by H.P. Ramsay, R.G. Coveny, E.A. Brown and A.K. Brooks, Cunninghamia Vol. 3(1): 1993.
https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.person.bm000331154
Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney) Wed 21 Sep 1910 Page 54 - OBITUARY - Mr. William Forsyth, overseer of Centennial Park.
George, A.S. (2009) Australian Botanist's Companion, Four Gables Press, WA.
L. Gilbert (2001) 'THE LITTLE GIANT The Life & Work of Joseph Henry Maiden 1859 - 1925', Kardoorair Press p.189.
NSW State Archives web search - Forsyth, William INX-9-156382
Portrait Photo: none known.

Collecting localities for 'Forsyth, W. (with filters)' from AVH (2026)

Data from 3,651 specimens