Goadby, Bede Theodoric   (1862 - 1944)

Born on 20 August 1862 at Kasauli in the Indian Himalayas; died on 28 September 1944, at Cottesloe, Perth, WA.

His father was in the military and he was sent to England for his education and then he joined the Royal Engineers where he became an expert in explosives.

From England he went to Albany, Western Australia in 1895, when he was lent by the British Government for 3 years to superintend the laying of submarine bombs at the entrance to Albany Harbour.

After this he transferred to the Commonwealth of Australia forces, a group which had formed ca. 1901 at the time of Federation. Two other references gave dates of 1903 and 1905 for the laying of bombs, for there were fears in 1893 of Russian attacks on Australian ports.

Goadby was a very keen collector of botanical specimens and this had been a hobby for him for a number of years.

On his arrival in Australia, he became most enthusiastic about the native flora, and he spent much time collecting specimens, most of which he sent to the Kew Herbarium in England.

In 1914, Goadby was sent with the First Contingent from Sydney to occupy German New Britain [now PNG]. From here he sent specimens of the local tropical botanicals to the noted Australian Botanist, Joseph Henry Maiden (1859-1925), for him to describe.

On his retirement in 1918 Goadby and his wife went to live in Western Australia studying and collecting the great variety of WA botanical specimens.

For several years he was President of the WA Naturalists Club and in November 1933 he joined the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria, taking a very keen interest in its activities.

During the later years of his life he became chiefly interested in the study of orchids. He made many collections of these and sent them not only to the Kew Gardens, but also to the Western Australian State Herbarium and to the National Herbarium of Victoria in Melbourne.

An orchid bears his name: Acianthus tenuissimus Nicholls & Goadby, the Dwarf Mosquito Orchid.

Source: Extracted from:
https://cottesloersl.org.au/record/goadby-bede-theodoric/
https://ia801507.us.archive.org/24/items/biostor-264105/biostor-264105.pdf
https://www.auspostalhistory.com/articles/1631.php
The West Australian Fri 29 Sep 1944 Page 4 LONG CAREER ENDED.
Portrait Photo: 1909, State Library WA, BA544/4: Bede Theoderic Goadby, December 1909. slwa_b4314798_2.

Collecting localities for 'Goadby, B.T.' from AVH (2023)

Data from 713 specimens