John White (surgeon)

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John White (c. 1756 – 20 February 1832) was an English surgeon and botanical collector. White was the principal surgeon during the First Fleet to Australia. White arrived in Australia in 1788 as Surgeon-General of New South Wales. He wrote A Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales (1790), which described many species of Australian flora and fauna for the first time. He was the first to describe the South-East Asian frog litoria caerulea, which was subsequently named White's Tree Frog. According to his journal, he 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, in which he travelled to Ireland. He later retired when given the option of returning to Australia. White died in Worthing, England.

[edit] External links

• E-texts:
  • Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales by John White