Anthelme Thozet

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Anthelme Thozet (1826–31 May 1878) was a French-Australian botanist and ethnographer.^[1]

His naturalisation in Rockhampton, Queensland 9 January 1862, states that he was born at Belley (L'Ain) east of Lyon in France about 1827, and his obituary (Queenslander Jun 8, 1878 p302d) depicts him as a political refugee following the 1848-51 revolt in France. He migrated to Australia New South Wales some time prior to 1856 and resided initially in Sydney where he was working as a gardener at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney before being drawn to Rockhampton by the Canoona gold rush.^[1]

He was a publican in 1862 but driven by a never failing professional interest in botany he commenced researching native Australian plants used by indigenous people of Northern Queensland, Australia including the Darambal clans around Rockhampton where he came to be recogniced as a botantist. In 1866 he published Notes on Some of the Roots, Tubers, Bulbs and Fruits Used as Vegetable Food by the Aboriginals of Northern Queensland, Australia, W H Buzacott, Rockhampton. This pamphlet includes a description of midamo, a mixture of mangrove roots and berries made by baking the root of the common mangrove (Avicennia Tomentosa) called Egaie by the tribes of Cleveland Bay, and Tagon–Tagon by those of Rockhampton.

Thozet was the first director of the Rockhampton Botanic Gardens founded in 1861 and was known to supply plant and seed specimens to other botanists and Botanical Gardens, including Ferdinand von Mueller^[1] of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne. Following his resignation from the Rockhampton Botanic Gardens, Thozet established his own plant nursery in North Rockhampton on 66 acres which are today bounded by Thozet Creek, Thozet Road, Rockonia Road and Lakes Creek Road.

A building at the Primary Industries Research Centre (Plant Sciences Group) at Central Queensland University at Rockhampton is named in his honour. A creek and a road in Rockhampton also bear his name.^[2]