Joseph Banks

Hello! My name is Joseph Banks, and I want to tell you about my life exploring the amazing world of plants. I was born in London, England, on February 13th, 1743. My family had a large home in the countryside called Revesby Abbey, and that’s where my great adventure truly began. I wasn't very interested in my regular school lessons. Instead, I loved wandering through the fields and forests, collecting flowers and plants. I wanted to learn everything about them! When I went to Oxford University around the year 1760, I was so passionate about botany—the study of plants—that I even paid for my own teacher to come and give me special lessons.

My love for plants made me eager to see more of the world. In 1766, I sailed on my first big trip to a place called Newfoundland in North America. But soon after, I heard about an even bigger expedition. A brilliant captain named James Cook was preparing to sail a ship, the HMS Endeavour, all the way to the Pacific Ocean. I knew I had to be on that ship! Since my family was wealthy, I paid a lot of my own money—as much as a small fortune—to join the voyage in 1768. I didn't go alone. I put together a team of eight people, including my good friend and fellow botanist Daniel Solander and artists who could draw all the new things we hoped to find. We packed our supplies, ready for the adventure of a lifetime.

We set sail from England on August 26th, 1768. Our first mission was to sail to the island of Tahiti to watch a special event in the sky: the planet Venus passing in front of the sun, which happened in 1769. After that, Captain Cook sailed us to lands that were new to Europeans. We mapped the coast of New Zealand and then sailed to a massive continent we now call Australia. In April of 1770, we landed in a beautiful bay. It was filled with so many plants I had never seen before that I decided to name it Botany Bay. The journey wasn't always easy. Our ship once got stuck on the sharp coral of the Great Barrier Reef! It was very scary, but the crew worked hard to repair the hole and save our ship. During our nearly three-year voyage, my team and I collected over 30,000 plant samples, with about 1,400 of them being completely new to science!

When we returned to England in July of 1771, people were amazed by our stories and discoveries. I became quite famous, and even King George III became my friend. He asked me to help manage the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in 1773. I sent explorers all over the world to collect seeds and plants to bring back to Kew, helping it become the most important garden in the world. A few years later, in 1778, I was given a very important job: President of the Royal Society, which was the top science organization in Britain. I held that job for over 40 years, encouraging and supporting scientists in all kinds of amazing work.

I spent the rest of my life sharing my love of science and nature with the world. I helped plan other voyages and supported many scientists with their research. I lived to be 77 years old. Today, people remember me for the incredible journey I took with Captain Cook and for introducing hundreds of new plants, like the eucalyptus and acacia, to the world. The many thousands of plants I collected and the beautiful drawings my artists made are still carefully preserved in museums. They continue to help scientists understand the wonderful variety of life on our planet.