Alexander Collie

Alexander Collie (1793 to 1835) was a Scottish naval surgeon and botanist who became an explorer and the Colonial Surgeon of Western Australia. Born at Insch in Aberdeenshire, he studied medicine in Edinburgh and London, joined the Royal College of Surgeons in 1813 and served as an assistant surgeon in the navy, sailing in HMS Blossom on a voyage that reached Africa, Brazil, Chile, California and Kamchatka. In 1829 he sailed to found the Swan River Colony as surgeon of HMS Sulphur and worked in a hospital tent on Garden Island. He explored the south west with Lieutenant William Preston, and the Collie and Preston rivers were named for them. He served as first government resident at Albany and from 1833 as Colonial Surgeon, and died in 1835 at King George Sound. A town, a river and several species bear his name.