Header picture on Sir Joseph Banks Society Webpage, visit – here

Name

Birthplace of Joseph Banks

Connection

The name Banks is strongly associated with the settlement of Australia.

Location

30 Argyle St, Kings Cross, London, WC1H 8EN

How to get there

Nearest railway station: Kings Cross/St Pancras

Almost all underground lines and multiple buses pass Kings Cross/St Pancras station.

Story

Joseph Banks was born at number 30 Argyle Street in London in February 1743. He lived to the age of 77 and died at Spring Grove House, Isleworth, London in 1820. Banks was a naturalist and botanist who made his name on a natural history voyage to Newfoundland and Labrador. He accompanied James Cook on his 1768 – 1771 voyage, during which Cook mapped the east coast of Australia.

30 Argyle Street, birthplace of Joseph Banks

On his return to London in 1771, Banks became well known and conducted speaking tours on his natural history discoveries, as well as becoming patron of various scientific bodies. The people of London were hungry for tales and discoveries from far-flung lands and Banks became a celebrity.

The three earliest governors of the colony – Arthur Phillip, John Hunter, and Philip Gidley King – were in continual correspondence with Banks. He also followed the exploits of key explorers, e.g. Matthew Flinders, and produced many papers on the developing colony, including one of the first word lists of an Aboriginal language.

Banks was a key person in the settlement of Australia and therefore in the destruction of the Indigenous population and their culture.

Bust of Sir Joseph Banks in the British Museum

Further information

Wikipedia –here

32 Soho Square plaque –here