Charles Gould

Born in England in 1834, he studied at the University of London and the Royal School of Mines before working with the Geological Survey of Great Britain. In 1859 he went to Hobart Town to become Tasmania’s first government geological surveyor, a role that put him at the center of mapping and interpreting the island’s geology.

His surveys and expeditions across western Tasmania added greatly to knowledge of the region. He helped establish the order of important rock formations, advised on coal and mineral resources, and named several peaks in the West Coast Range after leading British scientists. He was also an active naturalist, writing on the habits of Tasmania’s giant freshwater crayfish; the species Astacopsis gouldi was later named in his honor.

Outside geology, he is remembered by some readers for Mythical Monsters (1886), an early book exploring legendary creatures and curious reports from around the world. He left Australia in 1873 and died in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1893.