About this design
This t shirt admires Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet. Born London 1743, Banks studied and became a Botanist & Naturalist. Joseph Banks was an adviser to King George III and urged the monarch to support voyages of discovery to new lands, hoping to indulge his own interest in botany. Elected to the Royal Society, he studied the natural history of Newfoundland & Labrador before embarking on Captain Cooks voyage to the Great Southern Land, Terra Australis. Arriving back in England on 12 July 1771 he immediately became famous. Banks was made a baronet in 1781, three years after being elected president of the Royal Society. During much of this time Banks was an informal adviser to King George III on the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, a position that was formalized in 1797. Banks dispatched explorers and botanists to many parts of the world, and through these efforts Kew Gardens became arguably the pre-eminent botanical gardens in the world, with many species being introduced to Europe through them. Banks was directly responsible for several famous voyages, including that of George Vancouver to the northeastern Pacific (Pacific Northwest), and William Bligh's voyages to transplant breadfruit from the South Pacific to the Caribbean Sea islands (the latter brought about the Mutiny on the Bounty). The redoubtable Bligh was also appointed governor of New South Wales on Banks's recommendation. Banks was also a major financial supporter of William Smith in his decade-long efforts to create a geological map of England, the first-ever geological map of an entire country. Banks also chose Allan Cunningham for voyages to Brazil and the north and northwest coasts of Australia to collect specimens. Among other activities, Banks found time to serve as a trustee of the British Museum for 42 years. He was made an honorary founding member of the Wernerian Natural History Society of Edinburgh in 1808. In May 1820 he forwarded his resignation as president of the Royal Society, but withdrew it at the request of the council. He died on 19 June 1820 in Spring Grove House and was buried at St Leonard's Church, Heston. A true gentleman and inspired Naturalist, admire Joseph Banks with this t shirt. I have included the Australian plant named after him, the Banksia.