Commissioner Bidwill's Grave

The grave of Commissioner John Carne Bidwill is located on private property near the junction of Tinana Creek and the Mary River. He was the first Commissioner for Crown Lands, appointed in 1848 to the Wide Bay region. Bidwill was also well known as a talented botanist and natural historian involved in species identification in New Zealand and Australia. He regularly sent seeds back to England for propagation and distribution from the 1830s. There are numerous species either named after him, or named by him, the best known being the Bunya Pine (Araucaria Bidwillii). In 1847, he was appointed as Government Botanist and Director of the Sydney Botanic Gardens; a position he held briefly. On his arrival in Wide Bay village in 1848 (renamed Maryborough in 1849), he established a home for himself six km south of the village. He had a dubious reputation in dealing with the frontier conflict with the local Butchilla people. Bidwill established his own botanic garden on this site, and after his death in 1853 some of his plants were relocated to the Maryborough Botanic Gardens, including the Bunya Pine and a sausage tree. Other specimens were sent to Brisbane, Rockhampton and Ipswich.