John Brazier


John William Brazier was a malacologist from Australia.

Early life

He was born to Captain John Brazier and his wife Mary nee McMillan. His father commanded whaling vessels out of Sydney, Australia, and during his voyages he collected sea shells as a hobby. His son, John junior, accompanied him to sea on at least one of those voyages and he too became interested in collecting sea shells.

Professional life

In 1865 John Brazier junior accompanied Julius Brenchley on the voyage of H.M.S. Curacoa to Norfolk Island, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, the New Hebrides, the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia. After several other shell collecting expeditions in Australasia he joined William John Macleay 's 1875 expedition in the Chevert to New Guinea via the Great Barrier Reef. In the early 1880s Brazier curated the shell collections at the Australian Museum and at first also the ethnological, historical and numismatic collections. By 1891 the shell collections had grown so large that Brazier curated only marine shells.

Works