Henne, Diedrich (1834 - 1913)
Born in 1834 in Hanover, (now Germany); died 21 January 1913 in North Sydney, Australia (aged 78).
Arrived in Melbourne on the ship 'Madras' from Hamburg, Germany, on 5 March 1860.
On 27 April 1874, after 14 years in the Colony of Victoria he applied for Citizenship with occupation 'Clerk' at the age of 38 years.
Citizenship was granted on 12 May 1874.
He was employed as an assistant to the colonial botanist Ferdinand von Mueller at the Melbourne Herbarium.
It was Mueller who recommmended Henne to be botanical collector on the Naval relief expedition looking for the 'lost' Burke and Wills. Henne had then only been in Australia for one year:
"When news reached Melbourne in July 1861 that the explorers Burke and Wills were missing somewhere between Cooper Creek and the Gulf of Carpentaria the Royal Society of Victoria decided to send a number of search parties to search for them. Commander William Henry Norman sailed from Hobson's Bay in the Victoria on the 4 August 1861 for Brisbane, where William Landsborough and the Queensland Relief Expedition boarded. The Victoria arrived at the Albert River in the Gulf of Carpentaria at the end of September 1861. After finding traces of the explorers, they returned to Melbourne on 31 March 1862."
On the death of Henne in 1913, Joseph Maiden wrote an obituary in Sydney Morning Herald:
Sir — On January 21 there died Diedrich
Henne, aged 78 years, botanical collector, and
last survivor of the Landsborough Relief Expedition
of 1861.
He was buried at Gore Hill
Cemetery on the following day.
Landsborough's party went by sea in search
of Burke and Wills, and was conveyed in the
Victorian warship Victoria (Captain Norman)
from Melbourne to Brisbane, thence to the
Gulf of Carpentaria.
Landsborough established
his main camp or depot at Sweer's Island,
went up the Albert River to the junction
of Norman River, and established a depot
at the hulk of the Firefly at this spot.
Mr. Herne was born at Hanover in Germany,
and became an assistant to Baron von
Mueller in the Melbourne Herbarium. By
him he was nominated as botanical collector
to Landsborough's expedition.
He brought
six cases of botanical specimens, which were
deposited in the Melbourne Herbarium.
Shortly after his return from the expedition
he entered into mercantile pursuits, and was
18 years honorary treasurer to the Melbourne
Liedertafel.
For many years past he has been living
quietly in North Sydney, where he passed
away after a brief illness.
Ficus Henneana, a handsome native fig in
coastal Queensland and New South Wales,
commemorates him, and I have seen letters
which show how highly Baron von Mueller
held him in esteem for his personal qualities.
I think a record of the old botanical explorers should be kept, and therefore I send this
brief note for your Information.
I am etc.
J.H. MAIDEN
[Liedertafel = Choral groups which were formed in Melbourne by Germans in the late 1840s.]
Henne died at his residence, 43 William Street, North Sydney, and was buried in the Church of England Cemetry at Gore Hill on Wednesday 22 January 1913.
A sad footnote is found in Death Notices in The Daily Telegraph of 11 February, just two weeks later:HENNE – February 9, 1913, at her late residence, 43 William-street, North North Sydney. Caroline M. E., widow of
the late Diedrich Henne, aged 68 years.
He is honoured in the name:
Ficus henneana Miq.
Miquel, F.A.W. (21 November 1867), Artocarpeae. Annales Musei Botanici Lugduno-Batavi 3(7): 216 E Q. [tax. nov.]
Type: "Nova Hollandia, Booby-island: HENNE. - Hue probabiliter etiam pertinet speciemen ad Nichol-bay Nov. Holl. occid. a WALCOTT lectum..."
(APNI)
Source: Extracted from:
Sydney Morning Herald, 7 February 1913, page 5
Letters to Editor - from J.H. Maiden
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diedrich_Henne
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA, NAA: A712, 1874/E6802,
Item ID 1588014
The Daily Telegraph (Sydney)
Wed 22 Jan 1913
Page 6 -
Family Notices
The Daily Telegraph (Sydney)
Tue 11 Feb 1913
Page 6 -
Family Notices
https://www.burkeandwills.net.au/Explorers/Relief_Parties/HMCSS_Victoria.htm
https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/ APNI, Ficus henneana Miq.
Portrait Photo: none known.
Collecting localities for 'Henne, D.' from AVH (2026)
Data from 449 specimens
