Walter Buller

Walter Buller, ca. 1870

Walter Lawry Buller KCMG (9 October 1838 – 19 July 1906) was a New Zealand lawyer, naturalist and ornithologist.

Buller was the author of A History of the Birds of New Zealand (1872-1873, 2nd ed. 1887-1888), with illustrations by John Gerrard Keulemans. In 1882 he produced the Manual of the Birds of New Zealand as a cheaper, popular alternative. In 1905, he published a two-volume Supplement to the History of the Birds of New Zealand, which brought the work up to date.

Buller was born at the Wesleyan mission, Newark at Pakanae in the Hokianga, the son of a Cornish missionary, Rev. James Buller, who had helped convert the people of Tonga to Methodism. He was educated at Wesley College in Auckland. In 1854, he moved to Wellington with his parents, where he was befriended by the naturalist William John Swainson. In 1859 he was made Native Commissioner for the Southern Provinces. In 1871 he travelled to England and was called to the bar at the Inner Temple. Three years later he returned to Wellington and practiced law.

Buller helped establish the scientific display in the New Zealand Court at the World's Fair in Paris and was decorated with the Officer of the Legion of Honour by the President of France in November 1889.

Buller was a government minister from 1896 to 1899. He emigrated to England and died at Fleet in Hampshire.

Wellington playwright Nick Blake authored a play on Buller's life, Dr Buller's Birds, which debuted at the 2006 NZ International Arts Festival.

List of honours

• KCMG
• Officier de la Légion d'Honneur (France)

External links

• Dictionary of New Zealand Biography Sir Walter Lawry Buller
• New Zealand National Library Sir Walter lawry Buller
• Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966: Sir Walter Lawry Buller
• Illustrations from History of the birds of New Zealand (1873 edn.)
• Illustrations from the Supplement to the second edn. of History of the birds of New Zealand