George Shaw

George Shaw (1751-1813) was an English naturalist. He published the first descriptions with scientific names of several of the common and best known Australian animals, for example, the platypus, echidna, wombat, budgerigar and black snake. He provided the well-known generic name (Macropus) for the common grey kangaroo. The chief works in which he described Australian animals are: Zoology of New Holland (1794), The Naturalists' Miscellany 1-24 (1789-1813), and General Zoology, 1-8 (1800-12). He also contributed part of the account of the animals in John White's Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales (1790).