HOCHSTETTER, FERDINAND VON (1829-84) was born at Esslingen, Wurtemberg, the son of Professor Christian Ferdinand Hochstetter, the principal clergyman in the town and a naturalist and botanist. After passing through the grammar school in his native town, he went to the seminary at Maulbronn to study theology, but after passing (1851) he was drawn to the study of mineralogy, palaeontology and geology and proceeded, with his doctorate of philosophy (1852) on a year's tour of study. In 1853 he was employed in the Austrian geological survey, becoming assistant geologist in 1854 and chief geologist for Bohemia in 1856. He made a close study of the geology of the Bohmenvald and lectured in the University of Vienna. In 1857 Hochstetter was chosen to accompany the Novara expedition, and he arrived in Auckland in that frigate on 22 Dec 1858. His services were sought by the Auckland provincial government to examine the coalfields in the province. On the strength of his report the general Government obtained leave for Hochstetter to remain eight months in New Zealand to report on its geology, natural history and physical geography. This commission he achieved with a staff which included Haast and Heaphy. He spent two months examining the formations near Auckland and then proceeded to Waikato, Whaingaroa, Bay of Plenty and the thermal district. In June he visited Coromandel, the Great Barrier and Kawau, and on 28 July left for Nelson, where he remained until 2 Oct, when he left for Sydney. In Nelson he examined the Dun mountain copper deposits and Lake Rotoiti, but could not visit the Alps.

Arriving back in Austria in Jan 1860, Hochstetter received many distinctions from the Emperor and scientific societies. He was appointed professor of geology and mineralogy at the Technical University of Vienna. In June he took to London the two young Maori who had accompanied him to Europe and embarked them with their printing press in the Caduceus for New Zealand. He was busy at this time working up the collections made in New Zealand and preparing his reports. In Apr 1861 he married Georgina Bengough, daughter of the English director of the Vienna gasworks. In 1862 he was granted leave to complete his book on New Zealand, which was published first in German in Apr 1863. In May 1864 he published his scientific work on the geology of New Zealand for the Novara publications, and in Dec the first half of the paleontology of New Zealand appeared. In 1864 he made a special study of prehistoric lake dwellings in Europe, and in 1865 he prepared for the Imperial Institute a report on oilfields in western Galicia.

Having failed to find an English publisher for the book on New Zealand, he had it translated into English by an American (Edward Sauter) and it was printed by Cotta, of Stuttgart, the New Zealand Parliament having voted £525 for the purchase of 500 copies. In 1867 he was elected president of the Imperial Geographical Society of Vienna, a position which he held until his health failed in 1882. His other Novara publications were now brought out, and he prepared many text books for higher schools. In 1867 he went to Paris to report on the metallurgical products in the Exhibition, and in Sep of that year the English edition of the New Zealand book made its appearance. He was now suffering severely from an affection of the throat and, hoping that it might benefit his health, he got leave to act as consulting geologist to the Turkish Great Railway Co. For this work he received the order of the Medjidieh.

Hochstetter was one of the first promoters of the Austrian North Polar expedition of Payer and Laube, and he raised funds for the second expedition, in the Tegethoff. As a member of the commission for the Imperial Exhibition in Vienna in 1873, he persuaded New Zealand to take part. In 1872 he was appointed scientific lecturer to the Crown Prince Rudolph, with whom he travelled in the Austrian alps. In 1876 he became director-general of the Imperial Museum, to which he devoted his undivided attention after being pensioned from the University in 1881. Hochstetter, as head of the Museum, and by reason of his friendship with von Haast, was the means of effecting many valuable exchanges of exhibits between New Zealand and European museums. In 1877 the last sets of the Novara publications reached New Zealand. He was also responsible for the appointment of a competent taxidermist (Andreas Reischek, q.v.) for the Canterbury Museum. It is due to the continuing interest that Hochstetter took in New Zealand that this Colony's section in the Museum in Vienna is so complete and generously equipped. He died on 21 Jul 1884.

Auckland P.C. Proc.; Buller; biography by Sir Julius von Haast in N.Z. Journ. of Science, ii, no. 5, Sep 1884 (p); N.Z. Herald, 25 Jul 1884. Portrait: Bust in Canterbury Museum by Victor Tilgner.

Reference: Volume 1, page 217

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