William Paterson, the son of a Scottish gardener, served as Lieutenant-Governor of the colony of New South Wales, where he collected plants as a distraction from his formal duties. His younger days were spent travelling in South Africa, where he also made collections, but it was his work in Australia, especially in Norfolk Island and Tasmania as well as New South Wales, that brought him recognition in natural history.

William Paterson was born in Kinnettles, a village near Forfar in Angus. Little is known of his early life, but it has been suggested that he trained in horticulture at Chelsea Physic Garden, for though there are no records of this, he kept up a lifelong correspondence with William Forsyth, curator of the garden from 1770. He may also have been a gardener at Syon House, Middlesex, under Forsyth.

Paterson encountered a piece of good fortune when, at the age of 21, he was chosen by the Countess of Strathmore to collect plants for her from the Cape of Good Hope. He sailed in February 1777 and returned to Britain three years later, describing his adventures in South Africa in his 1789 account, Narrative of Four Journeys into the Country of the Hottentots and Caffraria. Presumably his instructions had been to gather specimens for cultivation at the Countess's Chelsea home, but he also amassed a number of herbarium specimens for her, in keeping with the fashion of the time for such collections. Paterson was also a regular correspondent of James Lee, whose Vineyard Nursery in Hammersmith specialised in exotic plants and profited from the young gardener's travels. While in the Cape he became acquainted with the Swedish botanist C.P. Thunberg, who was obviously not particularly impressed, for he described Paterson as "a mere gardener", possessing "some small knowledge of Botany".

Leaving aside his horticultural career, Paterson joined the military and spent 1781-1785 in India, serving in the Second Mysore War (as a Lieutenant from 1783). In 1787 he married Elizabeth Driver. The couple had no children, but it was reported that Paterson fathered several illegitimate offspring in both Britain and Australia. In the same year as he was wed, he obtained a commission in the 73rd (Highland) foot regiment, and in 1789 came to command the third company of the newly formed New South Wales Corps. Promoted to Captain, he spent some months recruiting before setting off, with his wife, for the shores of New Holland. Paterson was initially posted to the convict settlement on Norfolk Island, 1,700km from Sydney in the Pacific Ocean. Here he completed a report on the flora and fauna for Joseph Banks, containing descriptions and illustrations drawn by a convict whom Paterson took as his servant. However it was not detailed enough to be of botanical use and was never published.

In 1793 Paterson was back on mainland Australia, where he led an expedition into the Blue Mountains. His objective was to find a route through the range, but, failing this, he yet discovered and named the Grose River (after Major Francis Grose, in charge of the Port Jackson settlement). Paterson rose further still to second-in-command of the New South Wales Corps and to the rank of Major in 1795, but was a laissez-faire leader and his inclination to drink did not go unnoticed.

Returning to England in 1796 on sick leave, due to an inflamed eye, he took the opportunity to chase up an earlier entreaty made to Joseph Banks, to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He had several times asked Banks about his chances of election, but it was not until he had had collected specimens in Australia that Banks thought he had contributed anything worthy to science. Indeed it was probably more his friendship with Banks and his horticultural introductions than his comparatively meagre contributions to botany that earned him his Fellowship in 1798.

Given his liking for liquor, Paterson was perhaps a surprising choice in 1799 for leading a mission to investigate British officers trading in spirits at Sydney. Indeed he was reticent in this duty and had to be prompted to fulfil his orders in late 1800, when he finally carried out an inquiry. The following year he was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the colony, where he remained until the settlement of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). The first British settlement on Van Diemen's Land was founded in 1803, motivated by rumours of French interest in establishing a foothold there. The following year, Paterson was assigned as administrator of a new colony at Port Dalrymple on the northern coast of the island. Paterson named his site York Town. He also created a small settlement named Patersonia near present day Launceston. Though suffering many hardships in these early days on the island, Paterson was a keen observer of its resources, noting the large outcrop of iron ore near Port Dalrymple, for example, and sending specimens to Joseph Banks. By 1808 these packages for Banks had diminished, however, for Paterson's duties had become arduous, and in 1808 he was called to take charge after the unpopular governor William Bligh was overthrown in Port Jackson. Paterson arrived in Sydney in January 1809, but in poor health, he was unable to wrest control from Bligh's adversaries and lived mostly at Parramatta. The new Governor, Colonel Lachlan Macquarie, arrived at the close of 1809, and the ailing Paterson was relieved of his duties. He was honoured before boarding ship to sail homewards in May 1810, but died at sea in mid-June.

Paterson had also collaborated with fellow plant explorer Robert Brown, who was in Australia from 1801-1805, and named the iridaceous genus Patersonia R.Br. after him as well as several species. The tree Lagunaria patersonia (Andrews) G. Don. (the Norfolk Island hibiscus) is also named after him. Paterson never published any taxa himself, nor provided much in the way of observations to accompany his specimens, but did supply a number of type specimens from Australia.

Sources:
R. Desmond and C. Ellwood, 1994, Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturalists: 539
B.H. Fletcher, "Paterson, William (1755–1810)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:
http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/21539, accessed 27 January 2010
V.S. Forbes and J. Rourke, 1980, Paterson's Cape Travels 1777 to 1779
A. Lasègue, 1845, Musée Botanique: 278
C.P. Thunberg, 1795, Travels, 4: 217
J.B. Webb, 2003, The Botanical Endeavour: Journey Towards a Flora of Australia: 60-85.