Alois Topič

3.3.1852 – 10.6.1927 

Alois Topič (1852-1927) is one of the most important Czech travellers and experts on exotic fauna. In 1876 he went to Australia for the first time, where he worked for Czech zoologists as a hunter of local animals and supplied Czech museums with endemic species of fauna. He also brought to Bohemia a considerable number of other products of nature from the Australian wilderness. 

 

Alois Topič was born in 1852 in Přelouč into the family of a wealthy farmer and townsman Václav Topič. After elementary school he completed high school in Pardubice and trained to be a gardener. A future on his father's farm loomed ahead of him, but the daughter of a poor cottager from Rohovládova Bělá near Pardubice entered young Alois's life unexpectedly. He fell in love with her and refused to take over the farm (together with the obligation to pay off his younger brothers). At odds with his family and head over heels in love with his bride-to-be, he finally took a step that was unusual in his time. After the wedding, he and his love Aloisia travelled to Australia in 1876. Here Alois got a job at the botanical garden in Brisbane. Over time, he moved from plants to animals, which he began to hunt for trade. At that time, as one of the few Czech natives on this continent, he was approached by the Prague zoologist Antonín Frič. He asked Topič to send him some specimens of Australian animals, so much in demand in Europe for scientific purposes and museum collections. Thus, Alois Topič became a collaborator of one of the greatest zoologists in this country and at the same time an important source of often quite endemic species of Australian animals. Financially, however, the Přelouč native did not fare well. In one of his attempts to farm independently, he lost all his money and now, already with two children on his hands, he has decided to return to his homeland. From his parents, with whom he had since reconciled, he acquired a tavern in Chlumec nad Cidlinou and earned a living as an innkeeper. But he was still drawn to farming. He sold the inn and bought a farm in Roudnice near Hradec Králové for himself and his family. But it didn't take more than five years before the wildlife of Australia drew him back. In 1885 he embarked on his second trip to Australia and this time he was only collecting products of nature, hunting animals and preparing his future lecture tour, which was meant to gradually pay for his travels. He returned to hunting Australian animals and hunted kangaroos, echidnas and especially platypuses, which were most in demand in Europe, for the needs of Czech museums and scientific institutes. He sent hundreds of specimens back to his homeland, and most of the platypus specimens from museum collections or university cabinets of this period come from Topič. In 1890 Topic returned, toured the country as a lecturer and expert on exotic animals, and was soon back in Australia on his third and final trip. He returned from there in 1902 and settled permanently in Nový Bydžov, where he died in 1927. Alois Topič was one of the first Czech travellers and explorers of Australia and at the same time an important collaborator of Czech zoologists.

 

References

JOHN, J. Australská dobrodružství Aloise Topiče. Praha 1954.

MARTÍNEK, J.; MARTÍNEK, M. Kdo byl kdo: naši cestovatelé a geografové. Praha 1998. 

PH