Forest" (the Cowpastures). Caley was able to report on the wild cattle, which he found considerably increased in numbers. In November 1804 Caley, with three convict assistants, attempted to cross the Blue Mountains along the northern edge of the Grose Valley. He managed to reach and ascend a mountain he named Mount Banks. However, upon being struck by the awe-inspiring views of the sheer cliffs of the Grose Valley stretching away to the south, he decided to turn back, unaware he was only a day's walk away from the western escarpment and the open country lying beyond. In October 1805 he visited Norfolk Island and went to Hobart at the end of November that year. In August 1808 Banks wrote to Caley offering him an annuity of £50 a year and to release him from all services beyond what he voluntarily wished to perform and to remain in New South Wales if he desired. Caley was homesick for England, however, and decided to return to England. Later life Caley returned to England in 1810 and in 1816 was appointed curator of the botanic gardens in St Vincent, West Indies. He resigned from this position in December 1822 and was back in England in the following May. He died on 23 May 1829. He had married in 1816 but his wife predeceased him without children. Governor King found Caley 'eccentric and morose', both Banks and King found Caley difficult and at times tactless and unreasonable. He was, however, a good worker, a skilful and accurate botanist and he was thoroughly honest. He did not publish any works, but his collections did much to spread a knowledge of Australian plants in the early years of the nineteenth century. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation Caley when citing a botanical name. He is recognised in several place names, including a Reserve name and bushland pavilion name at Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden in St Ives, and in the orchid genus Caleana and the species Grevillea caleyi, Viola caleyana, Banksia caleyi, and Eucalyptus caleyi. A George Caley Society was formed in Saint Ives (New South Wales) in 2019. See also List of Blue Mountains articles List of gardener-botanist explorers of the Enlightenment References Bibliography Webb, J. B., (2003), ‘George Caley – Robert Brown’s collecting partner’, Australian Garden History, 15 (1), pp. 15–16. Additional sources listed by the Australian Dictionary of Biography: Historical Records of