Explorer and Naturalist Gustav Norbeck was born in Karlskrona, Sweden, in November of 1722.  The actual date of his birth is unknown, but local records show that he was christened on November 15.  By custom, children at the time were christened on the first Sunday following their birth.

Gustav was the only child of Hunderssen Norbeck and his first wife, Hannah.  Hunderssen, who was in his 30’s when he married, worked as an accountant for the Swedish shipping firm Globala.  Little is known about Gustav’s mother Hannah, other than she was considerably younger than Hunderssen.  From Gustav’s few mentions of his biological mother, we know that she was a sickly woman who “was not prone to merriment.”  In 1727, when Gustav was four, his mother became pregnant once again.  Hannah, who had never fully recovered from the birth of Gustav, died of complications before she gave birth, as did her unborn child.

Hunderssen, who Gustav writes was never interested in children, remarried his wife’s oldest sister, Lieszell, less than a year after Hannah’s death.  Lieszell, who was twelve years older than Hunderssen, brought 9 children to the marriage, most of whom were either deceased or had already left home.  Gustav never mentioned his step-brothers and sisters, but he was obviously not happy growing up.  Commented Gustav, “I felt as if I were an unnecessary burden on both my parents, but especially my Aunt Lieszell.” 

At the age of 12 Gustav, with the help of his father, became an accounting apprentice at Globala.  He remained there until the age of 19, when he accepted a position (against his father’s will) aboard the Swedish trade vessel Roliga Timmen, where he worked as a quartermaster. 

At the age of 24 he transferred to the Swedish trade vessel Öppet Vatten, where he became close friends with the captain, a German named Wilhelm Oppenklimer.  When Oppenklimer was commissioned by the Swedish Crown in 1749 to explore the South Seas, Gustav went with him aboard the HMS Hundkex.  Although Gustav was officially the ship’s quartermaster, his duties, as recorded in the ship’s manifest, also included “the categorization and recording of fauna and flora as necessary.”

The HMS Hundkex arrived off the southern coast of Australia in September of 1750.  Over the course of the next year, the ship and its crew explored the coasts of both Australia and Tasmania.  Gustav, along with other members of the crew, made several extended treks onto both islands.  While there, Gustav named 14 different species of flora and fauna – all after himself.  It was later discovered that all but one of those had already been discovered and named by other naturalists (such as the Platypus, which he named Norbeck’s Billed-Cat, and the Red Kangaroo, which he named Norbeck’s Hopper).  Only the small, arboreal Norbeck’s Pademelon still bears his name.

The HMS Hundkex left Australia in July of 1751.  The return journey, plagued by storms, pirates, and illness, took 14 years, arriving in Göteborg, Sweden, in late September of 1765.  Gustav never returned to the sea, nor did he ever marry.  He spent the remainder of his life writing about his discoveries while aboard the Hundkex.  His manuscript, which he reportedly finished before his death at the age of 75 on October 19, 1798, was never published.  There are no known copies.