Genius or Charlatan? The strange tale of a 19th-century polymath who left a trail of controversy across colonial Australia

Dr Ferdinand von Sommer has been called “enigmatic” for good reason. Doubts have been raised about both his titles and name, namely his doctorate/s and his signifier of nobility “von”. Not his date of birth or even the identity of his parents are undisputed. There is no portrait of him and no gravesite, and he left no will and no estate. But it is undeniable that a man who called himself Dr Ferdinand von Sommer served as Western Australia’s first government geologist from February 1847 until August 1848 and had “Mount Sommer”, in the vicinity of Geraldton, named after him. He left behind three exceptional maps of his surveying and prospecting activities as well as reports to the government that can be considered impressive for their time and context, even by today’s standards. He is ripe for rediscovery.