English botanist and explorer Allan Cunningham (1791 – 1839) is best known for his travels in Australia to collect plants. After training at Kew Gardens and a two-year collecting expedition to Brazil, Cunningham arrived in Sydney in December 1816.
He participated in John Oxley's 1817 expedition to the Lachlan and Macquarie rivers. He then served as the ship's botanist on Philip Parker King's HMS Mermaid (1817-20). Cunningham joined Oxley on his second investigation of Moreton Bay and the Brisbane River and later discovered the Darling Downs.
A further excursion connected the Moreton Bay settlement with the hinterland via Spicer's Gap and Cunningham's Gap.