The first known specimens of Banksia coccinea were collected in December 1801, during the visit to King George Sound of HMS Investigator under the command of Matthew Flinders. On board were botanist Robert Brown, botanical artist Ferdinand Bauer, and gardener Peter Good. All three men gathered plant specimens, but those collected by Bauer and Good were incorporated into Brown's herbarium without attribution, so it is not possible to identify the actual collector of this species.[9][10] The surviving specimen of B.coccinea, held by the Natural History Museum in London, is annotated in Brown's hand "King George IIIds Sound Princess Royal Harbour especially near the observatory".[11] The observatory was apparently located in what is now the central business district of Albany.[12] No further information on the collection is available, as the species is mentioned in neither Brown's nor Good's diary.[13][14]