Cabinets of curiosities, mystery specimens and a giant bird A history of the Tiegs Museum, 1887–1959 Anna Coultas

When I first visited the Zoology Building at the I went to the first floor. I walked along the corridor until I reached a large door on the right and met my guide. She led me through the door. Immediately I saw a large skeleton of a bird, a moa to be exact, an extinct bird from New Zealand. I continued through the long room, my eyes barely registering the fascinating surroundings. The walls were completely covered in large cabinets of curiosities: a vast array of zoological specimens, including a stuffed echidna, marsupial skulls, pickled rats, insects, stuffed birds, bones of a horse’s leg and preserved earthworms. In the middle of the room was the skeleton of an ape and to the left, a vicious looking opossum. Suddenly, I found myself at the end I conducted extensive research about and sources such as Darwin’s of the room. I looked up and saw a the history of the Tiegs Museum and evolutionary theory, biographies of glass panel hanging in front of the its impressive collection of zoological Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer and a window. I discovered where I was: specimens, under the supervision of history of the Melbourne Museum. the Tiegs Museum of Zoology. the museum’s Honorary Director, There is not a vast amount of During 2009 I was completing a Dr David Young. The project covered research or material available about Master of Public History at Monash the years 1887 to 1959, finishing the Tiegs Museum itself and because University. An important component just after the unexpected death of of this some avenues of investigation of my course was to complete a the museum’s namesake, Professor regarding certain specimens in the research project with a historical Oscar Werner Tiegs. For my research collection are still to be explored. organisation or association. This was I consulted both primary and The main primary document how I came to be involved in the secondary sources. The latter included consulted for the project, which Student Projects Program with the some of the comprehensive histories was the most interesting and a University of Melbourne’s cultural of the University of Melbourne,1 unique historical record, was the collections. For almost four months which led to further research areas Register of specimens in the museum

University of Melbourne Collections, Issue 7, December 2010 35 Previous page: Melbourne University Biology School, postcard, 8.5 x 13.5 cm. UMA/I/980, University of Melbourne Archives.

of the Biological School, University of 1887: Beginnings more professional. A new Biology Melbourne. It was begun in 1893 as The year 1887 was an exciting Building (illustrated on page 35) was a record book for all the specimens year in the Science Department constructed according to Spencer’s that were purchased, donated and at the University of Melbourne. own specifications and it included collected for the museum. The New chairs for different scientific state-of-the-art laboratories, an University of Melbourne Archives disciplines were being created in area for live animals to be kept was also a great source for research the wake of increased enrolments for dissection, an aquarium and a and provided me with some very at the University and continued greenhouse. The Biology Building valuable information relating to the growth in the popularity of science was close to the National Museum museum, in particular the official in Victorian colonial society. One of of Victoria, which was owned by correspondence regarding the naming the newly appointed professors at the government rather than the of the museum after Professor Tiegs. the University was Professor Walter University, and was located in what The Tiegs Museum and its rich Baldwin Spencer (1860–1929), is now the Student Union Building array of zoological specimens is who, in the years that followed, and run by Professor McCoy in his an important cultural collection of would have a major influence on the capacity as Honorary Director. the University of Melbourne. Not growth and breadth of science study The National Museum housed a only are many of the specimens and research at the University.2 rich and diverse array of zoological impressive works of taxidermy but Spencer was appointed to the specimens from all over the world, the Tiegs collection, along with the new chair of biology, which would but as these were considered too cultural collections of other science no longer be included under the valuable to be handled by students, departments, reveals much about umbrella of natural science, chaired Spencer began his own museum of the history of scientific teaching and by Professor Frederick McCoy.3 biological and zoological specimens research at the University. My aim Spencer, along with Professor to create a collection that could be was to put together an interesting David Orme Masson, the new chair used for teaching purposes.5 and informative history of the of chemistry, was committed to This was the beginning of the Tiegs Museum which would serve improving the study and research departmental zoology museum. as a useful accompaniment to the of science at the University. This The collection of specimens began collection itself and the register. commitment brought about even before the door to the museum I wanted to give readers—whether various changes on campus that opened. The groundbreaking animal enthusiasts, zoology dramatically altered not only evolutionary theories of Charles professors, undergraduate science science education at the University Darwin and his supporter students or science historians—a but also its architectural landscape. T.S. Huxley heavily influenced window into the intriguing world of In 1888, the three-year bachelor Spencer and many other staff the museum, its stuffed, preserved degree in science was introduced.4 members in the School of Biology. and mounted animals and its Science education at the University Consequently Darwin’s work on fascinating history. was becoming more structured and biology and zoology impacted

36 University of Melbourne Collections, Issue 7, December 2010 Professor Walter Baldwin Spencer, with Wilson Hall and the lake, University of Melbourne, c.1900–1920, black and white photographic print, 16.5 x 12.5 cm. UMA/I/1372, University of Melbourne Archives.

hugely on the study of these two disciplines at the University. Spencer and other staff such as the demonstrator and assistant lecturer Arthur Dendy spent much time collecting as many specimens as possible for the museum. Weekend field trips to the Dandenong Ranges, Port Phillip Bay and longer trips interstate and overseas were common.6 The collecting of zoological and other biological specimens was also popular in Melbourne society in general. There were numerous scientific societies such as the Royal Society of Victoria and the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria, whose members included professors from the University. In the past these institutions and individuals had donated to the National Museum of Victoria or kept specimens as part of personal collections. In the departmental museum’s infant years, these societies and individuals donated specimens, particularly of Australian fauna, and continued to do so for many years. Unfortunately, though it is evident that there was enthusiastic collecting of specimens from 1887, besides sketchy labels attached to some of the specimens, no other written records were made until six years later.

University of Melbourne Collections, Issue 7, December 2010 37 European toad (Bufo vulgaris), Coimbra, Portugal. Reg. no. 1, donated by Mr Boulanger, British Museum, 1893, Tiegs Museum, Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne. Photography by April Gloury.

1893: The beginning of by the specimens with little or no the historical record for the information or history at all. This Tiegs Museum has resulted in many sparsely filled The Bufo vulgaris, a European and incomplete pages in the register. or common toad, was the first In later years when particular specimen recorded in the register specimens were removed from the for the departmental museum. collection because of damage or poor This acquisition was entered into preservation, rarely is a reason or the register in 1893, six years after date listed. These factors made my the establishment of the museum. research quite challenging at times. Between 1890 and the beginning I would spend hours crouched over of World War I, the most prolific the register trying to decipher the amount of collecting, donating and sharing knowledge and excitement information contained in pages or purchasing of specimens occurred. about the growth in all areas of rueing the absence of information In 1893, it appears the museum science, especially significant about many of the specimens. received numerous international breakthroughs in scientific research Perhaps the gaps in the records reveal donations. It is possible that these during this time. The Royal College something about the history of the specimens were in the collection of Science donated specimens to the museum itself? Were staff members before 1893 and that no one had departmental museum quite regularly too busy actually collecting specimens bothered to write down the specimen for many years. These included to give thorough and definitive details until that date. Or it could be specimens from Europe, Africa, Asia histories of them? We, the curious argued, and it is far more likely, that and Pacific islands. zoologists and eager historians, may the toad specimen and others arrived It is not surprising that there never know the answer. at the University in large shipments were numerous large donations of During Spencer’s time as chair in 1893 and the need for a register to zoological specimens from Britain of biology (1887–1919), in addition record acquisitions became apparent. at this time. Many, if not all, of the to the large number of international The significant donors to the professors at the University were born specimens donated and purchased, museum around 1893 were large in Britain and were recent immigrants the collection and donation of native scientific institutions such as to Australia, Professor Spencer specimens from all over Australia the British Museum, the Royal included. The ties between Britain was prolific. The Biology School College of Science in South and Australia, particularly Melbourne, was called a ‘society of log rollers’ Kensington, Manchester Museum, were at this time very strong.7 as students and staff spent much Oxford University Museum and In the late 19th century, the time on field trips turning over logs the University of Edinburgh. specimens that arrived at the to see what kinds of creatures were These donations suggest a large museum with all the necessary underneath.8 Specimens would international scientific community information were far outnumbered be brought back to the University

38 University of Melbourne Collections, Issue 7, December 2010 Skeleton of moa (Dinornis robustus), New Zealand (photographed in its new display cabinet, 2008). Reg. no. 2179, donated by Dr George Armstrong, 1935, Tiegs Museum, Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne. Photography by Mandy Parfitt.

campus for dissection, research or on that a relationship formed professors.11 Dr Georgina Sweet display at the museum and would between the National Museum and (1875–1946), a graduate of the become the subject of discussions the departmental museum. They University, began working as a at meetings of the University exchanged specimens and assisted lecturer and demonstrator at the Science Club, established in July each other with identification School of Biology in 1909. She 1888. Spencer and other science and classification. In 1968, this conducted research into Australian professors often attended these relationship graduated to a new mammals and collected many meetings to contribute to discussions. level. A large portion of zoological specimens for the departmental The exciting nature of discovery specimens from the departmental museum, some of which are still and growth in science gave rise to museum was donated to the National on display today.12 a genuine scientific community in Museum. This included numerous Melbourne conducting new and native fauna specimens which A new chair, a new chapter interesting research about anything Spencer had collected on the Horn The Great War and its aftermath and everything related to science. Expedition to central Australia had huge consequences for Victorian It was a very active time for scientific in 1894.9 society, the University included. societies and institutions including During the late 19th and early While during the war student the Faculty of Science at the 20th centuries donations continued numbers dwindled, peacetime University of Melbourne and all its to pour in from institutions and afterwards saw a surge in enrolments departments and student science individuals from all over the world. and a dire need for more staff and clubs, the Royal Society of Victoria, The donation relationship continued proper scientific equipment. In the Royal Zoological Gardens, and with many universities and colleges in 1919 Spencer retired from the chair the Royal Botanic Gardens. The Britain and continental Europe in the of biology, which he had held for increase and fervour of scientific lead up to World War I. The National 32 years. This marked the end of a thought and research during the late Museum in Prague donated a large significant chapter in the Biology 19th and early 20th centuries went collection of zoological specimens in School. In 1919 zoology and botany hand-in-hand with the dramatic 1902, all of which arrived properly were distinguished from biology increase in zoological specimens identified and named, an occurrence and granted individual departments. at the museum. duly noted in the register, for its The Biology Building became In 1899 Professor Frederick rarity.10 the Zoology Building. Professor McCoy died and the National The School of Biology during Wilfred Eade Agar from Britain was Museum of Victoria was moved to this time was one of the first appointed as the chair of zoology. Swanston Street to join the National departments at the University to have In the years after World War I, Gallery and the Public Library. a large number of female students. collecting, donating and purchasing Professor Spencer was nominated It also employed the first full-time specimens for the museum were slow Honorary Director of the National female lecturer at the University as to pick up momentum. It was not Museum and it is from this time well as the first two female acting until about 1925 that specimens again

University of Melbourne Collections, Issue 7, December 2010 39 Attributed to Vera Leichney (née Hamilton, Oscar Tiegs’ sister-in-law), but possibly the work of Lisa De Montfort, Portrait of Oscar Werner Tiegs, c.1954, pastel, miniature format. Private collection. Source: Wikipedia, December 2010.

started arriving at the museum with of specimens, which he donated to continued to arrive, though these any regularity. These were no longer the zoology departmental museum.14 were more isolated and in smaller coming in such significant quantities Dr Gwyneth Vaughan Buchanan, a quantities than donations of from Britain and continental Europe, Zoology Department employee, also previous years. In 1935, Dr George which were both attempting to spent time in far north Queensland Armstrong, also a former student of recover and rebuild after the war. The during the 1920s, collecting marine the University, presented the Zoology year 1925 saw the first large donation specimens. In Cairns she collected Department with a large skeleton and from North America.13 This donation a sea cucumber, but it was never an accompanying display cabinet for from the University of Michigan, displayed at the museum. After its museum.16 It was the skeleton of along with others from organisations the sea cucumber was identified the largest species of moa (Dinornis such as the American Museum of and recorded in the register, it was robustus), an extinct flightless bird Natural History in New York and prepared for cooking!15 from New Zealand. The skeleton McGill University in Montreal, There is mystery surrounding is well over two metres tall and, marked the beginning of many years several specimens in the collection. though the moa is considered the of exchange with North American Two of the most remarkable were most outstanding specimen in the universities and scientific institutions. donated to or collected by the museum, only its name was recorded These donations expanded the museum in the 1920s or early in the register.17 Perhaps the specimen variety of zoological specimens that 1930s. These two specimens are full was so rare and obvious to most could be displayed at the museum skeletons of a lion (Felis leo) and a staff and students of zoology at the and also serve to highlight how the seal (most likely Otariidae). There time that recording all the details of zoology departmental museum at is no record of their origin, who the donation in the register seemed the University of Melbourne was donated them or when they arrived unnecessary. In 2008, the moa was influenced by global shifts in power, at the museum. It is possible that removed from the boxes in which influence and focus after the war. the Royal Zoological Gardens had it had been stored since the 1988 The 1920s were years of donated both skeletons but as the relocation of the Tiegs Museum from enthusiastic collection and donation Gardens’ records only go back as far the Baldwin Spencer Building to its of many marine specimens for as 1948, there is no way to check. current location and assembled in its the museum. In 1925 Phillip In late 2009, both skeletons were new display cabinet (funded by the Crosbie Morrison, a graduate of transferred to their new display Rowden White Foundation), where the University of Melbourne with cabinet in the Tiegs Museum (funded it can be viewed today. an interest in marine biology, won by the Ian Potter Foundation). a scholarship to spend six months During the 1930s, Australian A change of pace on HMAS Geranium researching specimens accrued at a steady pace After the outbreak of World War the marine life of Queensland’s despite the economic hardships of II, the collection and donation of Great Barrier Reef. He brought the Great Depression. International specimens slowed significantly. There back to Melbourne a vast number donations and purchases also are virtually no entries recorded

40 University of Melbourne Collections, Issue 7, December 2010 Window, ‘The Tiegs Museum’. Donated in 1959 in honour of Professor Oscar Werner Tiegs, Chair of Zoology, 1948–1956. Tiegs Museum, Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne. Photography by Anna Coultas.

in the register from 1942 to 1945, specimens to the museum and It is interesting to note that this due presumably to the increased devoted much time and energy to particular symposium was to honour Australian war effort from 1942. its expansion and organisation, as not only Tiegs, but also the centenary A specimen worth noting, which is demonstrated by his cramped of the founding of the Society, as well travelled a long and treacherous handwriting which fills so many as the centenary anniversary of the path to arrive in Melbourne in 1941, pages of the register from 1925 to publication of Charles Darwin’s On was found in the bladder and liver the early 1950s. the origin of species. It is fitting too of a human at the Cairo General that I completed this history of the Hospital. It was an example of the The end of the specimen Tiegs Museum in 2009, 150 years parasitic worms that cause the disease golden age after the foundation of the Royal Balharzia.18 Though it was donated On 5 November 1956 the much Society of Victoria, 150 years after to the museum in 1941, it was not respected Professor Tiegs died the publication of On the origin of entered into the register until 1990. unexpectedly at his home in species and 50 years after the museum It was one of a number of specimens Hawthorn.19 F.H. Drummond was named the Tiegs Museum. with a similar history. They were was appointed as acting Professor In the years after the museum donated to or collected for the of Zoology. In 1958 Drummond was named after Professor Tiegs, the museum but not properly registered wrote to the Vice-Chancellor collection and donation of specimens until many years later, mainly when asking permission to name the slowed almost to a halt. New the Tiegs Museum moved buildings museum after Tiegs who had, in restrictions and guidelines prevented in 1988. After World War II, the Drummond’s opinion, ‘devoted a the easy collection of species that collecting and donating of specimens great deal of time and thought to the would be interesting and useful for to the museum would never again be preparation and display of material teaching zoology. By the 1960s the as prolific or enthusiastic as the time in the departmental museum’.20 Tiegs Museum already had a large from the museum’s inception in 1887 Drummond’s request for a brass or and diverse collection representing to the mid-1930s. bronze plaque to be made for display most if not all areas of the animal In 1948 another change occurred in the museum was approved and kingdom. There were a few isolated in the staffing of the Zoology in either late 1958 or early 1959 donations over the next 40 to 50 years Department. Professor Oscar Werner the departmental zoology museum but for the most part the golden age Tiegs (1897–1956), who had been was officially renamed The Tiegs of specimen collection and donation a lecturer and an associate professor Museum. Above its entrance a glass had passed. Under a new professor, at the University since 1925, was window was installed, the new name the Zoology Department took a new appointed to the chair of zoology. inscribed in gold lettering. direction with teaching and research. In this role, Tiegs, like others before Professor Tiegs was also honoured Those changes also affected the him, had his own influence on the at a symposium in 1959 held by the Tiegs Museum, but the details are study and teaching of zoology at the Royal Society of Victoria, of which for another chapter of the museum’s University. He regularly contributed Tiegs had been an eager member. history.

University of Melbourne Collections, Issue 7, December 2010 41 Conclusion The Tiegs Museum www.zoology. 6 John Mulvaney, ‘Baldwin Spencer: Evolution and Melbourne University’, in J. Hoorn (ed.), The Tiegs Museum, with all the unimelb.edu.au/tiegs/ is a resource for Reframing Darwin: Evolution and art in specimens in its collection, remains students, researchers and school groups. Australia, Carlton: Melbourne University an important and relevant part Access is by appointment; for further Press, 2009, p. 86. 7 Macintyre and Selleck, A short history, p. 60. of the teaching of zoology at the information contact Vivien Porter, 8 Melbourne University Review, vol. IV, 1888, University of Melbourne. It is also email [email protected], pp. 93–94; Science Club, 5 July 1888, in an important part of the history of telephone (03) 8344 7041. Mulvaney and Calaby, So much that is new, p. 85. 9 Various entries collected on science education and research at the 1894, donated by Professor Spencer, Register University. Its growth over the years of specimens of the Biological School, University and the types of specimens which Anna Coultas recently graduated from Monash of Melbourne. Tiegs Museum, Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne. were collected at particular times University where she completed a Bachelor of Arts with Honours and a Master of Public 10 Entry nos 1208–1217, exchange from reflect changing trends in the teaching History. She hopes to work in the professional Museum Prague, 1902, Register of specimens. of zoology, the different passions of historical field conducting research and organising 11 Mulvaney, ‘Baldwin Spencer’, p. 87. 12 Entry no. 1968: Echidna aculeata, mounted its professors through the decades, as exhibitions. Anna has recently completed an internship in Vancouver with the British skin, no location or date, donated and well as the impact of external events Columbia Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. identified by Dr Georgina Sweet, no date such as war and economic recession. recorded, Register of specimens. 13 Entry nos 1579–1594, donated by the I thoroughly enjoyed participating University of Michigan, 1935, Register in the Cultural Collections Student of specimens. Projects Program. It was stimulating, 14 Great Barrier Reef Expedition, HMAS Notes Geranium, 1925, Register of specimens. challenging and very rewarding. 15 Entry no. 1699: Bichi de mer, Cairns, I feel privileged to have been able to 1 Stuart Macintyre and R.J.W. Selleck, A short Queensland, identified by Dr Buchanan, conduct research in an area that has history of the University of Melbourne, Carlton: prepared for cooking, Register of specimens. Melbourne University Press, 2003; R.J.W. 16 W.E. Agar, Letter to Vice-Chancellor, been little studied previously and to Selleck, The shop: The University of 6 November 1935. Registrar’s correspondence, do so at a time which marked so Melbourne 1850–1939, Carlton: Melbourne UM312, University of Melbourne Archives. many momentous anniversaries University Press, 2003; J. Poynter and 17 Entry no. 2179: Dinornis robustus, Register C. Rasmussen, A place apart: The University of specimens. in science. I hope my work has of Melbourne: Decades of challenge, Carlton: 18 Entry no. 2698: Balharzia, Cairo General highlighted the significance of the Melbourne University Press, 1996. Hospital, found in human bladder and liver, Tiegs Museum as a cultural collection 2 Macintyre and Selleck, A short history, 1941, donated and identified by J. McNally, pp. 31–33; Selleck, The shop, pp. 374–382. Register of specimens. of the University of Melbourne. 3 Carolyn Rasmussen, A museum for the people: 19 Carolyn Rasmussen, ‘Tiegs, Oscar Werner I leave the door open to other A history of Museum Victoria and its predecessors (1897–1956)’, Australian dictionary of students in the hope that they will 1854–2000, Melbourne: Scribe Publications, biography, vol. 16, Melbourne: Melbourne 2001, p. 99. University Press, 2002, pp. 393–394. enjoy delving into the intriguing 4 Macintyre and Selleck, A short history, p. 34. 20 F.H. Drummond (Acting Professor, and wonderful world of zoology, 5 D.J. Mulvaney and J.H. Calaby, So much that Department of Zoology), Letter to taxidermy, science and the art of is new: Baldwin Spencer 1860–1929, a Vice-Chancellor, 17 June 1958. Registrar’s biography, Carlton: Melbourne University correspondence, UM312, 1958/1405: Tiegs, labelling—all of which are part of Press, 1985, p. 82; Rasmussen, A museum for Prof. O.W. Memorial. University of the history of the Tiegs Museum. the people, p. 99. Melbourne Archives.

42 University of Melbourne Collections, Issue 7, December 2010