080052-13.036.Pdf

naturalistsfrom around

theworld descended

on Australiato collect

specimensfor museums

andprivate collectors.

Hundreds,iI not

thousands,oI plant

andanimal specimens

wereshipped ov€rs€as.

Thesecollections were

boughtand sold many

tirn€sover, and in some

caseswere so fragmented

thatit hastak€n years to

pieceth€m together.

Thesecollections are now ."-''.--:'.:| providinga picture of theformer distributions -,| .;! rf, of manyof Western .4:

Australia'sspecies. .,'ti

'\,. \- ,i

I \1,

by ClemencyFisher n an earlier issueof I"4NDSCOPE('John HIDDENTREASURES must somehowbe geneticallyadapted to AustralianCollections', Winter suit their jobs,the ultimate blissis a few Gilbert's So where are Gilbert's Australian 1997),I discussedJohn Gilbert's unique days getting away from their own specimensand those collectedby other important Australian vertebrate hoursin and lgth-century natunlists? One way of museums-only[o spend semi- These made poring collections. were between finding thesevaluable collections is by darkness, over long-dead,often September1838 and lune 1845,before grubby searchingpublished catalogues such as and always heavily aromatic London-born naturalist was the lhe 27 -volume Catalogue of the Birds of specimensin someoneelse's collection. tragically killed during the first the Bitish Museum, written by several Heart-accelerating moments are felt Leichhardtexpedition. authorsaround the tum of the century when an original field label, hand- Gilbert's specimens are now or Osbert Salvin'sA Catalogueof the written by your favourite collector, rs scattered in museums all over the Collection of Birds Formed bg the Late foundtucked under a foot or a wing The needto examineand world. crucial Hugh Edwin Strickland (1882)- or when an apparentlyblank labelclearly document them is becomingmore and specimens held in Cambridge shows writing under an ultra-violet more apparent as much of the Unive$ity'sMuseum of Zoology.Another lamp.In manycases, old collectionshave information providedby the specimens is OldfieldThomas's published catalogue simplynot beenlooked at foryears-they revealimportant cluesfor today'snature ofthe marsupialsand monotremes in the are in small museums,off the beaten For example,the little conservationists. then British Museum (Natulal History) track, where nobodythought to check, rat-kangaroo, known as Gilbert's in 1888.Mosi of the Australianplacental or in drawersin a chest that had been potoroo,was rediscovered in 1993in ihe mammalsthere are listed in subsequent stuck behinda filing cabinetsince 1920 from which Cilbert had same area published accounts.With increasingly (a true story).A favouritememory is of a originally collectedthem in the 1840s; sophisticatedcomputer documentation drawer sliding open to reveal a whole none had beenseen since the 1870s. systemsin use around the world, many host of original Gilberi labels,positively museumscan now tell with a fair degree waving to me from the dried fish to of accuracywhat specimens are in their which theywere attached. page lPreoious collections,even if this information rs Small university museums have lohnCould and H. C. Richter lMain: give I composedthis watercolour of thepig- unpublished.They can also more treasurestoo. An attic store at Glasgow footedbandicoot, but it wasnot published accuratedetails about what materialthey Universityhouses a noddy collected until 1988. have from a particular locality, or by Cilbert. Gilbert's original label was - Photo NMGM,copyright lgth Earlof D€rby. moment in time, than was everpossible stuck to the card with glue, and the -InseL'The LiverpoolMuseum, built in 1961. Photo- ClemencyFisher before. Clasgow University label states only For other museum collections, 'South Seas'.But if you look at Gilberts I Belo.{r,The commonnoddy. Several of however,the only way to find out what own labelcarefully, it turns out to be one were by on I thesebirds oblained Cilberl they have is to look for yourself. For ofthe specimensfrom his famoustrip to I hisvisit to the HoutmanAbrolhos in 1843. natural history curators,an eccentric the Houtman Abrolhos,off the coastof Photo- Babsand Bert Wells/CALM breedofhuman whosenatural behaviour Western Australia in 1843. For that

42,.^^rt.urrt expedition,Gilbert was offered passage by Captain Scott, who purchaseda rvreckedship on the notoriouslystorm- prone islandsand was sending salvage boats to and fro. Cilbert himself was then strandedthere by storms,writing to Gould later that'ure ran a veDrnarrow escape,being hove to in a Caleof Wind for four days. . . we wereall given up for lost'. Two common noddies,which 'South Gilbert collected on Island' (PelsaertIsland) a few days before the Glasgou'specimen, are in Liverpool Museumand a seriesof his important seal and wallaby specimensfrom this l,4boue:l-abels on a greyteal in the dangerous excursion are in South I HancockM useum collections, Kensingtonand Liverpool. I Universityof Newcastle-upon-l'yne. Little attentionhas been paid to THE BIRDCOLLECTIONS conser.ringlabels, which shouldbe primary regardedas importantarchives. John Gould! collectionof Photo Clem€ncyFish€r early 19th-centuryAustralian birds was sold in 1847 to the Academyof Natural l /?rlf llrle rnd iemrleCilbert s Sciences, Philadelphia. He had I thickherdsin Phihdelphia.which were I cataloAuedwiLhout reference Lu the previouslyoffered them for lessthan one specimensin the LiveruoolMuseum. pound eachto the British Museumin Cilb(rt'soriginal labels rvere removed in London,which refusedon the grounds 1847and the only recorded locality on 'West that the museum hadspecimens of most the Academylabels is Australia'. I'hoto- Academy Australianbird speciesalready and that VIllDO, of NaturalSciences 1000pounds would havebeen a huge sum to pay for what were consideredat in 1847, the Liverpool specimen has a former home of the bankerWalter the time to be duplicates. unquestionablefield data attached.For Rothschild.Rothschild, a greatamateur AlthoughGould told the Americans that reason, it is of greater scientific omithologist,had his own huge bird that this \\,ashis 'type collection (birds importanceand now formally recorded collections.These urere later sold to the that had been in front of him when he as a 'type' specimen,together \\,ith the AmericanMuseum oi NaturalHistory in describednew species to science,making two Philadelphiabirds. NewYork, rvhich also holds the extremely them standards'for that species),many Gould may haverefused to give the importantAustralian bird collectionof of his 'types' had alreadybeen sold to British Museumhis primarycollection CregoryMathews. other museums,often privateones. of birds,but he did give them a huge Gould sold a number of his One good example of this was number of vertebratespecimens from remaining Australian birds to the Gilbert'sthickhead (more usually called his Australiancollections. Many more NationalMuseum of Ireland,but these Cilbert's whistler, Pachgcephala of Gould'sbirds found their way to were never properly labelled or inornota gilberti)-a form originally South Kensingtonwhen the British accessioned.The only way to identify nrme.l aiter Gilbertby John Could in Museum bought Thomas Eyton's them now is by picking out labelsu'ith 1844.The two Cilbertsthickheads in collections in 1881. Eyton \\,as a rapidlyscribbled names in red ink Philadelphiawere formally recordedas Shropshirelandowner, duck expertand thesematch Coulds \\'riting. There are 'types'by Academystaff who overlooked fishingpal of Could's,who hada private just a fewofthem thatstill have Cilbert\ h{o specimensthat Could had sold to museumenriched by someof Gould's originallabels attached. One, a rufous Lord Derby in July 1844, now in the best material.In this way the British songlark,was collected at Northam, one 'types' LiverpoolMuseum. One is an immature Museumacquired one of the of of Cilbert'sfavourite localities. 'gpe' bird and doesnot match Could\ lhe western thornbill \Acenlhiza Oneof the mostfascinating mystenes description or his plate in Birds of inomata),described by Could in 1841 surroundssome of the best of Gilbert's Auslralra (volume 2, plate 71), but the from Gilbertspecim€ns collected in the specimens,from the 184445 Leichhardt other,a malecollected by Gilbert'4 miles Swan River area. There are two other Expedition.No one knou,show theycame 'types' eastof York' on 19 August 1843, looks in Philadelphia. to be in the possrssiunr-ri a MissFor very like the male in Gould'splate. The Natural HistoryMuseum now who gave them to the Royal Unlike the Cilbert's thickheads rn keepsits bird collections,numbering Albert Museum in Exeter,Devonshire Philadelphia,which alongwith the restof more than one million specimens,in a in 1944, one hundred years after they the Gouldcollection had their original purpose-built store attached to an rrrere collrcted-but lhis amazing labelsremoved by philistinelaxidermists (legantbuilding in Tring.Hertfordshire. collection of just twenty birds

,,trutrrrr,43 undoubtedly includes some zoological I ,rlrdrniThe spectacledhare-wallaby. the Second World War. The Natural time-bombs.Unfortunately, yet again,the I Photo Babsand Bert WcllsiCALM History Museumhas the Crey specimen I /nset one of thetypes of l-eichhardls original labelswere removedfrom all the and Cilbert's second animal in rts hare-wallaby,a subspecies of the specimens,presumably when they were spectacledhare-wallaby, was collected on collectionsat South Kensington.It was mountedfor exhibition. the 1844-45Leichhardt expedition, and is thesethree animalsthat John Could and now in the AustralianMuseum, Sydney. his assistantHenry ConstantineRichter THE MAMMALCOLLECTIONS Photo ClemencyFish€r usedas the modelsfor their plate of the Gilbert and Could'sAustralian birds pig-footedbandicoot in Could's three- have been found in almost every MacleayMuseum, now at the University volume folio edition of Mammals of museum collectionsearched so far, but of Sydney). There is a small but Australia. their mammal collectionsdo not seem extremely interesting early Victorian Happily,the original artwork, which to have become so widely dispersed. collection of Australian birds and guidedlithographers when producingthe Ownersof privatemuseums in Victorian mammalsat the Museumof Victoriain final plate,still exists;Gould and Richter's times had much more ofa desirefor bird Melbourne.It evenhas a coupleof birds watercolouris in KnowsleyLibrary, near specimens,presumably because they from Charles Darwin's voyage on the Liverpool,and Gould's working sketch \ ras were more colourful and were much Beagle,The museum also owns whal is recentlypurchased at auction by the more available.Most of the early 19th probably the best specimen of the Natural History Museum. Gould and century Australian mammals ended up extinct. and undoubtedlypeculiar Richter did make another \a,atercolour in public museums,like the'types'of though charming pigjooted bandicoot drawing of the pig-footed bandicoot, Leichhardts hare-wallabyta subspecies (Chaeropusecaudatus), which is only probablybased on Crey'sspecimen, but of the spectacled hare-wallaby, known from about h{enty specimens. Gould neverpublished it. Yet more than Lagorchestes conspicillatus), which are The first pig-footedbandicoot was one hundredyears later, the sketchmade in the Australian Museum in Sydney. discoveredby Major Mitchell in 1836at the front coverof.4astralian Zoologist. Theseare two of the few earlyVictorian the Murray River in New South Wales, specimensstill remaining in Australia. with anotherfound in the early1840s by THEART OF SCIENCE Very little material fuom Australia was Ceorge Crey in South Australia. A The Natural History Museum retained from this period-most of it further two were found by John Gilbert recentlybought Gould's original working 'banded wasorted off backto Europeby colonial in swamplandabout forty miles north of sketchfor the plateof the hare- collectors.Some were kept in Australia Northam in Westem Austnlia. One of kan1aroo lLagostrophusfasciatus) in by determinedcurators such as Ceorge Gilbertl specimenswas in the Liverpool Mammals of Australia. Their mammal Bennett (of the AusiralianMuseum) and Museum, until destroyedwhen the section looks after the models for this William John Macleay(who foundedthe publicgalleries were fire-bombed during plate (Gould's'type'specimens), which

44 ^uo""onu were collectedby Johann Preiss- lovers and scientiststhat so many of up and re-pasted,adding commentsof sometime colleague,sometime rival to John Gould's original works have his own and inserting notes on new John Cilbert-in York,east of Perth and survived, but what is even more speciesas he discoveredthem, In in the WonganHills. Could and Richter important to natural historians is that November 1842, Gilbert and the also produceda watercolour versionof most of John Gilbert's field notes still CovemmentBotanist James Drummond 'banded the hare-kangaroo',which Could endure.These are scatteredin libraries \\,ere en-route for the south coast of sold to the 13th Earl of Derby.These all over the world, and great effortsare WesternAustralia when they stoppedat specimensand illustrationsare of crucial now being madeto publish them, or to importance,as the mainlandform of the at leastmake them freelyavailable. banded harewallaby is now extinct, TheQueensland Museum houses orre leaving in existenceonly a vulnerable of the most endearingly personal of populationof the subspeciesconfined to these manuscripts Cilbert's copy of Bernierand Dorre Islands. G,R. Waterhouse'slittle volume on It is of great interest to both art Marsupialia,which he had carefully cut lTop ght: CoukJand Richter's original watercolour for the plateof the pig-footed I bandicootin Could'sMammals of Austrulia,plblished in 1863.Could sold the picture I to lhe l3lh Earlof Derby.and il is still in thelibrary at KnowlseyHall. Photo NMCM,copyright 19th Earl of Derlry lCentre right: A pig-footedbandicoot in the MuseumofVictoria, Melbourne, was I obtainedat the MurrayRiver, in south-easternAutralia, by the Blandowskiexpedition I in 1857. Photo- ClemencyFisher

I Belou main: The bandedhare-wallaby. I Photo Babsi'nd R(rt Wcl|S/CALPI I InseL'Could'sdetailed watercolour depicting the'banded hare-kangaroo', the basisfor lhe platein Mammalsof Austrolia,is alsoin the libraryat KnowsleyHall. Photo- NMGM,copyright lgth Earlof Derby

,-o,ttr"ruft45 the military station on the Williams often fragmentedin the process.But winched in and laser-treated,chairs are River Here,Gilbert was presented with now that many of them have been mended.books are repaired, and the tiny specimensof two mammalspecies, both located,after quietly lying in dusty labelsattached to old bird specimensare new to science: the red-tailed drawers,what is theirfuture? cleaned, mended and encapsulatedto wambenger(Phascogale calural andthe T\oentieth-centurycurators are ensure that the next generation of fat-tailedsminthopsis (Smmlhopsrs generally torn between their natural historians also get a chanceto crassicaudota).Although both these responsibility to preserve existing readthem. speciesare now recordedas beingfirst specimensand their responsibilityto Most original field labels need this discoveredby Gilbert,they were actually acquirespecimens that will latershow treatment and it is important that the donatedto him by the militarystation's just how our environmenttoday is job is given priority. Labels,such as the cat. Surprisingly, both specimens changing.It is a difficultbalance, and it two on a grey teal at the Hancock survived and are now in London's is no wonderthat the stresslevelsof Museum in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NaturalHistory Museum. Gilbert made today's curators are often fixed at desperatelyneed repair-They are stained, 'do-it- carefulnotes about both in his hurricaneforce. brittle and badly curled and will soon yourselfnotebook', embellishing these The recent promotion of the disintegrate.This would be a shame, commentswith a pen-and-inksketch of disciplineofconservation (asin repairing given that Gilbert'soriginal labeltells us 'thick-tailed the pouchedmouse'. objects)from an almost incidental part of that he (and the bird) were on Perth museumwork to an integraland crucial Flats on 22 May 1839-fine detailsthat PRESERVINGTHE PAST ingredientof day-to-daybusiness, rs are missingin so many other cases. It's easyto get the impressionthat typifiedby the recentopening of the The problem of specimenswhose 'heydays the Victoriantimes were the of National Museums & Galleries on original labels have been removed natural history', where zoological Merseyside'sConservation Centre. This applies particularly to the Academyin specimenswere commoditiessold to multi-million-poundproject involved the Philadelphia,but also occurs elsewhere. devoteeswho today would most likely be completerebuilding of an old Liverpool Specimensin largemuseums have often collectingfine art, ceramicsor videos. citycentre warehouse, retaining only the been handled so much that the labels Collectionswere bought and sold and originalfacade. Here, huge sculptures are have been tom off or badly damaged.

I lef. A splendidfairy-wren. I Photo Babsand Bert Wells/CALM I

I Eelow:Ofiord Universitys immaculate I specimenof thesplendid fairy-wren I wascollecled and prepared by Cilbert and still hashis originalfield label. Photo- OxfordUniversity Museum

46 t oscore Evenin small museums, badstorage and | /-elrJ.T.'Iunny, collected r environmental conditions lead to I specimenuf :rdihhlcr in deteriorationin both specimensand I f904-05.near Kojonup, a long waynorth presently labels. There are some merciful of its knowndistribution. exceptions,such as LiverpoolMuseum, whereaccess to the collectionsappears I Beloa. A specimenof \fAs to havebeen so restricteduntil modern I faunaemblem, the numbat, times that most of our Australiarr I isnn displayat theNational Museumof Ireland,Duhlin, specimens and their labels have andlvas also collected by remainedin goodcondition. Tunny. UniversityMuseums are particularly Photos Babsand Ilert likelyto sufferdamage to their collections. Wells/CALM as these are often used for teaching. However,probably the nicest Gilbert specimenI have ever found is at the OxfordUniversity Museum of Zoology.At first sight, it appearedto be a brightly \\,rappedsweet, but it turned out to be a spfendidfairy-wren (Malurus splendens) collectedby Gilbertin Perthin 1842. CLUESFOR THE FUTURE Most of Gilbertsspecimens at the Liverpool Museum still have therr originalcollecting labels, complete with pricelessfield information.Although in man), cases other museums have removedor lost Cilbert'sfield labels,the original information can still be re- united \\,ith specimensby matching them up with informJtionlrom his extensivemanuscripts. determine exact relationshipsbetween Netherlands.has many of Could'sand Labelsmay give informationthat has species(even though the speciesmay Gilbert'sbirds and mammalswhich are been overlookedfor a century or more. have been extinct for many years) by now properly listed. But curators at In WestemAustralia, the localitieson using the latest techniquesof DNA othrr Europeanmuseums such as Prris museum specimens are being analysis.As all consen,ationworkers and Berlin are still trying to come to investigatedby naturalistsrvho are knont it is crucial to be absolutelyclear gripswith what they have undoubtedly looking at the past distribution of rare about lhe r\rcl idenlityof the species collectionsworth their \reight in rubies species or even ones regarded as they are trying to conser,,e.Recent rn natureconsenration terms. extinct. For instance, a dibbler geneticstudies are making the differences So althoughthe light at the enclof (Parantechinusapicalri) which hasbeen between Gilbert's potoroo (Polorous the tunnel is becoming somewhat on displayfor morethan 80 yearsin the lilbertii) and its relative,the long-nosed brighter, the tunnel itself is getting NationaiMuseum of Ireland(and which poloroo lPotorous tridactglus), clearer. longer. And nerv side tunnels are 'ancient [,ith other rare mammals such as a With the adventof techniquesin continuallyopening up alongthe wayl Dumbal (Murmecohus /asctalas) rvas DNA, it should be possibleto tell urhere exchangedwith the WesternAustralian the broad-faced potoroo (Potorous Museumin 1913for 'castsof the platgops) High fits in too. Cilberts original ClemencyFisher is Curatorof Crossof Monasterboice').was collected specimensof the hnoWeslern Auslralian Birds& Mammals,Liverpool Museum, at Gracefield,near Kojonup,a long way forms are still present in museum NationalMuseums & Gallerieson north of its presently known area of collections,so accessto geneticmaterial Merseyside,William Brown St., distribution.Perhaps dibblers are no for DNAtesting is available. LiverpoolL3 8EN,UK. longerthere, but the fact that they once Thereis still much searchingto be Aspart of herr€search into tracing were may make this a site where they done, particularly in the European JohnCilbert's collections, she has visited'lho canbe translocatedin future. museums,rvhich havevast numbers of PeoplesBay in the south-westof WA,and has been Cilbert's15O-year oid specimensnot Australianspecimens. Only in a few assistedby CALMstaff, notably Alan only ploviJe distributionalclues ior caseshave the resourcesbeen available Danks,in hersearch. Clemency can be modern naturalists; they are also to studyand publish informationabout contactedat the aboveaddress. providingthe geneticmaterial for many thesecollections. The Rijksmuseum van neu' and exciting projects.We can now NatuurlijkeHistorie in Leidenin the

, r,rrtrr,n,47 ,! i 1r) rr . " LANDSCOPE VOLUMETHIRTEEN NUMBER 3, AUTUI!1N1998

BUSHWALKSINTHE SOUIH-WEST cAR0LYNTH0t!1S0N-DANS ...... 10 A FIREFOR ALL REASONS NEILBURRoWS ...... 17

ROADSIDES... THE VITAL LINK DAVIDLAI\4 ONT,,.,,.,,. 23 Roadsideuegetation often prolides uital links betaeen remnant habitats. See APPROACHINGEDEN our storg on page23. DAVTDALGAR AND RAy 5MtTH...... 28 CALM\ fight ogainst ferol cats gathers EUCLAPIONEERS ground on PeronPeninsula aith the ALt50Nt!1UtR, J \4 MUtRANDJoHNTH0t\4S0N...... 35 deaelopmentand testing of a cot bait. 'fuproaching See Edm' on poge28. WHEREARE THEY NOW? CLEMENCYF|SHER...... 40 JEWELSOFTHE WEST IllATTHEWWILLIAM' ANDREW WILLIAI\45 AND TREVoRLUND5TR0M...... 49

What attrccted ea g pioneers to this barren comer of WestemAustralia? Find out in'Eucla Pioneers'on poge35.

BUSHTELEGRAPH,,,,...... ENDANGERED wESTERNPRTCKLYHONEYsUCK1E...... 48 URBANANTICS GRUBBySprTFtRE5......

A new CALMbook giues bushualkers a Fire is an important part of Westetn host of short ond longer walks in Australia\ enuironment. Scientists WestemAustralia\ southlnest. See continue to dkcouetjust hou poge 10. important. Seepage 17. Exe(utiveEditor: RonKawalilak ManagingEditor: Ray Baiey Editor: DavidGough Story Editors:Ve.naCoetelq David cough, Lou se lohnson, Thesplendid fairy urcn was one of Caroyn Thomson-Dans, [4itziVance PennyWalsh Scientific/technicaladvi(e:Andrew Borbidge, lan Abbott, Paul mang birds collectedby John jorFq Gilbert, uhose collectionsof andstafof CALIV 5 SriFr(F ald InlormalronDivrson D€signand production:Maria specimenshaoe beenfrogmented Duthie,Sue Marais lllustration: Gooitzenvan der lleer,lan Dickinson ouer the post 100 0r so, Uears Marketing: tstellede san [4iguela (08)93340296 Fax] (08)9134 0498 Nou, theg are being tracked doun Subs€riptionenquiries: r (08)93340481 or {08)9314 0437 in museumsatound the uorld, Colour5eparation by ColourboxDigital and o more completepicturc of Printedin Wenern Australia by LambPrint their original distributions is i.tl55N 0815.446t Allmalerialcopyrlqhl Nopa ofrhe.ontenr oi rhe emergingfrom Cilbertl original publicationmay be reprodu(ed w thout ron5ent olthe publirheu notes and labels, SeestorA on VisitrAIVDSCOPE online on ouravvard-wlnning lnterner site page 40. /VatureSaseai httpJ/wwwcalm.wa.gouau/

Illustration bg Philippa Publishedby Dr5 Shea,Execurive Dnector NikulinskA Departmentof Conseruationand Land [,,laiagernent, 50 HaymanRoad, Como, Western Aunralia

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