The Ornithology Collection contains more than 70 000 specimens of mounted birds, skins, skeletons, eggs and specimens preserved in alcohol. Associated with these specimens are images, data, and literature (including field notebooks).
One of the largest Australian avian collections, primarily of Australian species and with a strong Victorian emphasis, it includes material from a broad spectrum of the world’s avifauna and represents in excess of 4000 species.
One of the largest collections in Australia, it includes material from early explorative trips through central and northern Australia. There are also representatives of many birds now long extinct. The collection contains valuable type specimens.
Standardwing Bird-of-Paradise, Semioptera wallacei collected by Alfred Russel Wallace.
Image: Michelle McFarlane
Source: Museum Victoria
Gould's specimens
The John Gould Collection comprises 4,115 specimens from throughout the world, including specimens collected by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. These specimens were purchased in the late 1880s by Museum Victoria’s first director, Sir Frederick McCoy.
Charles Darwin's Great Pampa Finch, Embernagra platensis, is labelled with a tag written by Darwin himself.
Source: Museum Victoria
Darwin's specimens
Museum Victoria holds three specimes that were collected in South America by Darwin during the voyage of HMS Beagle. Two of these are birds from Uruguay: a Great Pampa-finch and a Grassland Sparrow.
These three specimens hold great significance because the observations that Darwin made on this voyage led him to his theory of evolution that he co-presented in 1858 with Alfred Russel Wallace, and expanded upon in 1859's On the Origin of Species.
An excerpt from John Cotton's field notes.
Source: Museum Victoria
John Cotton's manuscript
John Cotton was an early Victorian settler and amateur ornithologist who made copious observations of the birds of Australia's early colonies. His manuscript,
Some Account of the Colony of Port Phillip, is richly illustrated with drawings of birds that were once common in the Melbourne area but have declined since settlement. These provide useful evidence of the effect of ecological change.
Mounted bird specimens in the museum's Ornithology Collection store.
Image: David Paul
Source: Museum Victoria
Global biodiversity
MV's Ornithology Collection contains more than 70,000 specimens representing over 4,000 species. It is the most complete collection of Victorian avifauna and the second largest collection of birds in Australia or New Zealand.
The collection includes outstanding comparative material from Australasia and the world, including mounted birds that are useful for exhibition and display.
Birds in the Darwin to DNA exhibition.
Image: Ben Healley
Source: Museum Victoria
Ornithological exhibitions
The Ornithology Collection features in several exhibitions, including Wild: Amazing animals in a changing world and Darwin to DNA at Melbourne Museum.
Egg of the Great Elephant Bird, Aepyornis maximus, from Madagascar. This species laid the largest known egg in the world at 30cm long and with a volume of nine litres. Elephant birds became extinct in the 1600s.
Image: Rodney Start
Source: Museum Victoria
Bird eggs
Museum Victoria's oological (egg) collections are amongst the best in Australia and provide unparalleled access to morphological and reproductive information on avian species across time and space.
Our egg collections include specimens collected by A.J. Campbell, N.J. Favaloro and the Royal Australasian Ornithologists’ Union. These eggs, along with the H.L. White collection, represent of all of the Victorian avifauna.