In 1851, the same year that the colony of Victoria gained its independence from New South Wales, gold was discovered. The rush that ensued saw Melbourne transformed into a confident sprawling city.
Among the fortune hunters were individuals of sparkling intelligence and artistic flair. Fresh from Berlin, London, Cambridge and Dublin, they infused the evolving city with new ideas and institutions, including a fledgling museum, the beginnings of Museum Victoria.
Arthur BARTHOLOMEW (1834–1909)
Brown Tree Frog (Litoria ewingii)
c. 1860
Watercolour on paper
Arthur Bartholomew (1834–1909)
Frederick McCoy was inaugural Professor of Natural Science at the University of Melbourne and the director of the National Museum of Victoria from 1856. His project to publish a Prodromus of the zoology of Victoria began in 1858 and continued for almost four decades. McCoy engaged the best artists in the colony, including Arthur Bartholomew, to illustrate Victoria’s fauna.
The cool atmosphere of the university laboratory was ideal for Bartholomew’s systematic studies of Victorian frogs. He meticulously recorded details required for the identification of a particular frog, including the strange forms inside the mouth and the distinctive hand and feet pads of each species.
Created by the successive applications of watercolour washes, Bartholomew’s paintings flawlessly capture the moist, knobbly skin of his subjects.
Ludwig BECKER (1808–61)
Weedy Seadragon (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus)
1855
Watercolour and ink on paper
Ludwig Becker (1808–61)
Ludwig Becker was one of several German-speaking intellectuals who were attracted to the Victorian gold rush. Professor Frederick McCoy encountered Becker among Melbourne's small circle of scientific gentlemen and commissioned him to illustrate specimens for
Memoirs of the museum. Ludwig Becker created this animated pen-and-watercolour study on 18 December 1858.
The Weedy Seadragon is endemic to Australia's southern coast and is now Victoria's state marine emblem. This bizarre fish has captured the imagination of many who have encountered it. Frederick McCoy noted: 'this most singular-looking Fish must have struck the Aborigines with some superstitious feeling, as I have seen a native drawing of a ghost, manifestly inspired by its strange form.'
DEPARTMENT OF LANDS & AGRICULTURE
Common insectivorous birds of Victoria
Melbourne, 1878
Lithographic print
Common insectivorous birds of Victoria
Victoria’s printing industry started in 1839 with John Pascoe Fawkner’s publication of The Port Phillip Patriot. The gold rush fuelled the demand for printed materials, and as the industrial age progressed more sophisticated technology turned out daily newspapers, maps and posters like this one.
Unlike the majority of native animals, insect-eating birds were valued by the colonists for their capacity to control insect pests. This poster was intended to standardise the names for some of Victoria’s most common and useful birds. It was issued to schools in 1878, with the Minister for Public Instruction’s warning to slingshot-wielding children that ‘These birds will be protected by law from destruction.’ The charismatic White-backed Crow-shrike, or Magpie, occupies centre stage.