Western barred Bandicoot, Perameles bougainville
Gerard Krefft1857
Museums Victoria
Carlton, Australia
This wood engraving by Gerard Krefft of a Western Barred Bandicoot was the result of an historic scientific expedition to north west Victoria in 1857. Museum Victoria's first curator William Blandowski led the remarkable survey to the junction of the Murray and Darling rivers and set up camp at Mondellimin (now known as Chaffey's Landing), just eight kilometres west of the centre of the city of Mildura in Victoria. The expedition dispatched more than 17,000 specimens to Melbourne and, unlike the ill fated Burke and Wills expedition that followed in 1860, the entire party returned alive. Blandowski's gifted assistant on the expedition, Gerard Krefft, documented their findings and illustrated a number of species, including the Western Barred Bandicoot. This species is now endangered with a declining population and can only be found today on the islands of Barrow and Dorre. The last record of the species on the Australian mainland was in 1922.
- Title: Western barred Bandicoot, Perameles bougainville
- Creator Lifespan: 1830 - 1881
- Creator Nationality: German
- Creator Gender: Male
- Creator Death Place: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Creator Birth Place: Brunswick, Germany
- Date Created: 1857
- Physical Dimensions: w125 x h95 mm
- Type: Image
- Rights: Copyright expired: Source: Museum Victoria / Artist: Gerard Krefft, Copyright expired: Source: Museum Victoria / Artist: Gerard Krefft
- External Link: Museum Victoria
- Medium: Engraving; Ink on Paper
- Themes: Artworks
- Artist biography: Johann Ludwig Gerard (Louis) Krefft (1830-1881), zoologist, was born on 17 February 1830 in the Duchy of Brunswick, Germany. He attended St Martin's College, Brunswick, in 1834-45 and then worked in a mercantile firm in Halberstadt. In 1850 he migrated to the United States and in November 1852 reached Australia. He worked on various goldfields until 1857 when he went with William Blandowski's expedition to the Lower Murray and Darling Rivers. Following a brief return to Germany following the death of his father, Kreftt was appointed assistant curator of the Australian Museum. In 1864 he was appointed Director. Krefft published works on the mammal, mineral and rock collections of the Australian Museum, and two papers on the Blandowski expedition to the Lower Murray and Darling and on the snakes of Sydney. His best known works remain 'The Snakes of Australia' from 1869, beautifully illustrated by the Scott Sisters, and his 1871 'The Mammals of Australia'. Krefft was a member of many scientific societies, and contributed papers to the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London and other scientific and popular journals.After protracted disagreements with the Australian Museum's trustees, Krefft was dismissed in the most undignified manner in 1874. He was carried in his chair to the door of the Museum and thrown into the street. He had fallen foul of the trustees, William John Macleay in particular, whom he accused of using the museum's resources to augment private collections. They responded with accusations that ended his career. Krefft was subsequently exonerated of any wrongdoing and was paid restitution, however it was an embarrassing end to a dignified career. In 1877 he began the short-lived publication of 'Krefft's Nature in Australia', a popular journal about natural history. Krefft died on 19 February 1881.
- Artist: Gerard Krefft
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