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Johann Ludwig (Louis) Gerard Krefft (17 February 1830 – 19 February 1881), a talented artist and draughtsman, and the
Curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...
of the Australian Museum for 13 years (1861-1874), was one of
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
's first and most influential zoologists and
palaeontologists Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of foss ...
. According to Macdonald, et al. (2007), Krefft "was among the first to raise the alarm" in relation to "the devastating effects" of the
invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species adv ...
, such as "sheep, cats, etc., on native species". Also, along with significant others, such as the proprietor of the Melbourne ''Argus'',
Edward Wilson Edward Wilson may refer to: *Ed Wilson (artist) (1925–1996), African American sculptor * Ed Wilson (baseball) (1875–?), American baseball player * Ed Wilson (singer) (1945–2010), Brazilian singer-songwriter * Ed Wilson, American television ex ...
, Krefft expressed considerable concern in relation to the effects of the expanding European settlement upon the indigenous population. In addition to his numerous scientific papers, his publications include ''The Snakes of Australia'' (1869), ''Guide to the Australian Fossil Remains in the Australian Museum'' (1870), ''The Mammals of Australia'' (1871), and ''Catalogue of the Minerals and Rocks in the Australian Museum'' (1873).See list of Publications, below. He is also noted for his scientific description of the
Queensland lungfish The Australian lungfish (''Neoceratodus forsteri''), also known as the Queensland lungfish, Burnett salmon and barramunda, is the only surviving member of the family Neoceratodontidae. It is one of only six extant lungfish species in the world. ...
. ::"Gerard Krefft is a significant figure in the history of nineteenth century Australian science. He is celebrated not only for his zoological work but as a man who was prepared to challenge individuals on points of scientific fact regardless of their position in Sydney society or metropolitan science. He is also remembered as one who could be abrasive and incautious in delicate political situations and a man whose career and life ultimately ended in tragedy. The dramatic end of Krefft’s career in 1874 where he was stripped of his position as Australian Museum curator, physically removed from the Museum and his character assassinated often overshadows his early career and his development as a scientist." (Stephens, 2013, p.187)


Family

Krefft was born on 17 February 1830 in the Duchy of Brunswick (now part of Germany), the son of William Krefft, a confectioner, and his wife Johanna (''née'' Buschhoff).Rutledge & Whitley (1974). He married Annie McPhail (-1926), later (1893) Mrs. Robert Macintosh, on 6 February 1869. They had four children, only two of whom survived their infancy: Rudolph Gerard Krefft (1869-1951), and Herman Gerard Krefft (1879-1911). An unnamed stillborn daughter was born on 2 July 1874.


Artist

He was educated at St Martin's College in
Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...
(i.e., ) from 1834 to 1845. As a youth, he was interested in art and wished to study painting. After his schooling, his family found employment for him at a mercantile firm in
Halberstadt Halberstadt ( Eastphalian: ''Halverstidde'') is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, the capital of Harz district. Located north of the Harz mountain range, it is known for its old town center that was greatly destroyed by Allied bomb ...
. In order to avoid the military draft, he emigrated to
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in 1850.Stephens, 2013.Nancarrow (2009), p.146. Whilst there, he encountered the work of
John James Audubon John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin; April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was an American self-trained artist, naturalist, and ornithologist. His combined interests in art and ornithology turned into a plan to make a complete pictori ...
at the
New York Mercantile Library The Center for Fiction, originally called the New York Mercantile Library, is a not-for-profit organization in New York City, with offices at 15 Lafayette Avenue in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Prior to their move in early 2018, The Center for Ficti ...
. Having been granted permission to do so, Krefft made copies of some of the Audubon plates, which he then sold to raise his fare to Australia. Krefft arrived in Melbourne in November 1852 and worked in the Victorian goldfields for some five years. Krefft contributed examples of his drawings to the ''Victorian Industrial Society's'' Exhibition, in Melbourne, in February 1858: ::"Mr. Krefft’s drawings have a special interest, as they are illustrations from the life of some of the more curious animals, &c., of the country, taken during the late expedition to the Murray, with Mr. Blandowski. The most striking is that of a native corroboree, at Gall Gall, and of the rare animal, the chæropus, about which there has of late been so much controversy.” Review of the Exhibition, ''Illustrated Journal of Australasia'', March 1858.


Museum curator and administrator

Krefft was one of a number of influential German-speaking residents such as William Blandowski, Ludwig Becker, Hermann Beckler, Amalie Dietrich, Diedrich Henne, Johann Luehmann, Johann Menge, Ludwig Preiss, Carl Ludwig Christian Rümker (a.k.a. Ruemker), Moritz Richard Schomburgk, Richard Wolfgang Semon, George Ulrich, Eugene von Guérard, Robert von Lendenfeld,
Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...
, Georg von Neumayer, and Carl Wilhelmi who brought their "epistemic traditions" to Australia, and not only became "deeply entangled with the Australian colonial project", but also "intricately involved in imagining, knowing and shaping colonial Australia" (Barrett, et al., 2018, p.2).


Melbourne

A talented artist and draughtsman, and having met Blandowski when he (Krefft) was making copies of Gould's illustrations in ''
The Mammals of Australia ''The Mammals of Australia'' is a three-volume work written and published by John Gould between 1845–63. It contains 182 illustrations by the author and its artist H. C. Richter. It was intended to be a complete survey of the novel species of m ...
'' in the Public Library of Victoria, Krefft was hired to help sketch and collect specimens for the National Museum of Victoria on William Blandowski's explorations on the Murray River and Darling River in 1856–1857. Blandowski was recalled to Melbourne by the Victorian Government in early August; and Krefft took command of the expedition until it returned at the end of November 1857.Whitley (1958), p.23. In 1858 he was appointed to the National Museum of Victoria, to catalogue the expedition's collection of 17,400 specimens.


Sydney

In 1858, following the death of his father, he went back to Germany, via England (where he visited the principal museums and, also, visited John Gould in London), taking many illustrations and specimens with him. Krefft returned to Australia from his sojourn in Germany, with brief stays ''en route'' at the
Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is ...
and
Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
, arriving in Sydney on 6 May 1860. In June 1860, on the recommendation of Governor Sir William Denison, he was appointed Assistant Curator to Simon Rood Pittard (1821–1861). at the Australian Museum, "much to the annoyance of the museum trustees, who would have preferred someone with a formal degree". Pittard, driven by his
Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches. The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglica ...
, Puseyite views and following the practice of Charles Willson Peale at the Peale Museum, in Philadelphia adorned the walls of the Museum with inscriptions of biblical texts. Less than three weeks after Pittard’s death in August 1861 the Trustees decided that these inscriptions were " obe removed, and that in future “no words be inscribed on the walls of the Board Room without the consent of the Trustees"." Having performed all of the duties of the position since the death of Mr. Pittard in August 1861, Krefft was appointed Curator of the museum in May 1864. During his time at the Australian Museum, Krefft maintained a relationship with the Melbourne Museum, corresponding and exchanged specimens with Frederick McCoy, its Director. He also corresponded with a wide range of eminent overseas naturalists, including
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
, A.K.L.G. Günther, and Sir Richard Owen in the UK; L.J.R. Agassiz in the USA; "and many learned German scientists" and these were "informal communications with individuals rather than official dealings through government agencies, with the ensuing connections giving rise to further interactions with savants and museums in other centres of knowledge and power, including Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Sweden, Argentina, Canada, India and the United States, as well as Britain" (Davidson, 2017, p.8).


"The New Museum Idea"

Krefft was "a dynamic figure who vigorously researched, wrote about and promoted the Museum’s collections". He served as the Australian Museum's Curator at a time of significant culture change, when the museum itself was shifting "from einga colonial offshoot of the British science establishment, managed by a group of gentleman naturalists, towards ecomingan institution serving the needs of an increasingly independent and professional group of scientists". During his tenure as Curator Krefft was responsible for making many significant changes to the Museum's premises and its displays, and, also, for actively promoting the concept of the museum as a popular institution appealing to a broader audience that is, an establishment designed to provide experiences that engage, entertain, ''and'' educate all ages, economic groups, education levels, and social classes as well as being a place for the collection, preservation, and display of specimens, and the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge. However, Krefft's advocacy of the complete separation of the Museum's at-the-time confused and disordered collection into: :(a) the exhibition spaces and ordered, comprehensive, displays for the public (known today as ''synoptical collections''), and :(b) the (systematically housed elsewhere on the premises) specimens, catalogues, and other research material primarily intended for research, rather than display, produced a culture-clash with the " gentlemen amateurs" among the Trustees, who were collectors themselves, and were "building up
heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offic ...
private collections sometimes at the expense of the museum" these included, Dr. James Charles Cox, Edward Smith Hill, Sir William John Macleay, Captain Arthur Onslow, and
Alexander Walker Scott Alexander Walker Scott (10 November 1800 – 1 November 1883) was an Australian entomologist mainly interested in butterflies. Scott was the son of Dr Helenus and Augusta Maria Scott. He was born in Bombay, India and was educated at Bath Gramma ...
that, eventually, would lead to Krefft's later 1874 dismissal.


Cabinets of curiosities

For at least two centuries British (and colonial) museums, clearly reflecting their '' Wunderkämmer/Cabinets of Curiosities'' heritage, had done little more than present "aimless collection of curiosities and bric-à-brac, brought together without method or system of collections"; where, for instance, one of the most famous collections in "bygone days", that of the seventeenth century’s '' Musæum Tradescantianum'' (the collection which later provided the nucleus for Oxford University’s
Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University o ...
), "was a miscellany without didactic value", "its arrangement was unscientific, and the public gained little or no advantage from its existence" (Lindsay, 1911, p.60). In August 1846, within the Act establishing the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...
, was a provision transferring the custody of the United States' official ''National Cabinet of Curiosities'', previously deposited in the US Patent Office Building, to the Smithsonian.


Public museums

In 1864, towards the end of his lengthy career as the Curator of the British Museum,
John Edward Gray John Edward Gray, FRS (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875) was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray (1766–1828). The same is used f ...
, acknowledging the differences between a museum's research and public pedagogy functions, and expressing his hope that his colleagues would "heartily concur in doing all that is in our power to render he British Museumand other institutions conducive to the increase of the knowledge, the happiness, and the comforts of the people",Gray (1864), "Presidential Address", p.86. remarked that, in his view "public museums" were meant to serve two purposes: ::1: "the diffusion of instruction and rational amusement among the mass of the people";Gray (1864), "Presidential Address", p.76. and ::2: "to afford the scientific student every possible means of examining and studying the specimens of which the museum consists". At a time when "Colonial museums tended to exhibit specimens row upon row, and for the most part neglected to incorporate up-to-date techniques such as explanatory labels and habitat cases" (Sheets-Pyenson, 1988, p.123), Gray's scientific position, curatorial rationale, and administrative approach were strongly supported by Krefft who was "devoted to the museum's interests", rather than to those of the trustees who had already begun separating his own museum's research collections from its exhibition collections, and had already adopted many of Gray's measures by the early 1860s: ::"The interest which all classes take in Natural History, has gradually changed the old fashioned curiosity shops of fifty years ago, into useful Museums where rational amusement, combined with instruction, is offered to the mass of the people, and where students have every opportunity to examine and study the specimens, of which the Museum consists." — Gerard Krefft, 5 August 1868.


The new museum idea

::"The new museum idea sthat the museum is not a conservative but a progressive educational force, that it has a teaching quality or value peculiar to itself, that the museum succeeds if it teaches, fails partially if it merely amuses or interests people and fails entirely if it simply mystifies. The old museum idea was that of a sanctuary or refuge, a safe deposit vault for curious, rare, or beautiful objects which might be lost or destroyed; the ignorant visitor was tolerated rather than attracted, the curator was a keeper, not a teacher." Henry Fairfield Osborn, President of the
American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 int ...
, 15 October 1912. ::"The "new museum idea" encouraged curators to design galleries and carefully select objects for display so as to actively and explicitly ''teach'' visitors, rather than simply (and passively) allowing them access to the entirety of the collection and expecting them to engage in self-directed study." Erin Lorraine Anderson (2020, p.100). In 1893, Sir William Henry Flower, labelled Gray's view "''The New Museum Idea''", describing it as "the key-note of nearly all the museum reform of recent date", (Flower, 1893, pp.29-30). Although these views were not unique to Gray, it does seem that Gray's (1864) axiom had the widest dissemination over the ensuing years, was the most widely quoted and, therefore, can be said to have had the greatest influence influencing many world-wide, including Krefft, and in the UK, such as Flower, at the British Museum (see: Flower, 1898), in the USA, such as
G. Brown Goode George Brown Goode (February 13, 1851 – September 6, 1896), was an American ichthyologist and museum administrator. He graduated from Wesleyan University and studied at Harvard University. Early life and family George Brown Goode was born Februa ...
at the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...
(see: Goode, 1895), etc. In 1917, American museum director
John Cotton Dana John Cotton Dana (born August 19, 1856, in Woodstock, Vermont – died July 21, 1929, in Newark, New Jersey) was an American library and museum director who sought to make these cultural institutions relevant to the daily lives of citizens. As ...
lamented the fact that there was still great room for improvement, noting that the best museum displays were to be found in
department stores A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appea ...
, rather than in museums of the day.


Photography

::"A photographic establishment is one of the most essential parts of a modern museum" Gerard Krefft, 5 August 1868. One of Krefft’s most important curatorial innovations was his introduction of photography into the Australian Museum's practice a medium he had encountered during his time with the Blandowski Expedition in 1856–1857 a decision which not only served to substantiate the veracity of Krefft’s observations, and enhance his international recognition overall; but, also, over time, significantly reduced the need to send precious specimens and samples overseas to the detriment of the Museum's own collections. ::"Photography was promoted by the museum's curator, Gerard Krefft, not only as a way of documenting the museum's objects and collections but also a means to reorient colonial natural history away from its traditionally one-way trajectory – based on the colonial–imperial binary of Sydney and London – towards a more cosmopolitan perspective that involved other European traditions and centres." ::"Through this strategic use of photography, Krefft leveraged the Australian Museum and his own scientific standing away from a position of almost complete subservience to the dictates of the centre to claim a greater level of intellectual autonomy and, ultimately, international acknowledgement for the Australian Museum’s significant role in the advance of imperial science." (Davidson, 2017, pp.57, 16.) The thousands of meticulously arranged visual images on the glass plates that Krefft and his assistant, Henry Barnes, produced (over 15 years) through the collodion wet plate process, both on-site (at the museum) and in-the-field, recording landscapes and people (on expeditions), demonstrated and validated Krefft's expertise to all and sundry. Given the widespread, prevailing "mistrust with which colonial explorers' and naturalists' observations and material evidence were sometimes received by London's scientific elite due to their lack of credentials or social standing" (Davidson, 2017, p.68), the images not only "provide ocular proof and thus incontrovertible photographic evidence" of the claims Krefft made for a specific item of interest, but also, given the extremely wide range of disciplinary mindsets prevailing at the time, they also served as (inclusive) "'' boundary objects''" viz., entities that "facilitate an ecological approach to knowledge making and sharing" by "provid ngconnections between different individuals and groups who nevertheless might view them, interpret them, and use them in distinct ways, or for different aims" (Davidson, 2017, p.10).


The Queensland lungfish (''Neoceratodus forsteri'')

In 1835,
Louis Agassiz Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history. Spending his early life in Switzerland, he rec ...
, having examined teeth that had been extracted from the Rhaetian (latest stage of the
Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest per ...
) fossil beds of the
Aust Cliff Aust Cliff () is a 5.3 hectare geological Site of Special Scientific Interest adjacent to the Severn Estuary, near the village of Aust, South Gloucestershire, notified in 1954. The Severn Bridge crosses the cliff. Its SSSI designation is d ...
region of
Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of ...
in
South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities ...
, identified and described ten different species of a
holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of seve ...
he named ''ceratodus latissimus'' (‘horned tooth’ + 'broadest'), and which he supposed (based upon the structure of their teeth plates) belonged to a kind of shark.


"Natural History" columns in ''The Sydney Mail''

Given that one of Krefft's main objectives, as Curator, was to re-position the Museum as a "forum of people's science" (Moyal, 1986, p.99), and given Krefft's recognition of the economic, social, and educational value of a wider dissemination of an accurate, up-to-date knowledge and understanding of scientific matters (especially Australian natural history) and the useful contribution that knowledge and understanding might make to the emerging colony and its developing community he published more than 150 lengthy once-a-week "Natural History" columns (from March 1871 until June 1874) on an extremely wide range of subjects (see

, in the ''Sydney Mail'', that were specifically directed at an educated Australian lay audience (rather than, that is, engaging with his well-informed fellow scientists). In his first article (Krefft, 1871), Krefft spoke of how, although "few countries offer such a wide field to the student of nature as Australia" reflecting a view that had been expressed a decade earlier by the botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker that there were very few "handy books for the beginner" available in Sydney, "which has caused, in some measure, the apathy of the people to study our natural products". Moreover, "the most useful books" were little known, and many of those were "so expensive that they cannot be purchased, except by the wealthy" and so, "under these circumstances", he wrote, he would "try and supply the deficiency by giving in the columns of the ''Sydney Mail'' a series of articles on our natural history, which, in course of time, will form a complete work on the subject". Due to the distractions connected with the last stages of his disputes with the trustees of the Australian Museum, the last item he published whilst still Museum curator was on 27 June 1874. Sixteen weeks later, following his separation from the Museum, he resumed his weekly articles, and went on to publish another 33 "Natural History" articles over the next nine months.


July 1873

In July 1873, he devoted two of his columns (1873a, 1873b) to The Darwin Correspondence Project contains an un-dated fragment of a letter from Krefft, in which he explains that, given the "dreadful ... ignorance of even well educated people", and the constant criticisms of Darwin's "theories" voiced in Melbourne by the devout Irish Catholic Professor Frederick McCoy of the National Museum of Victoria, and the Evangelical Anglican Bishop of Melbourne Charles Perry, and, especially, the well-attended (7 July) Sydney lecture by the Melbourne-based Jesuit, Joseph O'Malley, on "Noah's Ark" with the devout Irish Catholic layman and Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales,
Peter Faucett Peter Faucett (1813 – 22 May 1894) was an Australian barrister, judge and politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly between 1856 and 1865. He held the position of Solicitor General in the first government of Ja ...
in the chair,


Dismissal from office

The Trustees controversially dismissed Krefft from his position of Curator in 1874. Krefft's assistant curator for the preceding decade,
George Masters George Masters (1837-1912) was a zoologist, active in Australia during the 19th century. Biography Born in Maidstone, England, to Matilda, née Terry, he was trained as a gardener by his father, George Masters, before moving to Sydney. Masters ...
, had resigned earlier that year, in order "to become curator of the growing collection of Sir William Macleay" (Strahan, 1979, p.135) a collection which Masters continued to curate, once it was transferred to the
Macleay Museum The Macleay Museum at The University of Sydney, was a natural history museum located on the University's campus, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Museum was amalgamanted into Chau Chak Wing Museum, which opened in 2020. The Macleay M ...
at the
University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
, until his retirement in 1912. The Museum trustees, at a special meeting held the day after Krefft's removal from the Museum's premises, appointed the Macleay ''protégé'', Edward Pierson Ramsay, to the position of Curator (Strahan, 1979, p.38), an office that Ramsay held until 1895, when he was succeeded by Robert Etheridge.


Gold theft and its aftermath

Following his report to the trustees that, upon his return to the Museum on Christmas Eve 1873, he had discovered a robbery (which was never solved) of "specimens of gold to the value of £70", and the trustees (although eager to do so) being unable to find any evidence of Krefft's complicity, he had fallen foul of the Trustees especially
William John Macleay Sir William John Macleay (13 June 1820 – 7 December 1891) was a Scottish- Australian politician, naturalist, zoologist, and herpetologist. Early life Macleay was born at Wick, Caithness, Scotland, second son of Kenneth Macleay of Keiss an ...
, whose extensive private collection would, in the 1890s, become the foundation of the collections of the
Macleay Museum The Macleay Museum at The University of Sydney, was a natural history museum located on the University's campus, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Museum was amalgamanted into Chau Chak Wing Museum, which opened in 2020. The Macleay M ...
at the
University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
(Strahan, 1979, p.37) with his subsequent accusations that the trustees were using the Museum's resources to augment their own private collections.


Museum closure

In the process of the escalating dispute between the trustees and Krefft, the Museum was closed to the public, by order of the trustees, for eleven weeks from 4 July 1874 to 23 September 1874 and, at the same time, a police guard was stationed at the Museum, and Krefft was denied access to all parts of the Museum (including the cellar within which the fuel for his much-needed-in-the-winter fires was stored), except his private residence. Krefft had been unable to meet the trustees' request to appear before them on the Thursday (2 July 1874) because he was unwell (he had supplied a medical certificate to that effect), and that his wife, whose difficult confinement had been attended by George Bennett, had just delivered a stillborn child (on 2 July 1874), a daughter, after two days of intense labour with Krefft by her side the whole time.


Eviction from his residential quarters

On 1 September 1874, three weeks before Krefft's forceful eviction, long-term trustees George Bennett (who, at the time, was attending Mrs Krefft's confinement) and William Branwhite Clarke both resigned "as a consequence of the steps recently taken by the trustees of the Museum with respect to the Curator". On 21 September 1874, Krefft and his family were physically removed from his Museum apartment within which he had barricaded himself, by the "diminutive bailiff" Charles H. Peart, assisted by two known prizefighters (identified as Kelly and Williams) who had been expressly hired to effect the eviction, because the Police refused to act on the grounds that Krefft had not been dismissed by the Government, only by the trustees (and, therefore, it was a civil (and not a police) matter). The press report of Krefft's subsequent (November 1874) damages action noted that, ::"throughout the affair reffthad denied the trustees' power to dismiss him; and, on the trustees appealing to the Government, the Colonial Secretary iz.,_Henry_Parkes.html"_;"title="Henry_Parkes.html"_;"title="iz.,_Henry_Parkes">iz.,_Henry_Parkes">Henry_Parkes.html"_;"title="iz.,_Henry_Parkes">iz.,_Henry_Parkeshad_cautiously_told_the_trustees_that,_as_they_thought_it_expedient_to_expel__refftwithout_first_seeking_the_advice_of_the_Government,_no_assistance_could_be_afforded".Law:_Jury_Court:_Sittings_for_Trial_of_Causes:_Krefft_v._Hill,_''The_(Sydney)_Empire'',_(Thursday,_19_November_1874),_p.4.
/ref> _ At_the_time,_all_of_his_possessions_were_seized;_and,_almost_two_years_after_his_forcible_eviction_Krefft_was_complaining_that_"my_own_and_my_wife's_personal_property,_my_books,_specimens,_scientific_instruments,_medals_and_testimonials",_all_of_which_had_been_"illegally_taken_possession_of_by_the_trustees",_were_still_to_be_returned_to_him._At_the_time_of_his_eviction,_and_he_was_forcibly_carried_out_of_his_apartment,_refusing_to_move_from_his_chair,_and_was,_then,_unceremoniously_thrown_out_into_Macquarie_street_by_the_prizefighters.


_Krefft's_position

Krefft's_position_was_that_the_trustees,_acting_independently_of_the_New_South_Wales_government,_had_no_right_to_dismiss_him.


_Trustee's_allegations

The_trustees__two_members_of_which,_William_John_Macleay.html" ;"title="Henry_Parkes">iz.,_Henry_Parkes.html" ;"title="Henry_Parkes.html" ;"title="iz., Henry Parkes">iz., Henry Parkes">Henry_Parkes.html" ;"title="iz., Henry Parkes">iz., Henry Parkeshad cautiously told the trustees that, as they thought it expedient to expel refftwithout first seeking the advice of the Government, no assistance could be afforded".Law: Jury Court: Sittings for Trial of Causes: Krefft v. Hill, ''The (Sydney) Empire'', (Thursday, 19 November 1874), p.4.
/ref> At the time, all of his possessions were seized; and, almost two years after his forcible eviction Krefft was complaining that "my own and my wife's personal property, my books, specimens, scientific instruments, medals and testimonials", all of which had been "illegally taken possession of by the trustees", were still to be returned to him. At the time of his eviction, and he was forcibly carried out of his apartment, refusing to move from his chair, and was, then, unceremoniously thrown out into Macquarie street by the prizefighters.


Krefft's position

Krefft's position was that the trustees, acting independently of the New South Wales government, had no right to dismiss him.


Trustee's allegations

The trustees two members of which, William John Macleay">William Macleay and Captain Arthur Onslow, "manifested great animus towards Mr. Krefft, and used their utmost exertions to cast obloquy upon that gentleman" responded by accusing Krefft of drunkenness, falsifying attendance records, wilfully destroying a fossil sent to the Museum by one of its trustees, George Bennett, for its preparation to be sent on the Richard Owen at the British Museum an entirely false allegation that was completely (and independently) refuted by a letter from Owen, received by Bennett in late June 1874, in which Owen "acknowledged receiving he fossil specimenin good order" and, even, condoning the sale of pornographic postcards. The (fifty to sixty) postcards in question, "some of which were of the most indecent character" (which had been "seen" by one of the trustees "in the workshop of the Museum") had been copied entirely without Krefft's knowledge or consent, by the museum employees (and Krefft's subordinates) taxidermist/photographer Robert Barnes and his brother Henry Barnes.


Legal action and legislative outcome

Krefft subsequently brought an action, in November 1874, to recover £2,000 damages for trespass and assault against one of the trustees, Edward Smith Hill, and "the jury, after a short deliberation, found a verdict for the plaintiff, with £250 for damages". The judge ( Justice Alfred Cheeke) held that Krefft was a superior officer under government, and that no one had power to remove him but the governor with the advice of the executive council. In 1876, the New South Wales parliament passed a vote of £1,000 to be applied in satisfaction of Krefft's claims. ::When the courts awarded Krefft damages n 1874 the trustees refused to pay up, though they had plundered the museum's coffers to recoup their own legal costs.
When parliament voted £1000 for arrears of salary n 1876 the Robertson government refused to pay unless Krefft renounced all other claims. refftdeclined, sued the trustees for his medals and property, and was awarded £925. They offered to return his belongings with only £200. All things considered, the trust appear to have acted unconscionably and illegally, though possibly under provocation." Macinnes (2012), p.114.


Death

Krefft died on 19 February 1881 from congestion of the lungs. He was buried in the churchyard of St Jude's Church of England, Randwick, Sydney.


Research

* 1864: he published a ''Catalogue of Mammalia in the Collection of the Australian Museum''. * 1865: he published the pamphlet, ''Two Papers on the Vertebrata of the Lower Murray and Darling and on the Snakes of Sydney'' the two papers had been read before he Philosophical Society of New South Wales.
The pamphlet also included a third paper on the Aborigines of the Lower Murray and Darling (i.e., Krefft, 2 August 1865). * 1869: ''The Snakes of Australia'' was published, which was the first definitive work on this group of Australian animals.
Unable to find a publisher, Krefft eventually financed the publication himself, and it was published by the Government Printer. Krefft and his publication were praised at the Sydney Intercolonial Exhibition of 1870 and the sisters, Helena Scott (a.k.a. Helena Forde) and Harriet Scott, received a Very High Commendation for the striking artwork that accompanied Krefft's text. * 1870: he published the first scientific description of the
Queensland lungfish The Australian lungfish (''Neoceratodus forsteri''), also known as the Queensland lungfish, Burnett salmon and barramunda, is the only surviving member of the family Neoceratodontidae. It is one of only six extant lungfish species in the world. ...
(Krefft, 1870a, 1870b, 1870c, 1870d) and, by announcing his discovery in the pages of the ''Sydney Morning Herald'' (1870a), rather than in some "learned British journal ... Krefft was not only claiming the lungfish, utwas also staking a claim for Australian scientific independence". **In November 1889,
Norman Lockyer Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer (17 May 1836 – 16 August 1920) was an English scientist and astronomer. Along with the French scientist Pierre Janssen, he is credited with discovering the gas helium. Lockyer also is remembered for being the ...
, the founding Editor of ''Nature'', noted that Krefft's discovery of "the Dipnoous iz., 'having both gills and lungs'fish-like creature ''Ceratodus'' of the Queensland rivers" was " neof the more striking zoological discoveries which come within our irsttwenty years f publication. * 1871: he published ''The Mammals of Australia'', which also included plates by the Scott sisters. * 1872: Krefft was one of the few scientists supporting
Darwinism Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations tha ...
in Australia during 1870s; and, as of May 1872, became a correspondent of
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
see, for instance, Darwin's acknowledgement, in ''
The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms #REDIRECT The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms {{R from other capitalisation ...
'' (Darwin, 1881, p.122) of Krefft's contribution to his investigations. * 1873: Catalogue of the ''Minerals and Rocks in the Collection of the Australian Museum'' was published. * 1877 he began the publication of ''Krefft's Nature in Australia'' see
item in the collection of the State Library of New South Wales
a popular journal for the discussion of questions of natural history, but it soon ceased publication.


Learned Society affiliations; awards, etc.


Affiliations

* He was a
Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...
of the Linnean Society in London.Heaton (1879), p.108. * He was a Master and Honorary Member of the ''Freies Deutsches Hochstift'' (Free German Foundation) at
Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
. * He was a Member of the ''Société Humanitaire et Scientifique du Sud-Ouest de la France'' (Humanitarian and Scientific Society of the Southwest of France), the ''Imperial and Royal Geological Society of Austro-Hungary'' in Vienna, the ''Royal Geographical Society of Dresden'';
Royal Society of New South Wales The Royal Society of New South Wales is a learned society based in Sydney, Australia. The Governor of New South Wales is the vice-regal patron of the Society. The Society was established as the Philosophical Society of Australasia on 27 June 1 ...
, and the Royal Society of Tasmania. * He was a Corresponding Member of the
Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained the London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Park. History On 29 ...
, the
Senckenberg Nature Research Society The Senckenberg Nature Research Society (german: link=no, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, until 2008 ''Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft'') is a German scholarly society with headquarters in Frankfurt am Main. Overview ...
of
Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
, and the "Society of Scientific Naturalists in Hamburg".


Awards

* In 1869, the Cross of the
Order of the Crown of Italy The Order of the Crown of Italy ( it, Ordine della Corona d'Italia, italic=no or OCI) was founded as a national order in 1868 by King Vittorio Emanuele II, to commemorate the unification of Italy in 1861. It was awarded in five degrees for civi ...
was conferred upon Krefft by
Victor Emmanuel II en, Victor Emmanuel Maria Albert Eugene Ferdinand Thomas , house = Savoy , father = Charles Albert of Sardinia , mother = Maria Theresa of Austria , religion = Roman Catholicism , image_size = 252px , succession ...
, "in token of his Majesty's appreciation of Mr. Krefft's services in the cause of science". * He received a gold medal from the Government of New South Wales "for services rendered". * He held "a silver medal for exhibits from the Emperor of the French, and ... various other silver and bronze medals awarded in the colony". * He was awarded "the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy".


Legacy

Apart from his scientific contributions, Krefft is remembered for the demonstration he provided at the Australian Museum, on 14 February 1868, for Prince Alfred at the time, the Duke of Edinburg and, later, the
Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (german: Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha), or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (german: Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, links=no ), was an Ernestine, Thuringian duchy ruled by a branch of the House of Wettin, consisting of territories in the present- ...
involving Henry Parkes' pet mongoose killing several snakes. The mongoose was subsequently presented to the Prince who took it with him when he left Australia on the HMS ''Galatea'' in May 1868. * In 1870 Krefft published the first scientific description of the
Queensland lungfish The Australian lungfish (''Neoceratodus forsteri''), also known as the Queensland lungfish, Burnett salmon and barramunda, is the only surviving member of the family Neoceratodontidae. It is one of only six extant lungfish species in the world. ...
(Krefft, 1870a, 1870b, 1870c, 1870d): the lungfish is now recognized as an organism that is a classic example of Darwin's "living fossils". * He is honoured in the scientific names of two reptiles
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
to Australia: ** '' Cacophis krefftii'', a species of
venomous snake Venomous snakes are species of the suborder Serpentes that are capable of producing venom, which they use for killing prey, for defense, and to assist with digestion of their prey. The venom is typically delivered by injection using hollow or g ...
. ** '' Emydura macquarii krefftii'', a subspecies of freshwater turtle. * Other fauna also named after him: ** Freshwater longtom (''Strongylura krefftii''), is a species of euryhaline needlefish. ** Krefft's darter (''Telicota augias krefftii''), a
butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group compris ...
of the family
Hesperiidae Skippers are a family of the Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) named the Hesperiidae. Being diurnal, they are generally called butterflies. They were previously placed in a separate superfamily, Hesperioidea; however, the most recent taxonomy ...
, found in the north of Australia. ** Krefft's glider (''Petaurus notatus''), whose
type specimen In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes th ...
Krefft collected, was also named after him.Cremona, et al. (2020). ** Northern hairy-nosed wombat (''Lasiorhinus krefftii''). ** Snub-nosed garfish (''Arrhamphus krefftii'') * The mountain group of Krefftberget in the extreme southwestern part of Barents Island,
Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group rang ...
, Norway, was named after him in August 1870, by the Austrian explorer Theodor von Heuglin. * Krefft Street, in Florey, Australian Capital Territory is named after him.Schedule 'B' ''National Memorials Ordinance'' 1928-1972: Street Nomenclature: List of Additional Names with Reference to Origin: Division of Florey: Krefft Street, ''Commonwealth of Australia Gazette'', No.S24, (8 February 1978), p.19.
/ref>


See also

* :Taxa named by Gerard Krefft * Darwin's category of "Living Fossils"


Notes


References


Krefft's publications (Books, monographs, pamphlets, in chronological order)


Krefft, Gerard (1864), ''Catalogue of Mammalia in the Collection of the Australian Museum'', Sydney: Australian Museum.
**Krefft, Gerard (1864), "Directions for the Preservation of Specimens", pp.134-135 in Gerard Krefft, ''Catalogue of Mammalia in the Collection of the Australian Museum'', Sydney: Australian Museum.
Krefft, G. (1865), ''Two Papers on the Vertebrata of the Lower Murray and Darling; and on the Snakes of Sydney, Read before the Philosophical Society of New South Wales, 10th September, 1862'', Sydney: Philosophical Society of New South Wales.

Krefft, G. (1869), ''The Snakes of Australia: An Illustrated and Descriptive Catalogue of all known Species'', Sydney: The Government Printer.

Krefft, G. (1870), ''Guide to the Australian Fossil Remains, Exhibited by the Trustees of The Australian Museum, and arranged and named by Gerard Krefft, F.L.S., Curator and Secretary'', Sydney: F. White, Government Printer.

Krefft, Gerard, Forde, Helena & Scott, Harriett (1871), ''The Mammals of Australia: With a Short Account of all the Species hitherto described, by Gerard Krefft; Illustrated by Harriett Scott and Helena Forde for the Council of Education'', T. Richards, Government Printer.

Krefft, G. (1873), ''Catalogue of the Minerals and Rocks in the Collection of the Australian Museum'', Sydney: Thomas Richards.

''Series 02: Gerard Krefft album of watercolour drawings, ca. 1857-1858, 1861, 1866'', collection of the State Library of New South Wales.
* Krefft, G. (1876), ''A Few Letters and Testimonials from distinguished Men of Science, addressed to Mr. Gerard Krefft, Curator and Secretary of the Australian Museum, from 1858 to 1874'', Sydney: G. Krefft. a
SLNSW, pp.105-108


Krefft's contributions to Academic journals, newspapers, etc.

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, some of which were also printed separately as pamphlets. For a comprehensive chronological list (of more than 150 of his contributions), see Whitley (1958), pp.25-34 (with some later additions and modifications at Whitley (1969), pp.39-42).
Krefft, G. (10 September 1862), "On the Vertebrated Animals of the Lower Murray and Darling, their Habits, Economy, and Geographical Distribution", ''Transactions of the Philosophical Society of New South Wales 1862–1865'', pp.1–33.

Krefft, Johann Ludwig Gerard (2 August 1865), "On the Manners and Customs of the Aborigines of the lower Murray and Darling", ''Transactions of the Philosophical Society of New South Wales, 1862-1865'', pp.357-374.

Krefft, G. (1868), "Description of a new species of Thylacine (''Thylacinus breviceps''), ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History'', Vol.2, No.10, pp.296-297.

Krefft, G. (5 August 1868), "The Improvements Effected in Modern Museums in Europe and Australia", ''Transactions of the Royal Society of New South Wales for the Year 1868 '', pp.15-25.

Krefft, G. (1870a), "To the Editor of the Herald", ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', (Tuesday, 18 January 1870), p.5.

Krefft, G. (1870b), "Description of a gigantic Amphibian allied to the Genus ''Lepidosiren'', from the Wide-Bay district, Queensland", ''Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London'', No.16, (28 April 1870), pp.221-224.

Krefft, G. (1870c), "Ceratodus Forsteri (Letter to the Editor)", ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', (Thursday, 9 June 1870), p.3.

Krefft, G. (1870d), "The Ceratodus Forsteri (Letter to The Editor)", ''Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London'', Vol.3, No.58, (8 December 1870), pp.107-108.

Krefft, G. (1871), "Natural History: The Natural History of New South Wales", ''The Sydney Mail'', (Saturday, 4 March 1871), p.22.

Krefft, G. (1872), "To the Editor of the Sydney Mail (on 'Fabulous Australian Animals')", ''The Sydney Mail'', (Saturday, 5 October 1872), p.422.

Krefft, G. (1873a), "Natural History: Remarks on New Creations", ''The Sydney Mail'', (Saturday, 5 July 1873), p.20.

Krefft, G. (1873b), "Natural History: Remarks on New Hypotheses", ''The Sydney Mail'', (Saturday, 12 July 1873), p.46.


Other sources

* Adler, K. & Cogger, H.G. (1998), "Early Reptile Photography — A New Entry", ''Herpetological Review'', Vol.29, No.4, December 1998), p.204: includes 1864 photograph of Krefft, taken in Sydney by William Hetzer (a.k.a. Wilhelm Franz Friedrich Hötzer) (1822-1891). * Allen, H. (2006), "Authorship and ownership in Blandowski's ''Australien in 142 Photographischen Abbildungen''", ''Australasian Historical Archaeology'', Vol.24, pp.31-37.
Allen, H. (2009), "Native Companions: Blandowski, Krefft and the Aborigines on the Murray River Expedition". ''Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria'', Vol.121, No.1, (September 2009), pp.129-145
includes three of Kreft's watercolours.
Anderson, Erin Lorraine (2020), ''Nature on Display: The Wagner Free Institute of Science, 1855-1900'', M.A. dissertation, University of Delaware.

Anon (1858), "Industrial Exhibitions", ''The Illustrated Journal of Australasia'', Vol.4, No.21, (March 1858), pp.102–106.

Anon (1868a), "The Duke of Edinburgh in New South Wales: Visit to the Museum", ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', (Saturday, 15 February 1868), p.7.

Anon (1868b), "The Australian Museum-(I)", ''The Sydney Mail'', (Saturday, 3 October 1868), p.10.

Anon (1868c), "The Australian Museum-(II)", ''The Sydney Mail'', (Saturday, 10 October 1868), p.6.
* Anon (1872), "The Progress of Natural Science During the Last Twenty-Five Years", ''Nature'', Vol.7, No.165, (26 December 1872), pp. 137–138. * Anon (1873a), "The Progress of Natural Science During the Last Twenty-Five Years", ''Nature'', Vol.7, No.166, (2 January 1873), pp. 158–160.
Anon (1873b), "The Recent Progress of Natural Science", ''The Popular Science Monthly'', Vol.2, No.5, (March 1873), pp.597–605.
a combined reprint of the entire text of Anon (1873) and Anon (1874a).
Anon (1895), "The Ceratodus: A German Scientist's Work, ''The Queenslander'', (Saturday, 30 March 1895), p.597.

Anon (2019), "New Exhibition reveals 'Rogues Gallery' of earliest Scientific Photography", ''australianphotography.com'', 13 February 2019.

Arthington, Angela H. (2009), "Australian lungfish, ''Neoceratodus forsteri'', threatened by a new dam", ''Environmental Biology of Fishes'', Vol.84, No.2, (January 2009), pp.211–221.
* Barrett, L., Eckstein, L., Hurley, A.W. & Schwarz A. (2018), "Remembering German-Australian Colonial Entanglement: An Introduction", ''Postcolonial Studies'', Vol.21, No.1, (January 2018), pp.1-5. * Beolens, B., Watkins, M. & Grayson, M. (2011), "Krefft", at p. 146, Beolens, B., Watkins, M. & Grayson, M., ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles'', Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Brainwood, Linda (2014), "Mr Parkes's Mongoose", ''The Dictionary of Sydney'', Glebe, NSW: Dictionary of Sydney Trust.
* Brezina, A. (1904), "The Arrangement of Collections of Meteorites", ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'', Vol.43, No.176, (April 1904), pp.211-247. * Brigham, D.R. (1996), ""Ask the Beasts, and They Shall Teach Thee": The Human Lessons of Charles Willson Peale's Natural History Displays", ''Huntington Library Quarterly'', Vol.59, No. 2/3 (January 1996), pp.182-206.
Colenso, J.W. (1862), ''The Pentateuch and Book of Joshua Critically Examined by the Right Rev. John William Colenso, D.D., Bishop of Natal'', London: Longman and Co.

Colenso, J.W. (1873), ''Lectures on the Pentateuch and the Moabite Stone'', London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
*
Cross, S.R.R., Ivanovskia, N., Duffin, C.J., Hildebrandt, C., Parker, A. & Benton, M.J. (2018), "Microvertebrates from the Basal Rhaetian Bone Bed (latest Triassic) at Aust Cliff, S.W. England", ''Proceedings of the Geologists' Association'', Vol.129, No.5 (October 2018), pp.635-653).
* Dana, J.C. (1917)
''The New Museum Series: No.2: The Gloom of the Museum'', Woodstock, VT: The Elm Tree Press.
* Darwin, C. & Wallace, A., "On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection", ''Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society'', Vol.3, No.9, (August 1858), pp.45–62.
Darwin, C. (1881), ''The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms, with Observations on their Habits'', London: John Murray.
* Davidson, Kathleen (2017), ''Photography, Natural History and the Nineteenth-Century Museum: Exchanging Views of Empire '', Abingdon: Routledge, 2017. * Finney, Vanessa (2019a), ''Capturing Nature: Early Scientific Photography at the Australian Museum 1857-1893'', Sydney: NewSouth Publishing.
Finney, Vanessa (2019b), "When Photography came to the Museum", ''Explore Magazine'', (Autumn 2019), pp.22-30.

Finney, Vanessa (2022), "Dining on Geologic Fish: Claiming the Australian Ceratodus for Science", ''Journal for the History of Knowledge'', Vol.3, No.1, Article 10, (2022): pp. 1-14.

Flower, W.H. (3 July 1893), "Address of Sir William H. Flower, K.C.B., D.C.L.,F.R.S., etc.,President of the Museums Association, on Modern Museums", pp.21-48 in H.M. Platnauer & E. Howarth (eds.), Report of Proceeding with the Papers Read at the Fourth. Annual General Meeting Held in London July 3 to 7, 1893, York: Museum Association, 1893.

Flower, W.H. (1898), ''Essays on Museums and Other Subjects Connected with Natural History'', London: Macmillan and Co.

Forbes, Edward (1853), ''On the Educational Uses of Museums: (Being the Introductory Lecture of the Session 1853-1854)'', London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.
* Garascia, Ann (2020), "Photography, Natural History and the Nineteenth-Century Museum: Exchanging Views of Empire", ''History of Photography'', Vol.44, No.4, pp.313-318.
Goode, G.B. (1895), ''The Principles of Museum Administration'', York: Coultas and Volans.

Goode, G.B. (1901), "The Genesis of the United States National Museum", pp.83-191 in ''A Memorial of George Brown Goode, Together with a Selection of his Papers on Museums and on the History of Science in America'', Washington: Smithsonian Institution.
* Gray, J.E. (1864)
"Presidential Address", to the ''Botany and Zoology, including Physiology Section'', pp.75-86 in ''Report of the Thirty-Fourth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science; Held at Bath in September 1864'', London, John Murray, 1865.

Gray, J.E. (1872), ''Catalogue of Shield Reptiles in the Collection of the British Museum, Part II: Emydosaurians, Rhynchocephalia, and Amphisbænians'', London: British Museum.
* Günther, Albert (1872)
"An Account of a Ganoid Fish from Queensland (''Ceratodus'')", ''The Popular Science Review'', Vol.11, No.42, (1872), pp.257-266.
* Hart, S. & Ward, D.C. (1988), "The Waning of an Enlightenment Ideal: Charles Willson Peale's Philadelphia Museum, 1790-1820", ''Journal of the Early Republic'', Vol.8, No.4, (Winter 1988), pp.389-418.
Heaton, J.H. (1879), "Krefft, Johann Louis Gerhard", pp.108-109 in J.H. Heaton, ''Australian Dictionary of Dates and Men of the Time: Containing the History of Australasia from 1542 to May, 1879'', Sydney: George Robertson.
* Hoare, M.E. (1971), "'The Half-Mad Bureaucrat' Robert Brough Smyth (1830-1889)", ''Historical Records of Australian Science'', Vol.2, No.4, (1971), pp.25-40. * Hoare, M.E. (1976), "The Relationship between Government and Science in Australia and New Zealand", ''Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand'', Vol.6, No.3, (August 1976), pp.381-394. * Hooker, J.D. (1859)
''On the Flora of Australia: Its Origins, Affinities, and Distribution: Being an Introductory Essay to the Flora of Tasmania'', London: Reeve Brothers.

Hooker, J.D. (1860), ''The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. discovery ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839-1843 under the Command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross, Part III: Flora Tasmaniæ, Vol.I: Dicotylones'', London: Reeve Brothers.

Iredale, T. & Whitley, G.P. (1932), "Blandowski", ''The Victorian Naturalist'', Vol.49, no.4, (5 August 1932), pp.90-96.

Kean, J. (2009), "Observing Mondellimin, or when Gerard Krefft "''saved once more the honour of the exploring expedition''"", ''Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria'', Vol.121, No.1, pp.109-128.
* Lindsay, D.E.L. (1911), "Museums of Art", pp.60-64 in Chisolm. H. (ed.), ''Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition: Volume XIX: MUN to ODDFELLOWS'', 1911. * Lockyer, J.N. (1889), "Twenty Years (Editorial)", ''Nature'', Vol.41, No.1045, (7 November 1889), pp.1-5.
Macdonald, D.W., King, C.M. & Strachan, R. (2007), "Introduced Species and the Line between Biodiversity Conservation and Naturalistic Eugenics.", pp.173-185 in D.W. Macdonald & K. Service (eds.), ''Key Topics in Conservation Biology'', Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
* Macinnes, Peter (2012), "A Victim of Fighting Men: Gerard Krefft (1830–1881)", pp.108–115 in Peter Macinnes, ''Curious Minds: The Discoveries of Australian Naturalists'', Canberra: National Library of Australia. * Moyal, A.M. (1986), ''A Bright & Savage Land: Scientists in Colonial Australia'', Sydney: Collins.
Moyal, Ann & Marks, Robert (2019), "The Scientists and Darwin's ''The Origin of Species'' in Nineteenth Century Australia. A Re-Evaluation", ''Journal & Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales'', Vol.152, Part.1, (June 2019), pp. 5-26.
* Mozley, A. (1967), "Evolution and the Climate of Opinion in Australia, 1840-76", ''Victorian Studies'', Vol.10, No.4, (June 1967), pp.411-430.
Nancarrow, Jenny (2007), "Gerard Krefft – 'A Singular Man'": A paper presented to the Royal Society of Victoria’s ''Blandowski’s Expedition to the Murray River: European Naturalists and their Contribution to Science in Australia between 1850 and 1859'' Symposium on 21 September 2007.

Nancarrow, Jenny (2009), "Gerard Krefft: A Singular Man", ''Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria'', Vol.121, No.1, pp.146–154.

O’Malley, Joseph (1871), ''Noah's Ark Vindicated and Explained: A Reply to Dr Colenso’s Difficulties'', Melbourne: Thomas Verga.
* Osborn, H.F. (1912), "The State Museum and State Progress", ''Science'', Vol.36, No.929 (18 October 1912), pp.493-504. * Peale, C.W. (1800)
''Discourse Introductory to a Course of Lectures on the Science of Nature, etc.'', Philadelphia, PA: Zachariah Poulson, Junior.

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Piggott, Ann & Strahan, Ronald (1979), "Trustee-Ridden (1860–1874)", pp.26–46 in Ronald Strahan (ed.), ''Rare and Curious Specimens: An Illustrated History of the Australian Museum 1827–1979'', Sydney: The Australian Museum.

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Manuscripts in the Mitchell Library: Johann Louis Krefft: Papers (File Number FL3169842)
collection of the
State Library of New South Wales The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establis ...
.
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Whitley, G.P. (1969), "Gerard Krefft (1831-1881) and his Bibliography", ''Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales for the Year 1967-68'', pp.38-42.
* Williams, D., Wüster, W., Fry, B.G., "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Australian Snake Taxonomists and a History of the Taxonomy of Australia's Venomous Snakes, ''Toxicon'', Vol.48, No.7, (1 December 2006), pp.919–930. * Wilson, Edward (1856a), "The Aborigines", ''The Argus'', (Sunday, 16 March 1856), p
45
* Wilson, Edward (1856b)
"The Aborigines", ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', (Saturday, 22 March 1856), p.5.

Zimmermann, Paul (1906), "Krefft, Johann Gerhard Louis R.", pp.373-374 in R. von Liliencron (ed.), ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie: Einundfünfzigster Band: Nachträge bis 1899: Kálnoky — Lindner'', Die Historische Kommission bei der Königlich Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Leipzig: Dunder & Humblot.


External links

*
Gerard Krefft in the National Library of Australia's collection

Wooley, Charles & McKay, Kim (2018), "Treasures podcast, episode 3: Charles Darwin and the curator’s chair", ''Museullaneous'', (Australian Museum), 26 March 2018.

Watson, Joey & Street, Julie (7 June 2019), "These early black-and-white science photographs showed Australian animals to the world", ''ABC News''.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Krefft, Gerard 1830 births 1881 deaths People from the Duchy of Brunswick Scientists from Braunschweig German emigrants to Australia Explorers of Australia Scientific illustrators Australian paleontologists Australian zoologists Fellows of the Linnean Society of London 19th-century Australian public servants 19th-century Australian scientists Australian curators Directors of museums in Australia Critics of creationism