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Curious Minds: Sharing Australia's Natural History.
But this is New Holland … where the swans are black and the eagles white; where the kangaroo … has … three talons on its hind-legs, like a bird, yet hops on its tail; where the mole … lays eggs, and has a duck’s bill; where there is a bird … with a broom in its mouth instead of a tongue…”
That was the curiously-named Barron Field, writing in 1825, after a stint in Australia as a judge. He was also a passable amateur scientist, a dreadful poet, and one of the more normal people in this book, the second edition, the Director’s Cut, if you like, of a book published by the National Library of Australia, which chose not to do a reprint. The author, being a Bolshie type (their words, not mine, sought a reversion of the rights, but then realised there were lots of other things to say.
The title came from a chat with a former staffer over a beer, and the idea came a couple of years later, when I was working on Australian Backyard Naturalist, also for the NLA, and I realised that there was a story to tell, for an adult audience.
This is the story for some of the curious minds who came to Australia, or in a few cases were born here, people who cared about the natural history of the place. Some were artists, some scientists, some collectors, some explorers, and some just enjoyed natural history.
There are bunyips, Australian hippos, Sydney alligators and more. In fact, one clever chap realised that the bunyip wasn't a bunyip, the teeth tell us what the hippopotamus was really a dugong, and the alligator was most certainly a lace monitor. The Liverpool Monster, on the other hand, was definitely a fake, and the tales of swimming with crocodiles must be regarded as suspect.
Most of the action takes place in the 1800s, the century in which science and medicine became modern (think germs and anaesthesia for two); the century in which we started to understand fossils; when we recognised just how old life was and that it had evolved, and much more. The observations in Australia, and on Australian material sent back to Europe, contributed to this.
As an undergraduate, I was taught that before the 1880s, nobody knew that platypuses and echidnas laid eggs, but the idea of egg-laying mammals was around before 1810, and by the 1820s, it was widely accepted, even if it took longer to actually see and describe the eggs.
For that matter, my undergraduate studies said little about how you find out, in a strange land, what is safe to eat. Frenchman Claude Riche sifted human excrement to find the seeds that had been eaten by Indigenous Australians, giving me a new sense of “going through the motions”.
Nobody told me that Charles Darwin got one of the key ideas that underlie his 1859 theory of evolution when he looked at Lithgow ant lions in 1836, and nobody explained to me that most of the scientific debate and brawling in the later 1800s was between pro- and anti-Darwinists. This book covers all of those points and more.
We see how Australian male artists had a major hissy-fit in the 1880s when a woman flower painter won a higher award than they did. More importantly, for Australia’s national pride, we look at three German scientists, Ludwig Leichhardt, Gerard Krefft and Baron Sir Ferdinand von Mueller, who stood up against Imperial Britain to support Australian science. Then we meet William Blandowski, who likened prominent Melburnians to Murray River fish, and was driven out of town.
In short, this is a social history of Australian science with a bite.
That was the curiously-named Barron Field, writing in 1825, after a stint in Australia as a judge. He was also a passable amateur scientist, a dreadful poet, and one of the more normal people in this book, the second edition, the Director’s Cut, if you like, of a book published by the National Library of Australia, which chose not to do a reprint. The author, being a Bolshie type (their words, not mine, sought a reversion of the rights, but then realised there were lots of other things to say.
The title came from a chat with a former staffer over a beer, and the idea came a couple of years later, when I was working on Australian Backyard Naturalist, also for the NLA, and I realised that there was a story to tell, for an adult audience.
This is the story for some of the curious minds who came to Australia, or in a few cases were born here, people who cared about the natural history of the place. Some were artists, some scientists, some collectors, some explorers, and some just enjoyed natural history.
There are bunyips, Australian hippos, Sydney alligators and more. In fact, one clever chap realised that the bunyip wasn't a bunyip, the teeth tell us what the hippopotamus was really a dugong, and the alligator was most certainly a lace monitor. The Liverpool Monster, on the other hand, was definitely a fake, and the tales of swimming with crocodiles must be regarded as suspect.
Most of the action takes place in the 1800s, the century in which science and medicine became modern (think germs and anaesthesia for two); the century in which we started to understand fossils; when we recognised just how old life was and that it had evolved, and much more. The observations in Australia, and on Australian material sent back to Europe, contributed to this.
As an undergraduate, I was taught that before the 1880s, nobody knew that platypuses and echidnas laid eggs, but the idea of egg-laying mammals was around before 1810, and by the 1820s, it was widely accepted, even if it took longer to actually see and describe the eggs.
For that matter, my undergraduate studies said little about how you find out, in a strange land, what is safe to eat. Frenchman Claude Riche sifted human excrement to find the seeds that had been eaten by Indigenous Australians, giving me a new sense of “going through the motions”.
Nobody told me that Charles Darwin got one of the key ideas that underlie his 1859 theory of evolution when he looked at Lithgow ant lions in 1836, and nobody explained to me that most of the scientific debate and brawling in the later 1800s was between pro- and anti-Darwinists. This book covers all of those points and more.
We see how Australian male artists had a major hissy-fit in the 1880s when a woman flower painter won a higher award than they did. More importantly, for Australia’s national pride, we look at three German scientists, Ludwig Leichhardt, Gerard Krefft and Baron Sir Ferdinand von Mueller, who stood up against Imperial Britain to support Australian science. Then we meet William Blandowski, who likened prominent Melburnians to Murray River fish, and was driven out of town.
In short, this is a social history of Australian science with a bite.
226 pages, Paperback
Published November 6, 2021
About the author
Peter Macinnis
69 books66 followersDuring 2021, Macinnis has republished revised versions of all of his out-of-print books. The website listed above tells you how to get them. In 2024, he published The Lesser of Two Eagles, where you can learn that in an auction, you get something for nodding
Happy grandfather, travels, writes for adults and youngsters, mainly history or science. Published by the National Library of Australia (Australian Backyard Naturalist May 2012, another book Curious Minds October, 2012, Big Book of Australian History, 2013, 2015, 2017). Talks on ABC (RN), translated into 7 other languages. Winner of the W.A. Premier's Prize for Children's Literature 2013 and other awards.
Writing blog Old Writer on the Block. Google it and say g'day!
McManly on most social media. His Kokoda Track: 101 Days was a 2008 Eve Pownall Honour Book in the CBCA 'Book of the Year' awards. His Australian Backyard Explorer was the 2010 Eve Pownall Book of the Year (listed in 2011, in the prestigious international White Ravens list of children's literature). In 2012, his Australian Backyard Naturalist won a Whitley award, and the WA Premier's Children's Literature Award in 2013. After a few busy years doing other stuff, his Australian Backyard Earth Scientist won the long-winded Educational Publishing Awards Australia prize for best "Student Resource – Arts/Science/Humanities/Social Sciences/Technologies/Health and Physical Education/Languages ".
He has had half a dozen titles rated as "Notable Books" by the Children's Book Council of Australia: that's equivalent to short listing.
Happy grandfather, travels, writes for adults and youngsters, mainly history or science. Published by the National Library of Australia (Australian Backyard Naturalist May 2012, another book Curious Minds October, 2012, Big Book of Australian History, 2013, 2015, 2017). Talks on ABC (RN), translated into 7 other languages. Winner of the W.A. Premier's Prize for Children's Literature 2013 and other awards.
Writing blog Old Writer on the Block. Google it and say g'day!
McManly on most social media. His Kokoda Track: 101 Days was a 2008 Eve Pownall Honour Book in the CBCA 'Book of the Year' awards. His Australian Backyard Explorer was the 2010 Eve Pownall Book of the Year (listed in 2011, in the prestigious international White Ravens list of children's literature). In 2012, his Australian Backyard Naturalist won a Whitley award, and the WA Premier's Children's Literature Award in 2013. After a few busy years doing other stuff, his Australian Backyard Earth Scientist won the long-winded Educational Publishing Awards Australia prize for best "Student Resource – Arts/Science/Humanities/Social Sciences/Technologies/Health and Physical Education/Languages ".
He has had half a dozen titles rated as "Notable Books" by the Children's Book Council of Australia: that's equivalent to short listing.
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June 1, 2024This is the author, so no rating is offered. Look, this one was written first for dead tree, but when I seized it back, I made it also to go on a tablet or phone, and that format is cheaper, weighs less and causes less harm to the planet than a dead tree book. It was published first by the National Library of Australia, and quickly ended up in arty shops, at inflated prices. Yes, it's about art and artists, but it's also about their subjects: the nature of Australia.
Save the planet, buy the ebook, but read it on a tablet!
Save the planet, buy the ebook, but read it on a tablet!
Displaying 1 of 1 review