The Mammals of Australia facts for kids
The Mammals of Australia is a huge three-volume book. It was written and published by John Gould between 1845 and 1863. The book has 182 amazing pictures drawn by Gould and his artist, H. C. Richter. It was meant to be a full guide to all the new kinds of mammals found in Australia. These included unique animals like marsupials.
Contents
Meet John Gould, the Author
The author, John Gould, was very famous for his books about birds. His most well-known bird book was The Birds of Australia. John Gould visited Australia in 1838.
He wrote in his introduction that he was very surprised by Australia's animals. He said it was like being on another planet! That's when he decided to study the amazing mammals of Australia. During his short trip, he watched animals in nature. He also used his skills as a taxidermist to collect animal specimens for his studies.
First Big Animal Survey
Before this big book, Gould had already published A Monograph of the Macropodidae or Family of Kangaroos in 1841. The Mammals of Australia was the first complete study of Australian mammals. It explained how they were classified and described each one.
Gould also wrote down the names that local Aboriginal peoples used for the animals. He used these names to ask for specimens from the local people. He also noted where these names were used. This helped save many common names, like dibbler (Parantechinus apicalis), which are still used today.
Amazing Artwork in the Books
The large pictures in the book were made using a printing method called lithography. These pictures were based on drawings and watercolours by Gould and his wife, Elizabeth. Elizabeth Gould's important work was not given credit at the time.
A team of artists, led by Gabriel Bayfield, then hand-coloured these pictures. They had to colour 26,572 plates in total! The pictures showed details of the animals. They were based on what Gould saw in Australia and on preserved animals sent back to England. These illustrations have become famous images of the mammals of Australia.
One of the most famous pictures is of the Thylacinus cynocephalus (Tasmanian tiger). This image has been copied many times since it was first published. It became even more famous when a company called Cascade Brewery used it on their label in 1987. The government of Tasmania also printed a black and white version of this picture in 1934. Another artist, Louisa Anne Meredith, copied it for her book Tasmanian Friends and Foes in 1881.
How the Books Were Published
The Mammals of Australia was sold by subscription. This means people paid for it in parts as they were published. It came out in 13 parts, making up three large volumes, from 1845 to 1863.
In 1863, Gould also released a separate book called An Introduction to The Mammals of Australia. This book had corrections, updates, and a new list of all the mammals in the three volumes. The first two volumes mainly covered marsupials. The third volume included Rodents. Together, they described all the known mammals of Australia at that time. With the animals added in the Introduction, the book described 166 different species. The book did not include sea mammals like whales, but it did have a note from Charles Coxen about the dugong.
This book was very important for science. It is also used when talking about animal conservation. Some animals in the book, like the Onychogalea lunata (crescent nailtail wallaby), have sadly disappeared since Europeans settled in Australia.
The book was highly praised, but it was very expensive to make. This was especially true for the hand-coloured pictures. Because of the high cost, not many people could afford it. The full set of books cost £41, which was a lot of money back then!
People were very curious about Australia's unique animals. This beautifully illustrated and complete book helped satisfy that curiosity. It also led to other similar books being made in Australia. For example, Gerard Krefft, who worked at the Australian Museum, made a cheaper book called The Mammals of Australia in 1871. This book was for teaching and was inspired by Gould's pictures. Another artist, Gracius Joseph Broinowski, tried to copy Gould's pictures very closely in his book Birds and Mammals of Australia (1884). This was so similar that the publisher threatened to stop him!
