The strangeness of Australia’s native animals was the source of much European curiosity in the 18th and 19th centuries. But for those here in the colony, they were more than curiosities: our native animals were trapped, killed, eaten, and feared well before they became the beloved icons of our country.
No object captures our changing treatment of Australia’s native animals than the beautiful rug which hangs at the rear of this showcase. It is made from the skins of 75 Platypuses, a creature which so astonished scientists when the first specimen arrived in Europe that many believed it to be an elaborate hoax, created by an unscrupulous prankster stitching a duck’s beak onto the body of a mole. Platypuses were often considered pests by farmers and were hunted for their fur until the practice was outlawed in 1905.
Below the Thylacine, two Lord Howe Phasmids tell a more hopeful story. Once so abundant on Lord Howe Island that they were used as fishing bait, these insects were ravaged after rats made it ashore in 1918. Despite being declared extinct in 1935, the occasional dead phasmid was seen by walkers on the nearby islet of Ball’s Pyramid, and in 2001, live specimens were found. The species is now being bred for reintroduction to Lord Howe.
Many of Australia’s native animals have a reputation for being dangerous. Next to the phasmids is one of the most feared, the Sydney Funnel-web Spider. Thirteen people have died from its bite, and the spider has become an icon of Australian folklore. This male specimen was responsible for the first recorded death by this species in 1927, when a toddler was bitten on the finger.