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Armed with such terrible weapons

Plate VI, Cambridge, O.P., ‘On Some New Genera and Species of Araneidea’, Annals and Magazine of Natural History, XIX (Fourth Series) (1877) Today Sydney-siders take for granted that our local spiders, in particular the Sydney funnel-web, are dangerous and to be…

Vanessa Finney, Capturing Nature: Early Scientific Photography at the Australian Museum 1857-1893

Vanessa Finney, Capturing Nature: Early Scientific Photography at the Australian Museum 1857-1893 NewSouth Books, 2019, 654 pp., ISBN: 9781742234984, p/bk, AUS$49.99 Let me declare a point of self-interest before I say too much about this insightful and intriguing book. I confess to…

Vanessa Finney, Transformations: Harriet and Helena Scott, colonial Sydney’s finest natural history painters

Vanessa Finney, Transformations: Harriet and Helena Scott, colonial Sydney’s finest natural history painters NewSouth Books, 2018, 204 pp. (plus notes and index), ISBN: 9781742235806, h/bk, AUS$49.99 Harriet Scott (Morgan) (1830–1907) and Helena Scott (Forde) (1832–1910) were, as natural history artists, without peer…

The Art of the Scott Sisters

Helena Forde, nee Scott c1866 Pic: © Australian Museum Harriet Scott, Ash Island 1856 Pic: Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW (a9971002 / MLMSS 1694, 23b) A few weeks ago Nicole talked about The Australian Museum which is 190 years old this…

Our oldest museum turns 190!

Australian Museum, College Street, Sydney 1860-63 by William Hetzer Courtesy Powerhouse Museum 87/1019-8 Last Thursday it was the 190 years since the Australian Museum was established so today we thought we'd have a very quick look at the long history of…

Harriet and Helena Scott

Antheraea Eucalypti 1851. By Scott, Harriet. Contributed by Biodiversity Heritage Library (Plate 1 from 'Australian Lepidoptera and their transformations drawn from the life by Harriet and Helena Scott; with descriptions, general and systematics, by AW Scott', London, 1864) Have you done…