Summary

Specimen in standing position, with its anterior body supported by a metal cradle, and posterior limbs attached by internal armature wire to a modern (2007) replacement timber stand. The specimen has been removed from its original display stand, and this stand and any original display labels are now missing.

Collected during William Blandowski's Victorian government-sponsored expedition to the junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers (December 1856 - December 1857), specifically during the eight months that the expedition was based at Mondellimin (Chaffey Landing at Merbein, near Mildura) from April-December 1857 (see the Historical Narrative). The precise locality and date of collection for this female specimen are not known. It is one of a series of eight specimens of Pig-footed Bandicoot from the expedition that were collected in a cooperative effort by the expedition naturalist Gerard Krefft and local teams of Aboriginal people (August-November 1857). All specimens came from the area around 'Gol Gol Creek and the Lower Darling' (New South Wales side of the Murray River), and were collected after Blandowski had left his field party in August 1857 and returned to Melbourne. The resulting skins and skeletons were shipped to the Public Museum then located at the University of Melbourne and headed by Frederick McCoy. In February 1858, Krefft was employed to sort the collection, and four skins were stuffed and mounted, with the taxidermy attributed to George Fulker, the museum taxidermist from 1854-1858. This specimen is scientifically important as one of the few surviving examples in museum collections of this now-extinct species.

Previous registration number 60219, Blandowski Catalogue number unknown.

Specimen Details

Taxonomy

Geospatial Information

  • Country

    Australia

  • State

    Victoria

  • Precise Location

    Murray and Darling Rivers junction

  • Latitude

    -34.12

  • Longitude

    141.92

  • Geodetic Datum

    WGS84

  • Georeference Protocol

    Approximation