Silvester Diggles

Silvester Diggles  1817-1880
This Liverpool born naturalist, artist and musician was a prominent figure in colonial Brisbane and assisted Gould in his task of collecting and describing Australian birds.

Diggle’s own publication was intended to be more accessible than that of Gould’s, but it was an ambitious project to undertake in a city of only 10,000. A small pool of subscribers, financial difficulties and ill-health resulted in limited copies being produced (the exact number is unknown) and it is a very rare publication. The plates were produced by Diggles and his niece, Rowena Birkett, who coloured each by hand.

Broinowski took up the cause of popular access and succeeded where Diggles failed.

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