Gerard Krefft
Gerard Krefft 1830–1881
Krefft was among the important group of German scientists (Ferdinand von Mueller, Georg Neumeyer, William Blandowski), who arrived in the Colony of Victoria between 1850 and 1860 and who shifted the focus of scientific studies to Melbourne.
Later, however, Krefft played an important role in New South Wales as the Curator and Secretary of The Australian Museum in Sydney. He was a biologist of extraordinary merit and described many new Australian species. He published The Mammals of Australia in 1871.
The lithographic illustrations for The Mammals of Australia were done by the Scott sisters, who were responsible for many scientific illustrations between 1860 and 1900. The majority of their work was drawn from nature but most of the mammals in this particular publication were drawn from photographs.
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