John Gould gave two great gifts to the nation that became Australia – depictions and descriptions of endemic mammals and birds before they became extinct and one of the earliest influential voices for conservation of our unique fauna.

The 18 months he and wife, Elizabeth, spent in Australia from 1838 gave him a remarkable insight into the abundance of species, winged and four-legged, that roamed the startling diversity of habitats found from the lush northern tropics to the deserts and cold mountaintops.

The main objective of his trip was to ‘witness in the wild’ some of the birds collectors like his two brothers-in-law had preserved and sent to his London home. And possibly to counter accusations that he was ‘only an indoor naturalist’.

And Charles Darwin, who we know as the man behind ‘On the Origin of the Species’, unknowingly added to Gould’s determination for a wild viewing of his winged subjects. Darwin had come to Gould on his return from the second voyage of the HMS Beagle for help in identifying the birds he had collected.

It was as if Gould’s viewing of Darwin’s bird collection was the final push Gould needed to turn thought into deed.

Gould decided he wanted the paintings of the birds and the lithographs that