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Book Cover
Book
Author Olsen, Penny, 1949-

Title Upside down world : early European impressions of Australia's curious animals / Penny Olsen
Published Canberra, A.C.T. : National Library of Australia, 2010

Copies

Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 MELB  994.02 Ols/Udw  AVAILABLE
Description ix, 2258 pages : illustrations (some colour), maps, portraits, facsimiles ; 26 cm
regular print
Contents Preface -- Introduction -- Mammals -- Birds -- Reptiles, Amphibians and Fish -- Who's Who: the major observers -- List of current common and scientific namesw -- List of illustrations -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary Late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Eurocentric perceptions of natural history led to the flora and fauna of the new colony of New South Wales being viewed as deficient and inferior. The swans of the colony were black and eagles white, birds built shell-strewn avenues of sticks to cavort in and parrots walked on the ground. Olsen documents how our scientific knowledge evolved, using collectors' and naturalists' journals to enhance her stories
Analysis Amphibians
Animals
Birds
Fishes
History
Reptiles
Notes Includes index
Bibliography Includes bibliographic references (pages 244-251) and index
Subject Amphibians -- Australia -- History.
Animals -- Australia -- History.
Birds -- Australia -- History.
Europeans -- Australia -- Attitudes -- History.
Fishes -- Australia -- History.
Mammals -- Australia -- History.
Natural history -- Australia.
Reptiles -- Australia -- History.
Zoology -- Australia -- History.
SUBJECT Australia. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79021326
Author National Library of Australia.
LC no. 2010444396
ISBN 9780642277060 (paperback)
Other Titles Early European impressions of Australia's curious animals