Taken from the Australian Museum’s extensive archival collection of glass plate negatives, sixty-seven large-format photographic prints showcase the Museum’s scientific discoveries between the 1850s and 1890s. Sitting at the nexus of science and art, they tell the story of pioneering research and documentation and the advent of photography in Australia. Subjects vary from large sunfish and the flipper of a sperm whale to a gorilla and the fragile bones of a flamingo. Alongside the specimens, the figures of scientists can often be seen as a gauge of scale.

Henry Barnes, Gerard Krefft with Beaked Whale, photograph, archival image. © Australian Museum. Courtesy Australian Museum, Sydney and Charles Darwin University Art Gallery, Northern Territory
Charles Darwin University Art Gallery
17 November 2022 to 1 April 2023
Northern Territory