Continent of Curiosities

A Journey through Australian Natural History

By: Danielle Clode

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Hardcover | 11 September 2006

At a Glance

Hardcover
256 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
26.5 x 21 x 2.5

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Collecting curiosities was a gentlemanly occupation for wealthy and educated 18th-century Europeans. Few creatures aroused more curiosity than those from Australia. But collections demand organisation, and classification itself reveals patterns to life that cannot be ignored. From a leisurely occupation, the science of biology was born. Cabinets de curiosites became national museums, with specimens from Australia playing an integral role in all kinds of biological debates. Australian museums now foster their own research and continue to provide major and sometimes unexpected perspectives to international scientific developments. Continent of Curiosities follows the thread of individual natural history stories through the scientists of one of Australia's oldest museums, Museum Victoria. Together, these stories weave a history of the development of biological science from an Australian perspective, with insights into the people and places that influence the way we see and understand the natural world around us.

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' ... beautifully produced ...' Mammalian Biology

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Engineering & Technology Technology in General Nature & The Natural World Science Science in General Popular Science History Regional & National History Australasian & Pacific History History of Science

Foreword	p. vii
Acknowledgements	p. xi
Visions from the Old World: The Last 500 Years	p. 1
Curious collections	p. 3
A beast named Su	p. 13
Local knowledge	p. 29
Into the Forests: The Last 250 000 Years	p. 41
Water, water everywhere	p. 43
Forests of fire	p. 57
The mystery of the reappearing possums	p. 71
From Fossils and Bones: The Last 250 Million Years	p. 85
The case of the missing mollusc	p. 87
Brainbox	p. 101
The ape case	p. 115
Visions of New Worlds: The Last 4.5 Billion Years	p. 129
Lines in the sea	p. 131
Shifting continents	p. 147
Is there life on Mars?	p. 159
Sources	p. 173
References	p. 189
List of illustrations	p. 202
Index	p. 206
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Continent of Curiosities

A Journey through Australian Natural History

At a Glance

Hardcover

Industry Reviews

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How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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