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Photograph, Bull, Hugh Jones, 1897-1993, Vice-regal visit to zoo: Governor (Lord Huntingfield) meets the cockatoos
... It can whistle 'Pretty Joey' and 'What's the Matter with Father' and is just learning to whistle for the dog... ...It can whistle 'Pretty Joey' and 'What's the Matter with Father' and is just learning to whistle for the dog... ...
A group of five men dressed in hats and overcoats look at caged cockatoos.
Research by project volunteer, Fiona Collyer:
On 25 June 1934, new Victorian Governor, His Excellency Lord Huntingfield and his wife Lady Huntingfield made an official visit to the Melbourne Zoological Gardens in order to grant his patronage to the Royal Zoological and Acclimatisation Society. The zoo director, Mr. Andrew Wilkie, introduced them to the cockatoos in the flight aviary.
The Argus newspaper reported the visit in the following morning’s issue:
"Birds' Greeting To Governor. Visit to Zoological Gardens. "A Very Important Society."
"Cheery shouts of "Hullo!" and requests for drinks greeted His Excellency the Governor (Lord Huntingfield) on one of his official visits yesterday morning. Lady Huntingfield, who accompanied him, was asked loudly for a kiss. They were inspecting the huge cockatoo aviary at the Zoological Gardens after Lord Huntingfield had granted his patronage to the Royal Zoological and Acclimatisation Society. Both obviously enjoyed the democratic experience. It was explained to them that most of the cockatoos had been presented by residents of flats, whose neighbours objected to the noise of the birds, while others were protected birds which had been surrendered. Lord Huntingfield recalled that he had taken two Australian cockatoos to England when he left Australia in his youth. One, a galah, had lived in England for many years."
In 1929, the Zoo built a commodious new flight aviary at the cost of several thousand pounds and Zoo director, Mr Andrew Wilkie, sent out an appeal published in newspapers Australia-wide for donations of parrots from all states. Many of the parrot species he wanted were protected and a special permit needed for their capture, however Mr Wilkie guaranteed he would obtain authority from the Fisheries and Game Department and that the cost of transit would be borne by the Zoo. The wanted birds were "Parrots - Black-tailed, Rock Pebbler, King, Superb, Grass (all kinds), Swamp or Ground, Mallee or Ringneck" and "Cockatoo[s] - Black, Pink or Major Mitchell, Gang-Gang". The Zoo asked that the birds be sent in boxes large enough to prevent overcrowding, contain food and water and the Zoo notified on the type and number of birds in transit. All boxes were to be addressed to 'The Zoo, Melbourne'.
A letter from a reader appeared in the Weekly Times newspaper's popular "Camp-fire Circle" page for "Young Australians", 11 May 1929: "Dear Pal, I am much interested in your page, especially the nature notes. I have a pet parrot, but I don’t like to see it shut up in a cage, so I am giving it to the Melbourne Zoo. It can whistle 'Pretty Joey' and 'What's the Matter with Father' and is just learning to whistle for the dog... Wishing you and the Camp-fire Circle success." - Murray Holmes (Gorae, Vic.)
The fate of this talented parrot is unknown, however in 1932, this young naturist, T Murray Holmes, 1912-1947, collected for the first time a type specimen, blue star sun orchid from Gorae (near Portland, Victoria), and it was named in his honour, Thelymitra holmesii. Murray was described by orchid collector W H Nicholls as "a youthful and energetic orchidologist, who added much to our knowledge of the orchids of south-western Victoria."
Murray Holmes enlisted in the army in 1941 and fought in the Middle East before being sent to Java. In 1942 he was captured by the Japanese and became a prisoner of war for three years, working on the notorious Thai-Burma railway. Murray's health was undermined though ill treatment and starvation and he returned to Australia after the war, broken and sick. He died aged 35 in 1947. He was intensely interested in the flora and fauna of the Gorae area to the end.
Murray's parents received over 200 tributes of respect for their son - too many to answer personally so they put a notice in the Portland Guardian thanking "all kind friends and relatives for letters, cards, floral tributes and personal expressions of sympathy received in their recent sad bereavement - the lamented death of their loved son, Murray."
Andrew Arthur Wellesley Wilkie, 1853-1948, was Director of the Melbourne Zoo from 1923 to 1936 and was associated with the zoo for 70 years. He first worked as a horticultural assistant to Government botanist Baron Ferdinand von Mueller at the Botanical Gardens at the age of 13, along with his older brother David. One of Andrew’s jobs was to capture moths for the National Herbarium.
In 1857, a group of prominent Melburnians assembled at St. Patrick’s Hall to form the Zoological Society of Victoria, with the aim of introducing animals and plants from overseas. It was conceived, “For the purposes of science and for that of affording the public the advantages of studying the habits of the animal creation in properly arranged zoological gardens.”
The Victorian Government granted 32 acres (13 hectares) of land to the Zoological Society at the southern end of Richmond Paddock on the opposite bank to the Botanical Gardens. (This is where AAMI Stadium and Collingwood Football Club now stand.)
In 1861, the Zoological Society of Victoria was renamed The Acclimatisation Society of Victoria. Unfortunately the Yarra River frontage was damp, swampy and subject to flooding, so the animals were briefly housed at the Botanical Gardens until in 1862, the City of Melbourne donated 55 acres (22 hectares) of land at Royal Park for the fledgling zoo.
Baron von Mueller secured employment at Royal Park for Andrew and David and they helped to lay out the gardens, plant trees and take care of a collection of deer, pheasants, hares and partridges. Initially the zoo was used for the acclimatisation of animals recovering from the long voyage to Australia and for breeding them for sport.
In 1872, the zoo bought two lions, a leopard and a cheetah that had been seized from circus showmen Keith and Phillips when they were unable to pay the bill of butcher Mr T K Bennet of Bourke Street. The first zoo director, Mr. Albert Le Souef, negotiated with captains of ships to buy animals at overseas ports they visited and soon a multitude of exotic species arrived, including a ten-year-old Indian elephant in 1878.
In 1923, after being head keeper for some years, Andrew was appointed director of the zoo.
By 1933, the zoo had 110 different species of animals, 200 species of birds and 72 species of reptiles under Andrew’s care. He had personally planted all but six trees and laid out the garden beds. As director he lobbied authorities for funds to build more humane enclosures for the animals.
In June 1928, Table Talk magazine wrote of Andrew Wilkie:
“Up at the Zoo there is a humble gentleman who is a lion among the lions, who knows the proper specific to employ when the boa constrictor has chilblains, and who is a friend and confidant of Queenie the elephant. His fount of zoological lore has never been plumbed. It is bottomless, like his good fellowship and geniality. Every day he may be seen somewhere in the grounds of that growing sanctuary for the strange and arresting fauna and creeping things of the world, and I assure you as one who is privy to his passion that that area and its inhabitants are rarely out of his thoughts.”
Andrew retired from the zoo in 1936 at the age of 83 and in 1948 died at his home in Brunswick aged 94. He and his wife Josephine had six children.
The Victorian Acclimatisation Society was founded in 1861 by Edward Wilson, 1813-1878, then owner and editor of The Argus newspaper. He said that Australian indigenous animals were practically useless, providing only “a little sport and an occasional meal”. The Society believed that Australia’s plants and animals were vastly inferior to those in Europe. They wanted to introduce and acclimatise to Victoria “all innoxious animals, birds, fishes, insects and vegetables, whether useful or ornamental” for sport and for the table, and to spread indigenous animals and plants from the colony around the world. Their motto was “if it lives, we want it”.
The Society was primarily responsible for introducing sparrows, starlings, sambar and hog deer, ostriches, brown trout, blackberries, and carp to the Murray River. They released the European songbirds, thrush and blackbird to quell the homesickness of British settlers. The Society also sent Australian animals like platypus, echidnas, kangaroos and koalas to Europe for scientific and novelty purposes.
Thomas Austin, a wealthy sheep farmer of Barwon Park, Winchelsea (property now owned by the National Trust) was a member and in 1859 he introduced hares, blackbirds, thrushes and partridges onto his property. He is probably best known for introducing 24 breeding rabbits onto his estate as game for shooting parties. Thomas quipped, “The introduction of a few rabbits could do little harm and might provide a touch of home, in addition to a spot of hunting." In 2022, genomic data confirmed that Australia’s feral rabbit population is entirely descended from these rabbits. Biological control has brought the rabbit population down from an estimated high of 10 billion rabbits in the 1920s to approximately 200 million today, inhabiting 70% of Australian landmass (5.3 million square kilometres).
In 1872, the Acclimatisation Society was renamed The Zoological and Acclimatisation Society of Victoria and they focused on importing exotic animals for display purposes to the zoo.
In 1937, the Royal Acclimatisation Society of Victoria was recreated as the Zoological Board of Victoria with a focus on research of native animals threatened with extinction.
In an editorial for The Argus newspaper, 16 March 1856, Edward Wilson lamented:
"...this country has been shamelessly stolen from the blacks. Had they been like the New Zealanders or the North American Indians, we should have bought their land, and supplied them with the means of living when we took it... In less than twenty years we have nearly swept them off the face of the earth. We have shot them down like dogs. In the guise of friendship we have issued corrosion sublimate in their damper, and consigned whole tribes to the agonies of an excruciating death. We have made them drunkards, and infected them with disease which has rotted the bones of their adults, and made such few children as are born amongst them a sorrow and a torture from the very instant of their birth. We have made them outcasts on their own land, and are rapidly consigning them to entire annihilation. There are but a few of them left, comparatively. This is what we would do for that few. We would feed and clothe every one of them.” [Note: this last sentence is italicized in the original newspaper article text].
Lord Huntingfield, (William Charles Arcedeckne Vanneck) 1883-1969, Governor of Victoria 1934-1939, was a British Conservative Party politician and the first ever Australian-born Governor of an Australian state (although he was always considered British). He was patron of the Royal Zoological and Acclimatisation Society of Victoria and was acting Governor-General for six months during the absence of Lord Gowie in 1938. Lady Huntingfield (née Margaret Eleanor Crosby) 1884-1943, his American-born wife showed great interest in social welfare and the advancement of women and children. She was president of the City Newsboys Society and Patroness of the Girls Friendly Society. In 1937, rose breeder Alister Clark named a yellow hybrid tea rose for her. In 1940, the City of Melbourne opened the Lady Huntingfield Free Kindergarten in North Melbourne, now the Lady Huntingfield Early Learning and Family Services Centre.
Lady Huntingfield died in London in 1943 after her house was bombed during a German airstrike. The Lady Huntingfield Memorial Scholarship was established after the City of Melbourne raised £1000 in a public appeal conducted in her memory for students undertaking a Social Work degree at the University of Melbourne. It is awarded annually to this day. The Queen Victoria Hospital named a bed in her honour.
References:
Prominent Personalities ANDREW WILKIE (1928, June 7). Table Talk (Melbourne, Vic. : 1885 - 1939), p. 15. Retrieved August 29, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146562949
BIRDS' GREETING TO GOVERNOR (1934, June 26). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 6. Retrieved August 19, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10950051
Zoo Appealing For Parrots And Cockatoos To Fill Aviary For Children’s Instruction (1929, April 11). The Sun News-Pictorial (Melbourne, Vic. : 1922 - 1954; 1956), p. 31. Retrieved August 23, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article275757361
LETTERS FROM READERS (1929, May 11). Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), p. 50. Retrieved October 6, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223183144
Correspondence. (1929, April 18). Corryong Courier (Vic. : 1894 - 1945), p. 6. Retrieved August 30, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article269039262
'Edward Wilson (journalist)', Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Wilson_(journalist)
'Thomas Austin (pastoralist)', Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Austin_(pastoralist)
'The Acclimatisation Society was driven by misguided ideals about 'fixing nature' in Australia', ABC News, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-04/acclimatisation-society-introduced-species-history-listen/101588262?
utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=safari
Touching Canine Devotion. (1942, September 21). Portland Guardian (Vic. : 1876 - 1953), p. 1 (EVENING). Retrieved October 6, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64381989
OBITUARY (1947, August 11). Portland Guardian (Vic. : 1876 - 1953), p. 2 (EVENING). Retrieved August 26, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64412155
Family Notices (1947, September 11). Portland Guardian (Vic. : 1876 - 1953), p. 2 (EVENING). Retrieved October 10, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64412476
'Thelymitra holmesii', Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelymitra_holmesii
THE ABORIGINES. (1856, March 16). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 4. Retrieved September 28, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4833244Photographer notations on slide: "Vice Regal visit to zoo B42".zoos, governors, 1930-1939, cockatoos
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