Historical information

The museum register is somewhat ambiguous but it is recorded - along with about 12 others - that this specimen was transferred from the 'Nat. Sc. Dept' in September 1899. The specimen also apparently has something to do with Frederick McCoy; his name is entered as the party that identified the skeleton. It seems certain that these were a batch (accession numbers MUZD1113-1126) of specimens given to the university teaching museum during the move of the state museum from the university campus to its subsequent site on Russell St. Examination of the Currawong skeleton (and some of the others in this batch) revels that the specimen has been remounted at some point. The other items in this batch are, like this specimen, predominantly mounted articulated vertebrate skeletons:
[Specimens are listed with accession number and name as written in the original register]
MUZD1113 - 'Lepus timidus' (Mountain hare), mounted skeleton; currently on display in the Tiegs Zoology Museum
MUZD1114 - 'Emydura' (Short-necked Turtle), mounted skeleton; currently on display in the Tiegs Zoology Museum
MUZD1115 - 'Astur novaehollandiae' (Obsolete binomial name for Accipiter novaehollandiae - Grey Goshawk); mounted skeleton, currently in storage, disassembled, in the Tiegs Zoology Museum.
MUZD1116 - 'Grey crow-shrike ♂' (Grey Currawong), mounted skeleton; currently on display in the Tiegs Zoology Museum
MUZD1117 - 'Herpestes, India' (Mongoose sp.), mounted skeleton; currently on display in the Tiegs Zoology Museum
MUZD1118 - 'Macropus giganteus (aged[?]), Goulburn River' (Eastern Grey Kangaroo), ♀ skull; whereabouts unknown
MUZD1119 - 'Macropus giganteus, ?' (Eastern Grey Kangaroo), skull; whereabouts unknown
MUZD1120 - 'Raia ? lemprieri' (Obsolete binomial name for Dentiraja lemprieri -Thornback Skate), stuffed; whereabouts unknown
MUZD1121 - 'Cyprinus carpio' (Common carp), skeleton - roughly prepared; whereabouts unknown
MUZD1122 - 'Ovis' (Domestic sheep probably Jacob Sheep, '4 horned breed'), skull; whereabouts unknown
MUZD1123 - 'Cervus canadensis (Wapiti)', skull and lower jaw - no horns; currently on display in the Tiegs Zoology Museum
MUZD1124 - 'Antelope', no further information; whereabouts unknown
MUZD1125 - 'Encope emarginata' (Echinoderm), currently on display in the Tiegs Zoology Museum
MUZD1126 - 'Heterocentrotus trigonarius' (Pencil urchin), currently on display in the Tiegs Zoology Museum (accession number is not written on wooden base, but on the inside of the specimen.)

Physical description

Mounted skeleton of Grey Currawong (Strepera versicolor). Skeleton is mounted on a black wooden stand with a round base.

Inscriptions & markings

Accession number '2259' is written in ink on the sternum. Wooden mount has black label with white text on the base reading 'GREY CROW SHRIKE/ STREPERA VERSICOLOR'.