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Today I'm going to tell you the story
of Australia's most beloved and
renowned animal illustrators.
Although not Australian himself nor
his wife, John Gould and Elizabeth
Gould spent two years in Australia
scouring the continent for its most
illustrious animal treasures and
meticulously recording their
likeness, as well as their behaviour,
on paper.

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The Gould duo published an immense
amount of zoological literary work in
the 1800s. Let's check it out.

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So, John Gould was born on the 14th
of September in 1884, at Lyme Regis
Dorset, in England. He likely
developed his deep passion for flora
and fauna during his adolescent years
whilst working under the wing of his
father who worked as a gardener at
Windsor Castle.

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Later, he was a gardener in Yorkshire
and began to observe birds and he
even taught himself the art of
taxidermy, suggesting he probably
killed a few as well. Gould had the
good fortune of being born at the
perfect time in history for someone
interested in pursuing a life devoted
to the natural world, specifically
zoology, the study of animals.

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In the 1700s and 1800s, zoology had
carved out its own space in the
sciences as a genuine and important
discipline. Biologist Carl Linnaeus
had created the modern system for
naming organisms in the late 1700 and
naturalist explorers like Sir Joseph
Banks had travelled to unknown lands
in search of new species on the other
side of the globe.

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Other big names in the field of
zoology were also leaving their
mothers wombs in the early 1800s,
including the fathers of the theory
of evolution Alfred Russell Wallace
and Charles Darwin, as well as the
father of modern genetics, Gregor
Mendel. Although blissfully unaware
of it at the time, Gould's interest
in animals was leading him on a crash
course with those who would one day
become some of Zoology biggest names,
and as well, to far off destinations
he couldn't have dreamt of at the
time.

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In 1826, the Zoological Society of
London was formed and following a
competition Gould's macabre hobby of
stuffing dead animals paid off when
at the age of 23 he was appointed a
taxidermist of the Society under
Nicholas Vigors. Gould would remain
part of the society until his death
in 1881.

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Several years later he crossed paths
with a talented artist named
Elizabeth Coxon. Both she and her
amazing drawing abilities caught
Gould's eye and in 1829 the two got
married. An accomplished drawer,
Elizabeth decided to take up
lithography with the aim of helping
her husband's publications.

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Lithography is the process of
printing from a flat surface that's
been treated so as to repel the ink
except where it's required for
printing. Unbeknownst to the duo at
the time, the stage was now set for
this pair of a budding taxidermist
and a talented drawer to travel the
world and record much of its natural
splendours. In 1830 Gould received a
collection of bird skins collected in
the Himalayas and used them to
produce a volume of coloured
illustrations with the help of his
wife Elizabeth, accompanied by
Vigor's descriptions.

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The project included 80 Plates that
achieved an astonishingly high level
of accuracy despite the absence of
any living specimens to base the
images off. The plan was to publish
the 80 Plates in 20 monthly sets of
four. However, publishers thought
that the volume of publications was
too risky to finance. Unperturbed by
the lack of external backing from
publishers, Gould took on the project
himself and published it through the
years 1831 and 1832. Thus was
launched Gould's very first volume of
books 'A Century of Birds from the
Himalayan Mountains', foreshadowing
the remarkable series of books on
birds and mammals that he would
produce throughout his lifetime.

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The ball was now rolling on what
would be a career that would achieve
considerable financial success and in
1832, after the success of Gould's
first volume of books, he commenced
the publication of 'The Birds of
Europe', a much more ambitious
project, this time comprising five
volumes, which were completed and
published throughout the following
five years. His editions were often
restricted to just 250 copies and to
get your hands on one you had to
subscribe prior to their release.

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His life's work would eventually add
up to over 41 volumes comprising
nearly 3000 plates of which the
majority featured Gould's feathered
obsession, birds, from all corners of
the globe. Astonishingly, he also
found time to publish numerous
scientific papers, mostly describing
the new species that he came across
in his travels, which further
displayed his keen eye for detail and
adeptness at dealing with taxonomic
details.

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Each of his plates were lithographs
and hand painted, an incredibly
detailed and painstaking process and,
at the time, his work was considered
to be some of the finest zoological
images to have ever been produced.
Gould often experimented with new
techniques and accomplished an
extraordinary effect conveying a
lifelike sheen in the feathers of his
avian subjects. To further bring his
animal subjects to life, Gould often
place them in their habitat in their
images some including the most
detailed illustrations, flowers,
plants, rocks and earth.

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What made these images all the more
astonishing was the fact that many of
the subjects had never been seen
alive by either Gould or his wife,
Elizabeth. Instead, all they had to
go off were rough sketches,
descriptions and if they were lucky,
the taxidermied specimen. However,
this proved to be enough as, on the
whole, the works of the two were
incredibly accurate, although Gould
has at times been criticized for
elevating effect over correct detail.

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In 1837, Gould second project was
finishing up and it was time to move
on to the next one. A Young
Naturalist by the name of Charles
Darwin had just returned from a
voyage on the HMS Beagle to the
Galapagos Islands and presented the
mammal and bird specimens that he'd
collected on the trip to the
Zoological Society of London, on the
4th of January, in 1837. The birds
specimens were given to Gould for
identification. Gould jumped at the
opportunity to do this work and he
put aside his paying job and reported
his findings at the following
meeting, just six days later on the
10th of January.

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Darwin had given to Gould what he
originally thought were blackbirds,
"gross bills", and finches, but in
actual fact he'd given Gould a series
of ground finches, which were so
peculiar as to form an entirely new
group containing 12 species. The
story made the newspaper headlines
and in March, Darwin met up with
Gould again and learnt that his
'Galápagos Wren' was actually another
species of Finch and that the
mockingbirds that he labelled by
island were in reality completely
different species, rather than just
varieties, with relatives on the
mainland of South America.

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Surprisingly, Darwin hadn't bothered
to label any of his finches by
island. Fortunately, though, others
on the expedition had been more
diligent and Gould sought the
specimens collected by Captain Robert
Fitzroy and his crewmen. From these
specimens, Gould and Darwin were able
to discover that the species were
unique to separate islands, which was
the initial step in the inception of
Darwin's theory of evolution by
natural selection.

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Gould would go on to work on these
birds and publish them in five parts
as part three of Zoology of the
voyage of HMS Beagle, through the
years 1838 to 1842. However, in the
middle of doing so he would find
himself travelling to the end of the
globe on yet another project. During
this period, Gould had many plates
spinning. He was working on specimens
that his brothers in law Charles and
Stephen Coxon had sent him, from the
fledgling British colony on the other
side of the globe, New South Wales.

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Thus, Gould began to turn his
attention to the birds of this far
off and unexplored land, Australia.
Using these specimens, Gould issued
for parts of a so-called synopsis
during 1837 in 1838. They comprised
73 plates by his wife, Elizabeth, the
success of which led to two more
parts being published immediately
afterwards. Very soon, however, he
put the work on hold, thinking
instead of going to see things in
real life and working on his sea legs
as he sailed on an expedition to
Australia, which also meant dragging
his family with him.

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After enthusiastic preparations with
his brain 'ever in a complete
jumble', Gould set sail for Australia
on a boat named 'Parsee' and was
accompanied by his wife Elizabeth,
their eldest son aged seven, a young
nephew, a man and maid servant and,
most importantly, a zoological
collector, John Gilbert. Little did
he know at the time Gilbert was
walking into an early grave, but more
on that later. The family's three
younger children remained in England
under the watchful eye of their
grandmother and Gould left the
financial affairs of his taxidermist
business back in London in the hands
of his competent secretary and
publication editor E.C. Prince.

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On the 18th of September 1838 the
Parsee finally arrive at Hobart Town
on Australia's island state of
Tasmania, then known as Van Diemen's
Land. They were received by the
colony's Governor, Sir John Franklin
and his wife, who hosted them during
their stay in Tasmania. Pregnant at
the time, Elizabeth remained at the
governor's residence whilst Gould and
Gilbert immediately set to work
exploring and collecting specimens
across Tasmania and its surrounding
islands.

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In January the pair travelled
overland together as they surveyed
and made their way to Launceston. At
this point Gould decided that they
should separate and sent Gilbert off
in February to the Swan River Colony,
in Western Australia, assuring him
that he'd take care of all his
personal possessions back in Hobart.
On his trip to W.A., Gilbert had one
objective: collect as many specimens
as possible with the plan of meeting
up with Gould in Sydney where Gould
planned to be waiting for him the
next year.

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Whilst Gilbert was on the west of the
continent, Gould sailed up the east
coast to Sydney and then travelled
inland to his brother-in-laws'
station at Yarrundi. He'd left
pregnant Elizabeth and their son back
in the safe hands of the Franklins,
in Tassie. Gould was hoping to scour
the forests of the Liverpool Range
whilst there, primarily in search of
bower birds. Bower birds likely
caught Gould's attention due to being
mysterious little birds, the males of
which build elaborate structures,
which they often decorate with
coloured items to try and attract
females.

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However, Gould only had a month or so
to do so as in April he had to return
to Tasmania to be present at the
birth of his son. Besides being
pregnant, Elizabeth refused to sit
idly by on her hands and instead had
been spending her time drawing
hundreds of images of specimens for
future publication. The following
month in May Gould sailed to Adelaide
where he met the famous Australian
explorer Charles Sturt, who was
preparing to lead an expedition to
the Murray River.

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On this trip, Gould was able to
collect around the Mount Lofty range,
in the Murray scrubs, and on Kangaroo
Island and he also got the chance to
visit the city of Adelaide whilst in
South Australia. Although the city
left a bad taste in his mouth, he
described Adelaide as 'a chaotic
jumble of sheds and mud huts'. In
July, Gould made his way back to
Hobart in Tasmania again. The plan
was to collect his family and make
their way to New South Wales and then
to stay with Elizabeth's brother at
his station Yarrundi.

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Having set up shop once again at
Yarrundi Gould, the ever-resolute
zoologist, got straight back to work
and was soon seen riding and walking
in a large area of little known
country, and he was still searching
for that elusive bower bird. On the
9th of April in 1840, the Gould party
left Sydney whilst Gilbert remained
behind in Australia to keep exploring
the largely unknown continent and
collect more specimens. Gilbert would
end up having his name commemorated
on a mountain range, a river and a
township in Queensland and in the
names of numerous Australian animals
and plants including Gilbert's
Potoroo and Gilbert's Dunnart.

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Tragically, Gilbert's career as a
naturalist ended when his life was
cut short in 1845. Whilst near the
Gulf of Carpentaria on the north of
the continent on an expedition, he
was speared by a group of Indigenous
men who'd made a night attack on his
camp. Apparently, this was in
retaliation for two of the indigenous
men travelling with Gilbert having
molested two local indigenous women.
Once Gould arrived back in London in
December of 1840, the publication of
his most renowned works 'The Birds of
Australia' began.

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During his trip Down Under, he'd
managed to collect enough sketches
and specimens that he'd be publishing
them for the next 21 years. What
resulted from this trip to Australia
was this huge work 'The Birds of
Australia', which included over 600
plates in seven volumes, each series
of plates contained a page of a
description of the species with notes
on its distribution and adaptations
to its environment, as well as a
beautiful image. They were published
between the years of 1840 and 1848
with an eighth volume added decades
later in 1869.

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Gould managed to describe and name an
astounding 328 species that he
collected on his trip, which were
completely new to science. The
unstoppable workhorse of a man had
also found time on his southern
escapades in Australia to also
collect specimens and sketches of
numerous mammal species. He published
'A Monograph of the Macropodidae, or
Family of Kangaroos' in 1841 and
1842, and then the three-volume work
of 'The Mammals of Australia'
throughout 1849 to 1861. In these
works he also noted the parallels in
form and function between placental
mammals and the Australian marsupial
mammals.

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Tragically, on the 15th of August in
1841, Gould's wife Elizabeth died at
the young age of 37 following the
birth of their sixth child, Sarah.
It's also speculated that her early
demise may have been the result of
working tirelessly to execute
approximately 600 drawings for
publications in her young life.
Although grievously affected by the
passing of his wife and now being the
only parent of six children, Gould
pressed on with his meticulous work
of research and publishing.

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'The Birds of Australia' ended up
including 36 parts, the last of the
initial volumes published in 1848.
'The Birds of Australia' ended up
including 36 parts that were bound
into eight volumes and the cost to
subscribers ended up being 150
pounds, approximately $20,800
Australian in today's money. As with
his earlier books, The Birds of
Australia was published with splendid
colour plates, many of the drawings
executed by his late wife Elizabeth,
with the rest of them contributed by
other artists following her death.

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In the end, there were a total of 681
coloured plates in the eight volumes
and the whole production is
unquestionably the greatest of all of
Gould's 18 significant works. 250
sets of the vast work were printed
and sold and despite being
highly-prized at the time, today is a
completely different story. Complete
sets of the original volumes were
recently sold at auction for $350,000
Australian.

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Despite losing Gilbert in 1845, Gould
continue to subsidize other
collectors and also keep in touch
with his friends Sturt and other
explorers and naturalists in
Australia in order to further his
work. Throughout the remainder of his
life, he also issued works on
hummingbirds, on the birds of Asia
and on the birds of Great Britain,
all magnificently illustrated.

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Gould lived to the ripe old age of 76
and he died in London on the 3rd of
February in 1881. Unsurprisingly, at
the time of his death he was still
working hard to complete his latest
work 'The birds of New Guinea and the
adjacent Papuan islands', which went
on to be completed by Dr Sharpe. He'd
outlived two of his sons Henry and
Franklin, but was survived by his
youngest son and three daughters.
Although, he was incredibly fortunate
in his assistance, his success
resulted in large part from his
industriousness ability and tireless
work ethic.

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In his untiring pursuit of nature,
Gould worked his way up from the
humble beginnings of a gardener, to
become an outstanding ornithologist
and general zoologist, as well as a
highly accomplished publisher and
businessman. He'd brush shoulders
with two men who were to become
giants in the field of biology:
Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel
Wallace. He'd explored an unknown
continent with the likes of John
Gilbert and Charles Sturt. And
ultimately, he'd amass a life's work
comprising an immense 41 volumes and
nearly 3000 plates or images,
depicting animals that had prior to
been unknown to science.

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Although said to be a tough cookie
who drove a hard bargain when it came
to business, his closest friends and
family remembered him as someone
possessing 'a really tender and
affectionate heart'.

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Today, due to his work Down Under,
Gould is remembered better in
Australia than back home in Britain.
His works are heavily sought after
and worth a small fortune, his images
are well-renowned, particularly
amongst anyone with a passion for
Australian wildlife, especially
birds. And numerous Australian
species bear his name including
Gould's Monitor, Gould's Mouse, and
Goulds Hooded snake and also the name
of his wife Gould's Sunbird and the
Gouldian Finch.

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During his lifetime, Gould was
honoured by numerous scientific
societies and in Australia he is
often referred to as the father of
Australian bird studies, with a
nationwide institution named after
him the Gould League of Bird Lovers.

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Gould and his wife Elizabeth
definitely lived amazing lives and
contributed incalculably to the study
of the natural world, not only
leaving their mark on paper, but on
history as well.

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And before I leave you today, I
suggest that you do yourself a favour
and get on Google do a search for
Gould the illustrations and I promise
you you won't be disappointed.