The Collectors
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Episode 38, Friday 7 November 2008
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Justin Murphy takes us to one of the world’s great centres of Natural History, Sydney University’s Macleay Museum.
This is a real museum, with towering display cabinets filled with pickled animal specimens from the four corners of the earth, and not a touch screen or interactive computer gizmo to be seen. It contains many unique specimens not found in any of the world’s major museums, and is therefore a popular destination for international research scientists.
The collections are the product of the scientific endeavours of two generations of the Macleay family, starting with Alexander Macleay, who was NSW Colonial Secretary in 1826. It was he who built Sydney’s beautiful Elizabeth Bay House, which was the first home to the collection.
