Although English naturalist and entrepreneur John Gould spent only 19 months in Australia, from 1838 to 1839, he is well known for his exquisite seven-volume folio, The Birds of Australia (18401848), and the eponymous Gould League of Bird Lovers, which has had over one million members since it was founded in 1909. While Gould was in Australia to paint the bird population he also discovered our extraordinary fauna, which he described as being as strange as if I had been transported to another planet. He was so impressed that he produced the three-volume set, The Mammals of Australia (1863), from which these images of the unique creatures that inhabit our shores are taken. With their liquid eyes, tactile fur and gentle demeanour, the paintings in Goulds book have an enduring charm.
