History of land vertebrates collection

The Land Vertebrates Collection has been formed over the Museum's 150-year history

Included in the extensive collection are the oldest surviving New Zealand stuffed birds, bought from Mr I. St John, a taxidermist of Nelson, around 1856-57.

Important dates and sub-collections

1874-1923	T.F. Cheeseman was notable curator of the collection
1876-1883	Pacific Island birds collected by the Rev. George Brown
1878-1881	Exchange material from the Geneva Museum, Switzerland
1879	New Guinea bird skins from Andrew Goldie
1880-1881	A notable taxidermists employed by the Museum has been Andreas Reischek
1880-1911	The McLean New Zealand bird egg collections
1880-1914	The Munro collection of Hawaiian birds
1881-1883	Exchange material from Dr Garnier, Canada
1881-1892	Exchange material from the Florence Museum, Italy
1886-1892	Exchange material from the Smithsonian Institution, U.S.A
1888-1912	Kermadec and Norfolk Island birds collected by the Bell family
1900-1940s	Buddle New Zealand bird egg collections
1911-1919	Chatham Island birds collected by Dannefaerd
1924	Western Samoan birds from the Whitney South Sea Expedition
1928-1937	Sir Robert Falla was the curator of Land Vertebrates
1929-1931	Birds of the British, Australian, New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition
1929-1953	A notable taxidermists employed by the Museum has been Charles Dover
1930s	The McGregor collection of Australian study-skins
1930-1932	The Hughes collection of Sri Lankan birds
1930-1940	Gilbert Archeys moa bone collection
1937-1957	E.G. Turbott was curator